Stephanie Yuill, Public Listening Session Project Manager

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Originally an Ontarian, Stephanie Yuill has worked around the globe; largely in pursuit of the ever-elusive full-time parks job! Protected areas, the environment and education make up her second career having spent 20 plus years as a waitress (which she still misses).  She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo and a Master’s of Science from Texas A&M (her thesis was on educating people about sites of death and disaster).  After stints in Ontario, Texas, Alberta and Queensland, she finally landed in Yellowknife in 2007 as the Manager of Operations for NWT Parks.  She went back to her love of environmental education in 2010 where she was education coordinator for ENR until 2020. Stephanie just moved back to Yellowknife August 2023 (inconveniently on the day of the city-wide evacuation) after three years in Paulatuk, managing Tuktut Nogait National Park.  When she’s not working, you can find her in her canoe, with her dog, in the theatre, reading a book, entering oatmeal making championships, skiing or walking. Long walks. Very long walks. Very, very long walks. 

Manisha Singh, Nı́o Nę P’ęnę́ Research Manager

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Manisha Singh was born and brought up in Uttar Pradesh, India. Growing up around forest and diverse wildlife was fundamental to shaping her interest in nature and natural resources. During her Master of Forestry degree in India, she conducted extensive research on an endemic deer species, Rucervus eldii eldii, which inhabits the world’s only floating national park, Keibul Lamjao national park, Manipur. Aspired by the beauty of nature and striving to work towards sustainable management, she moved to Halifax, Canada to enroll in the Dalhousie University’s Master of Resource and Environmental Management program in 2019. Her degree provided her with a broad overview of different perspectives and the Indigenous ways of knowing, which demonstrates the depth of knowledge present across Indigenous communities and highlights every individual’s responsibility to live sustainably and harmoniously with the environment. She aims to develop her understanding of Indigenous knowledge further and work with the Sahtú community to help achieve the vision Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı (Sahtú Renewable Resources Board). Manisha joined the SRRB team in 2021.

Lori Ann Lennie, Office Manager

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Lori Ann Lennie is a member of the Fort Norman Métis Nation. She is the longest serving staff member Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı, having worked with the Board since 2000. Over the course of her work, she has taken various courses in bookkeeping, accounting, financial management, computer skills, Aboriginal law, and human resources management. She is actively involved in leadership in her home community of Tulı́t’a, serving on the Métis Land Corporation Board and Hamlet Council.

Janet Winbourne, Indigenous Knowledge Research Advisor

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Janet Winbourne primarily works in ethnobiology/ethnoecology in West Coast and Arctic ecosystems. She specializes in researching and documenting traditional and local or community knowledge of species and/or ecosystems, and compiling this information for use in resource management and Species at Risk work. Janet formerly lived in Inuvik, where as part of her work she managed a harvest study. Today, she lives on Vancouver Island, but continues to work on projects in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, as well as the South and Central Coasts of British Columbia (including Haida Gwaii). Her experience has involved working with dozens of First Nations, Inuit, and Aboriginal organizations, and has spanned hundreds of different species in marine, terrestrial and aquatic environments. Recent focal species include salmon, eulachons, abalone, deer, caribou, bison, and wolverine.

Colin Macdonald, Science Advisor

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Dr. Colin Macdonald has over three decades of research experience in environmental toxicology, much of it in northern Canada. His first northern experience was on north Baffin Island, where he studied the accumulation of the metals in the diets of ringed seals. This led to a project studying pesticides and other contaminants in lakes in Ontario at Trent University and the effects of man-made chemicals in wildlife at the National Wildlife Research Center in Gatineau, Québec and at Whiteshell Laboratories in Pinawa, MB. His research included projects on historic radiation like cesium-137 and other contaminants in barren-ground caribou, fish and other wildlife species. He has been an independent consultant since 1998 and worked on the assessment of contamination in plants, animals, fish and vegetation at Port Radium, Sawmill Bay, Silver Bear Mines, Contact Lake and other abandoned mine sites to the east of Great Bear Lake. He provides advice to the Sahtú Renewable Resources Board on issues related to the permitting of projects, reviews project reports, and advises on technical issues relating to renewable resources and environmental quality in the Sahtú.  He lives in Pinawa, Manitoba.

Bruce McRae, Legal Counsel

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Bruce McRae (McRae Law) is independent tribunal counsel for two institutions of public government under modern land claims in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Bruce provides advice on administrative, Aboriginal and Environmental law. Bruce is called to the bars of Nunavut (2015) and the Northwest Territories (2021). Bruce went to law school at the University of Toronto (JD, 2014) with a pre-law undergraduate at the University of Alberta (BA, 2001).

Prior to founding McRae Law, Bruce was in-house counsel to the Government of Nunavut and later the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, the Inuit organization for the Baffin Island area. His work included proceedings of the Nunavut Planning Commission, the Nunavut Water Board and the Nunavut Impact Review Board. Bruce is Section Chair for the Environment, Energy and Resource Law (EERL) Section of the CBA Nunavut Branch, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Arctic Renewables Society. Before law, Bruce worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Middle East and Asia, experience that informs his approach to cross-cultural dialogue.

Bruce now lives in Ottawa with his wife where he is getting used to having trees around after living in Nunavut.

Gabrielle Thompson, Legal Counsel

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Gabrielle Thompson is an associate at McRae Law where she practices administrative, Aboriginal and environmental law in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Prior to joining McRae Law, Gabrielle practiced procurement law with the federal Department of Justice and clerked at the Federal Court of Canada. She completed her articles with Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General, Courts Services Division.

Gabrielle received her law degree from the University of Toronto (2018) and her undergraduate degree from McGill University (2014). She is called to the bars of the Northwest Territories (2022), Nunavut (2022), and Ontario (2019).

Gabrielle was born and raised in Bruce County, the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation. She now lives in Ottawa, where she enjoys hiking and cooking in her free time.