THE NORTHERN COUNCIL
FOR GLOBAL COOPERATION
About Us
NCGC was born out of the desire to build a network of northern Canadians who want to make a local and global impact toward a just, equitable and sustainable world.
Our history
The Northern Council for Global Cooperation, formerly the Yukon Development Education Center, was established in 1988 as a Yukon society. NCGC has grown substantially since first receiving funding from Global Affairs Canada in 2013. We have invested significant time and effort establishing trusted and valued partnerships with Northern Peoples and organizations by supporting, listening, and learning.
We have grappled with best practices and strategies to meaningfully engage Northern Peoples on global issues. Past programs and activities have included social media campaigns, programs for youth and educators, public speaking events on global issues, gatherings designed to create connections between local and global peoples, and more.
While these programs and activities have been successful, NCGC believes we need to reframe how we engage Northern Peoples to deepen understanding, and create volition to take action on global issues. Explore our new programs!
Our people
Our Team
Tracey Wallace
Connecting people, experience and knowledge is Tracey's passion. She is constantly listening, learning and reflecting on the world around her. Her career path has included working with Canadian and international educational and community development organizations, in Southern Africa and northern Canada. Prior to joining NCGC in 2014, Tracey worked with the Yukon Human Rights Commission and Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition. She holds a Master of Education in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE).
Kelly Proudfoot
Throughout her career as a collaborator, strategist, event producer and activator Kelly Proudfoot has led national and international campaigns. The 2012 Arctic Winter Games first brought Kelly to the Yukon. Her position as Manager of Sponsorship and Marketing seeded a deep connection to the territory, and she now calls the Yukon home. Kelly joined the Yukon University Foundation team as Manager of Development in 2016. Through this role she strived to create mutually-beneficial partnerships with corporations and community groups that are both innovative and inclusive. Kelly, through both personal and professional means has found herself seeking a deeper understanding of the history for Indigenous people and has a strong penchant for learning and being a part of the live, vibrant Indigenous cultures, ways of knowing, doing and being in present day. Through this journey, her passion to move things forward, and her skills in breathing life into ideas and projects she has found herself intertwined with many local and global collaborators.
Athulya Joseph
Informed largely by principles of relationships and respect, Athulya has developed a deep commitment to linking inner transformation with social change. Athulya is a settler born and raised on Turtle Island with ancestral roots in South India. She finds inspiration in exploring how ways of being and design thinking can be harnessed to tackle the challenges within our global systems. She is grateful to hold a Bachelor of Social Sciences Honours in International Development and Globalization from the University of Ottawa as well as to continue unlearning and critically reflecting on those teachings.
Jodi Gustafson
Jodi Gustafson is a settler born and raised in what is today known as the Yukon, Canada. That upbringing and later life experiences instilled a profound respect for and curiosity about the natural world, and how we relate to it. She has worked on environmental management projects with organizations including the International Whaling Commission, the Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee, and the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs. Aotearoa/ New Zealand has been her second home since 2007. In 2017, Jodi joined the inaugural cohort of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship. She gratefully lives between Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa and Whakatōhea lands in Aotearoa, and Southern Tutchone lands in the Yukon where she was born and raised. Jodi's role in her work revolves around supporting communities in efforts to fulfil ancestral stewardship responsibilities, and in this capacity she was humbled to support the Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship with development of the Reconnection Vision from 2021-2023. Jodi continues collective work to evolve governance, education, conservation and economic models beyond colonial frameworks in her role coordinating the Illuminating Worldviews offering in partnership between the Northern Council for Global Cooperation and RIVER. She has a Masters in Conservation Leadership from the University of Cambridge where she studied as a Gates Cambridge scholar.
Our Board
Emily Mann
With a long standing interest in social justice and global issues, Emily is thrilled to be involved in the work of NCGC to support youth involvement in international programs and increase awareness of global issues in Canada's north. Emily has a keen interest in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and has researched implementation of the goals at the municipal level and within organizations on behalf of UBC Sustainability and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. Currently, Emily works as an environmental consultant in Whitehorse. Emily has a BA in International Relations and a Masters of Public Policy and Global Affairs and has completed coursework and research studies in Romania, Bulgaria, and throughout Southeast Asia.
William Gannon
William Gagnon is a green buildings specialist and decarbonization expert, with a building engineering degree (Concordia University), grad-level studies in sustainable carbon management (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi) and a Climate Fellowship from Cornell University (Ithaca, New York). His most recent work includes the creation of a strategy for the Northern Building Retrofit Economy.
William is a trained UNLEASH Innovation Lab facilitator. He lives, works and plays on Chief Drygeese Territory of the Yellowknives Dene; he is an advocate for LGBTQ2+, and is a “northern vegetarian”. William is a carbon-neutral individual. In 2018, he was nominated as one of the #30under30 Sustainability Leaders by Corporate Knights magazine.
Jane Downing
Originally from Montreal, Jane holds a BSc (Life Sciences) from Queen’s University at Kingston, and a Master of Education degree from the University of Athabasca in 2017. Jane has completed coursework in Gender and International Issues in Distance Education as well as Inclusive Leadership. In her work with NCGC, Jane has rekindled a lifelong passion for gender equality and inclusion and is interested in how education can further the pursuit of a just and equitable global society and move us closer to achieving these goals.
Jenna Blanchard
I started my journey in the Northwest Territories living along the Mackenzie River in the town of Inuvik. My experience there has guided me towards the work I am doing today. I am a settler on this Land; I grew up in Prince Edward Island. I am currently living in Yellowknife, and I am deeply proud to call the Northwest Territories home. My experiences in health care as a registered nurse, and time spent within the communities deeply shapes the passion I lead with towards more equitable and safer spaces for all people in health care systems today.
Along with being a labor and delivery nurse, I currently work as a program coordinator for the Northern Birthwork Collective; an organization that provides cost supported programming and services for all stages of the reproductive journey. This role has expanded my way of thinking in how I approach caring for those seeking support. My vision of creating change is to first listen to those most impacted, then share a space at the table to help advocate for those voices to be heard in decision making processes.
The learning and unlearning I have gone through and will continue to do, is an example of my own lived experiences, stories, relationships built and opportunities I’ve had in my travels; my love for the Land and those sharing these spaces is impactful in my work and who I am today. I am learning that building relationship takes time, and I am committed to this process.
Élise Brown-Dussault
Once I won a peanut butter eating contest by consuming 8 kilos of the stuff in about 3 months. The person who won second place (at 7 kilos) says he can't eat peanut butter anymore due to oversaturation. I can still eat it, so that's how I know I am the true winner. When I'm not eating peanut butter, spot me nerding out over bones I find in the forest. Or screeching away as a first-year violinist. Or making money trying to support my peanut butter, bones, and violin habits.
Leila Cai
Leila (Suk-hing) was born and raised in China, of Han descent. Leila studied at the University of Manitoba since moving to Turtle Island, and now works for a land claim organization in Dënéndeh. Coming to this land as an immigrant, Leila is grateful to share space with and learn from the first peoples of the North. She has a background in impact assessment, having worked with Indigenous communities, scientific researchers, governments and think tanks on different types of projects. In everything she does, Leila leads with a passion for shaping a fair decision-making process that provides a level playing field for underserved communities. People experience trauma differently in this era of climate anxiety. Growing up in a small town in southeastern China, Leila dares to imagine a rosier version of what a world in the throes of global catastrophes might look like: those most vulnerable must have a say at the decision-making table. For that, we all have a part to play.
NCGC is an active member of the Inter-Council Network of Provincial and Regional Councils for International Cooperation (ICN).
The Inter-Council Network (ICN) is a dynamic network of provincial and regional member-based Councils for International Cooperation committed to social justice and social change. Rooted in communities across Canada, the ICN is a leader in public engagement at a local and regional level, and is recognized for bringing regional knowledge and priorities to the national level.
