Board of Directors
Namaste Marsden
Namaste Marsden, Masemtxoxw, Wilp Gamlaxyeltxw, has over twenty years experience with First Nations and Indigenous programs and projects, universities, agencies and organizations at the community, nation, provincial, national and international levels. Her areas of specialty include First Nations rights, title, nation-based, community and Indigenous research and evaluation, data sovereignty, mentorship and succession of First Nations into leadership, Indigenous centred policy development and implementation. She is committed to ethical engagement, addressing colonialism and racism against First Nations peoples and privileging Indigenous worldviews with a focus to moving formally to rights recognition. She has been instrumental in developing capacity and leadership for key initiatives such as the International Journal of Indigenous Health, First Nations Health Authority partnerships in ethics and OCAP®, the past AHRNetS Secretariat and other initiatives. She is currently working with her nation Gitanyow moving towards traditional governance by hereditary system in its territory. She is past Co-Chair of Research Ethics BC Advisory committee and current member of the BC Office of Patient Centred Measurement Indigenous Advisory Committee and is Adjunct Professor with SFU Faculty of Health Sciences. She holds an Honours BA in Native Studies from Trent University and LLB from University of Victoria. She is the Daxgyet Director (governance) with the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs.