Dr. Justine Townsend is a community engagement professional, educator, and environmental practitioner with over 19 years’ experience working at the intersection of environmental sustainability, community development, and corporate social responsibility. As a Canadian citizen of European descent, Justine supports Indigenous governance and Indigenous-led conservation in part to advance reconciliation among settler and Indigenous peoples and with the earth. Justine’s expertise includes Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), ethically braiding Western scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems, and communicating knowledge for impactful change.

Justine supports communities, organizations, and businesses to connect with their values, identify desired outcomes, and achieve powerful results. She designs and leads interventions to advance systemic changes that support reconciliation and ecological well-being. Justine brings a relationships-focused approach to her leadership and fosters cross-cultural collaborations using strong communication, facilitation, and project management skills.

For her PhD (2022), Justine conducted community-engaged research with two Indigenous-led conservation initiatives in B.C.. Drawing on political ecology, scholarship on reconciliation and Indigenous resurgence, and decolonizing methods, Justine investigated IPCAs as potential processes of reconciliation.

Justine is a founding member of the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership (CRP) and continues to collaborate with the CRP on projects related to conservation governance, Ethical Space, and domestic law and policy.