Our Team
We lead Project Reconciliation to honour our promises to Mother Earth and in respect of our responsibilities as representatives of our Peoples. We are supported by a like-minded team that is dedicated to the betterment of our communities.
Delbert Wapass
Executive Chair & Founder
Former Chief of Thunderchild First Nation; Vice-Chair of Canada’s Indian Resource Council; former executive member of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and former Chair of IRC.
Wallace Fox
Alberta Regional Director
Former Chief of the Onion Lake Cree Nation; Chair of Canada’s Indian Resource Council; former member of the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, Federation of Sovereign Indian Nations, and Assembly of Indigenous Communities.
Shane Gottfriedson
B.C. Regional Director
Former Chief of te Secwepemc; former Tribal Chief of the Shuswap Nation; former Regional Chief of British Columbia.; instrumental to agreements with New Gold Inc and Kinder Morgan Pipeline, as well as with forestry and range agreements.
Michelle Corfield
B.C. Marine & Environmental Advisor
Nuu-chah-nulth from Ucluelet First Nation, B.C.; community leader with a passion for advancing First Nations’ interests; founded Corfield & Associates consulting; operates Hyistuup Harvesting (seafood); co-founded and is executive-in-residence at Simon Fraser University Executive Business program, focused on Indigenous business; Port of Nanaimo board member.
Stephen Mason
Managing Director
Over 40 years success in developing domestic and international energy business opportunities; led the start-up of seven companies, the most significant being Artumas Group Inc., which reached an enterprise value of $1B with over 200 employees in Canada, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Pat Whelan
Managing Director
Over 30 years executive leadership and entrepreneurial experience; previously served as the Founder and CEO of Atlantic Directional Inc., which he sold to Ensign Energy Services in 2011.
Dr. Harrie Vredenburg
Executive Board Member
Professor and Suncor Chair in Strategy and Sustainability at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business; appointments as a Research Fellow at the School of Public Policy and as an International Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School.
Richard J.C. Grant
General Counsel
Over 35 years legal, land, business and management experience in the energy and resources sectors worldwide; acted for Indigenous groups and industry to negotiate over 15 commercial joint ventures in Western Canada and the North pertaining to Indigenous rights.
Richard has extensive experience relating to pipelines, access, Indigenous and other communities' consultation and liaison. He has negotiated many impact benefit agreements, surface access agreements, master development agreements and other arrangements between industry and Indigenous groups to enable energy and resource projects to be completed.
Bradley Dunne
Manager Business Development
Mr. Dunne has worked for various mid- and large-cap Canadian producers in a variety of accounting and project roles including Joint Venture, Production Accounting, Royalties and Budgeting and Forecasting.
Brad has previously worked for Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Harvest Energy & Penn West Petroleum (now Obsidian). Brad's experience at CNRL incorporated an extensive understanding of Indian Oil and Gas Canada (IOGC) Royalties. He is also experienced in accounting automation (production accounting & JV/service fees), financial modeling, IFRS reporting and valuation methods.
Bradley has a Bachelors of Business Administration majoring in accounting from SAIT. CPA candidate (sitting CFE Sept 2019).
Curtis Heide
Advisor
Curtis has worked in oil and gas development for the last 20 years, both for large integrated companies and small junior startups. During that time, he has worked in the heavy oil fields surrounding Lloydminster in Alberta and Saskatchewan in both conventional and thermal operations.
In 2008, Curtis worked to establish the successful CSS thermal pilot project at Onion Lake First Nation which has now grown to a 12,000 boepd commercial SAGD success.
Curtis has worked with many First Nations to advance economic diversity and in 2009, assisted Chief Wapass in establishing the Centre of Excellence at the FSIN to provide support and opportunity for responsible development of natural resources to First Nation communities. He continues to work with communities on project management to create value through natural resource development, commercial developments, and indigenous owned businesses.
Curtis Heide is a Professional Engineer registered with APEGA and APEGS.
Darren Deschambeault
Manager, Indigenous Communications
Member of the Kaministikominahiko-Skak Cree Nation Treaty # 5; 34 years’ experience in radio, television and print journalism, including training and working at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Liana Wolf Leg
Manager, Indigenous Youth Engagement
Treaty 7 youth from Siksika Nation; former teacher and education assistant at Chief Old Sun School; former Youth Chief, Siksika Nation.
Kyle Mason
Manager, Communications & Logistics
Kyle has worked in Supply Chain and Customer Relations departments for various industries, including the oil and gas sector, for the past five years. Prior to this, over a seven-year period, he worked on Canadian and international drilling rig crews, led on-site infrastructure construction teams and held technical and community out-reach positions in the oil and gas service industry.
Kyle holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a minor in Entrepreneurship from Mount Royal University in Calgary.
Jennifer Turner
Director, B.C. Relations
Jennifer has over 10 years experience geological drilling supervision on rigs throughout Western Canada. She is passionate about driving forward the energy transition and revolutionizing resource development.
As communications director for an NGO, she organized a pioneering cross-cultural solar training program and installation with the Louis Bull Tribe in Alberta. She is a former Chair of the Board for the Newfoundland and Labrador Sexual Assault Crisis and Prevention Centre and a former board member for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (NL Chapter).
Jennifer holds a B.Sc. (honors) in geology and a B.Sc. in biology from Memorial university, where her studies focused on marine biology.