Successfully bringing Indigenous ways to a traditionally science-based culture at Sierra Club BC, with Executive Director, Hannah Askew

Hannah Askew started as Executive Director at Sierra Club BC in late 2018 with a mandate to bring an Indigenous lens to the work of Sierra Club BC, alongside the traditional scientific lens.  As a lawyer, prior to this role, Hannah practiced public interest environmental law and was deeply involved in learning from Indigenous communities about their systems of law and governance.    

You'll hear that Hannah is a big proponent of the McConnell Foundation's Innoweave program "Impact and Strategic Clarity", which they completed in 2019.  It's how they developed a Theory of Change (see the podcast resources), building clarity around what the organization aimed to achieve and how they would do it.   While it was a difficult process, coming in as a new Executive Director and with this big change mandate, they've come through the other side and landed in a strong position to face the challenges of COVID-19.  They're able to leverage their clarity of purpose, shared values, and bonds as a team as they work remotely.  They have greater direct participation from Indigenous peoples in the work.  This clarity has also led to a stronger funding position.     

Sierra Club BC's experience highlights the need to check our biases and identify things we may take for granted.  It also shows how challenging it can be to question our values, and change, but it also highlights the great value in doing so. 

 Resources 

Sierra Club BC:  https://sierraclub.bc.ca  

Sierra Club BC's Theory of Change: (see below) 

Hannah Askew:  https://twitter.com/HannahAskew

2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report: https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/