Portrait
Name
Melina Laboucan-Massimo
Location
Lubicon Cree First Nation, AB
Description
Melina is Lubicon Cree from Northern Alberta. She has worked on social, environmental and climate justice issues for the past 20 years. Melina is the Just Transition Director at Indigenous Climate Action, the Founder of Sacred Earth Solar and a Fellow at the David Suzuki Foundation. She is also the host of a TV series called Power to the People, which profiles renewable energy, food security and eco-housing projects in Indigenous communities across Canada.
Facing firsthand impacts of the Alberta tar sands in her traditional territory, Melina has been a vocal advocate for Indigenous rights and environmental justice. For over a decade, Melina worked as a Climate and Energy Campaigner with Greenpeace Canada and the Indigenous Environmental Network internationally. She has written for various publications and produced short documentaries on the tar sands, climate change, water issues and Indigenous cultural revitalization. Melina has studied, campaigned, and worked in Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Canada, and Europe, focusing on resource extraction, climate change impacts, media literacy, and Indigenous rights & responsibilities.
Melina also works on the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women in Canada after the suspicious death of her sister Bella whose case remains unsolved. Melina currently serves on the boards of Seeding Sovereignty and NDN Collective, as well as the executive steering committee of the Indigenous Clean Energy Social Enterprise.