Valérie Courtois

Valérie Courtois is a leading figure in North America’s Indigenous-led conservation and land stewardship movement. She works to strengthen Indigenous peoples’ nationhood and create a space for reconciliation between peoples.

She holds a Bachelor of Forestry Science from Université de Moncton and specializes in Indigenous issues, forest ecology, and ecosystem-based management and planning. After graduation, she quickly rose to prominence as a forestry advisor for the Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador, and then as head of the Innu Nation Environmental Guardians Program. 

She’s the founding director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative (ILI), an organization that works to expand Indigenous nations’ role in making decisions about the future of their lands, and is recognized as an inspiring leader grounded in sharing values, ideas, strategies, and knowledge.

She’s a proud member of the Ilnu community of Mashteuiatsh and is accepted as an authority on Indigenous forestry issues by government officers. Together with other Indigenous governance experts, she’s worked with dozens of First Nations across Canada to help them exercise greater leadership over the land and has helped secure federal funding for Indigenous Guardians programs and Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. 

Her career got off to an auspicious start when she received the Canadian Institute of Forestry’s James M. Kitz Award for early-career contributions to the profession. She was later awarded Standford University’s Bright Award for Environmental Sustainability as well as an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Guelph. Time magazine then included her in its Time100 Climate—the most influential leaders “driving business to real climate action.”

Université Laval awards an Honorary Doctorate in Forestry Sciences to Valérie Courtois in recognition of her work in land stewardship and contributions to the betterment of society.