span data-olk-copy-source=”MessageBody”><Dallas Smith is the founder, president and CEO of the Nanwakolas Council – a cutting edge First Nations organization that protects and manages First Nation cultural values while building strategic opportunities and partnerships with both Government and Industry to increase sustainable opportunities and employment for the region. Dallas comes from the Tlowitsis Nation on northern Vancouver Island, where his 30+ year career started in supporting a land-use planning process for his Nation.

Today Dallas continues to work representing multiple First Nations interests in navigating complex negotiations with crown governments, building partnerships with industry and environmental groups, and pushing for new large-scale collaborative governance agreements to catalyze land and marine protection and improved management in the Great Bear Rainforest and Sea.

Dallas also has served on many boards and committees ranging from the Island Coastal Economic Trust, Coast Sustainability Trust, Coast Funds, and GeoScience BC, as well as advisory committees like the Premiers Council on the Environment and the Ministers Council on Employment for Peoples with Disabilities.