Ann Dale

Ann Dale is both an academic -- one of Canada's foremost experts in sustainable development -- and an environmental activist deeply committed to building capacity in the environmental movement. "I simply can't believe that as a species we would ever leave our children a legacy less than anything we had," she says.

Professor Dale has led several major research initiatives at Royal Roads University. She is the Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Community Development, she has led an online research program exploring the use of dialogue for literacy and informing the public policy community, and she spearheaded an exploration of the relationship between agency, social capital, and sustainable community development. She is the principal investigator at the Canadian Consortium for Sustainable Development Research, a director of the World Fisheries Trust, a fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the National Advisory Committee on Energy Efficiency. In 2011, she began leading a new research project entitled "MC3: Meeting the Climate Change Challenge in British Columbia" funded by the Pacific Institute for Climate Change Studies. In addition, Ann Dale led the creation of the National Environmental Treasure, a $30 million people's trust for the environment. The group, the board of which she is presently a director, is devoted to the exclusive funding of Canadian environmental organizations for capacity building in critical areas such as environmental education, communications and infrastructure. Professor Dale is also the president of the Canadian Biodiversity Institute.

Professor Dale is the recipient of the 2001 Policy Research Initiative Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Policy for her book, At the Edge: Sustainable Development in the 21st Century. More recent publications include A Policy Agenda for Canadian Municipalities (2011) and Urban Sustainability: Reconnecting Space and Place (2012). Before pursuing her academic career, she was an executive in the federal government, and was one of the two civil servants behind the creation of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy in 1988. Carleton University awarded her the Bissett Alumni Award for Distinctive Contributions to the Public Sector in 2009. She was the 2013 recipient of the annual Molson Prize for the Social Sciences, awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts, and the 2014 recipient of the Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award, given by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia.