Janna Wale is passionate about finding ways to combat climate change.
So passionate, the provincial government is noticing.
Wale has recently been named a recipient of the 21st annual Community Award, which recognizes extraordinary British Columbians who build better, stronger and more resilient communities.
According to her nomination package, her commitment to improving the world for the next seven generations is evident through her impactful work and research projects.
She has represented Indigenous youth on a global stage, speaking at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai with SevenGen, a collective of Indigenous Youth Energy Leaders.
Janna participates in various climate change advisory committees, volunteering her time with non-profit organizations and encouraging youth to pursue research in this field.
She has also been named as a finalist for Community Advocate of the Year in Foresight Canada’s 2024 BC Clean Tech Awards. The annual awards recognize the most cutting-edge innovators and academics who are advancing climate solutions in British Columbia.
Last year, Wale was the recipient of the Anitra Paris Memorial Award for female youth climate leadership through Clean Energy BC. This award recognizes excellence by a female youth living in BC who demonstrates leadership in the protection of the environment, and a drive to create a better world for people and nature.
But picking up accolades isn’t what drives Wale, who is Gitxsan from Gitanmaax First Nation, and also Cree-Métis on her mother’s side.
“Growing up and watching my family food fish, was something that was really important for me, making sure that we have the ability to continue to live on the land as we have for thousands of years,” she said. “I think most of the work that I do is really towards that goal of making sure that my children and my grandchildren and their grandchildren are able to kind of engage with being Gitxsan in the same way that I’ve been able to.”
Wale was born on Gitxsan territory but moved away during elementary school when her dad got a new job. However, they would go back every year for the salmon run in the summer.
“That was one of the things that got me interested in climate change, is really going back to my community every year and noticing those changes was something that was really powerful to me, and it really kind of defined where I wanted to go with my education,” she said.
She holds two degrees, a Bachelor of Natural Resource Sciences - Honours (B.Nrs.) from Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and a Master’s degree in Sustainability in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies from the University of British Columbia Okanagan.
Wale currently works with the Canadian Climate Institute. She started last year with the adaptation research stream but now they have created a new research stream.
“It’s going to be the Indigenous research stream focussed on being a little bit more cross-cutting and intersectional in the way that we interact with climate work and climate policy,” she explained.
“So we’re working on a project right now that looks at the intersection between Indigenous community housing, health and clean energy and energy efficiency. So, really looking to bring my knowledge and experience as an Indigenous person to that work and use different ways of knowing and being compared to climate policy that is very Western. So it’s an opportunity to do stuff differently.”
She said it makes a lot of sense to integrate Indigenous and Western ways of knowing to build resilience to climate change.
“Coming from the Gitanmaax First Nation, and really watching how our communities interacted with the land and a lot of our teachings, I think, to me, going through post-secondary and higher education, it really seemed like, the only way forward was to use time-tested methods to adapt to climate change,” she explained.
“So, in terms of bringing that into my work, it really comes naturally.”
However, she added at the same time it is difficult because there are not a lot of people working in the industry who have that time-tested knowledge, or she said there hasn’t been that kind of space created for Indigenous ways of knowing.
“It is so really cool to be in this space,” Wale added. “And acknowledging all the people that have come before me to make it a lot easier for me. And then also, you know, the work that I do is really about also creating that space for others that are coming after me as well.”
Creating space is also her advice for other young, Indigenous women.
“In a lot of these spaces, especially where I’m at now, it’s a lot of white men in suits,” she said. “I stick out a little bit. I’m young, I’m indigenous and I am a woman.
“It’s really easy to sit back and think that you’re in this space and that’s good enough, but more than ever we need Indigenous women, we need youth leaders to be able to step up into the space and really create change. So I think more than anything take up space and do what you can.”
Wale will pick up her 2024 Community Award in a formal presentation ceremony held in Victoria, BC on May 8 in the presence of Janet Austin, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.
“Climate change is such a hard thing to be working on day in and day out,” Wale said. “It’s nice to get the recognition, but also being recognized for these awards as an Indigenous person is even cooler that there’s that interest in a lot of the work that I’m doing.”