Background:
Greg is a member of Cstelnec’ (Adams Lake Indian Band) and resides in his home community. His mother is the late Cecelia (nee Sampson) George and his grandparents are the late Ann and Henry Sampson. Greg previously served a 3-year term on Council for his community, holding the natural resources pillar. Prior to being on Council he was self-employed in the Indigenous tourism and culinary services industries. Before owning and operating his sole proprietorship Greg was employed as the Adams Lake Indian Band Fisheries Program Manager for many years.
Current:
Greg is employed as the Operations Manager for the Fraser Salmon Management Council (FSMC) full-time from his home office in Chase, BC. Along with his day job working with the 76-member First Nations signed onto the FSMC, Greg is also the part-time Indigenous Project Director on the Big Bar Landslide remediation response team. Additionally, he is in his second term as the Mid-Fraser River Panel member representative in the international Pacific Salmon Commission.
Fisheries Knowledge:
In 1998 Greg championed a strategy to resource, promote, implement and manage the Adams Lake Indian Band Fisheries Program, which is still functional today. The main goal of the fisheries program was to rejuvenate Cstelnec’ communal fisheries activities and manage our fisheries projects.
He also provides strong political representation of Indigenous interests, perspectives and rights regarding fisheries management and policy issues at consultative and collaborative sessions with federal, provincial and local governments. His intent here is to ensure that colonial thinking governments are taken to task to include Indigenous peoples in co-design, co-development, co-implementation and co-monitoring of all frameworks, policies, regulations and legislative processes that impact fisheries, and their habitat.
Education:
Greg has a fisheries technologist diploma from Malaspina University College and a certificate in business administration from the BC Institute of Technology. He has also completed other short courses including archeology, negotiations and tourism.
Community Service:
Greg is very passionate about community service to the Cstelenc’, and beyond. He has been a communal fisher, hunter and gatherer for most of his life and freely passes his traditional knowledge onto the next generations. Since a very young age some of Greg’s elder family members trained him to exercise his ancestral fishing, hunting and gathering rights. This traditional upbringing empowered Greg to know his spiritual relationship with Mother Nature, as well as exercising his leadership role in the community. He has in the past and continues to sit on numerous natural materials use related planning and steering committees. His lifelong motivation revolves around the collaborative advocacy for protection, respect and recognition of Indigenous title and rights to the land, water and natural materials that we all depend on for life.
