Jay Johnson is the Chief Negotiator and Senior Policy Advisor to the Chiefs Executive Council of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. He is an Implementation Team member of Bringing the Salmon Home: The Columbia River Salmon Reintroduction Initiative.
Jay has worked to represent and advance Indigenous governance, title and rights interests for over fifteen years. On behalf of the Syilx Okanagan Nation he has led a variety of natural resource and energy sector negotiations and governance files, including the Columbia River Treaty negotiations and a ground-breaking Indigenous relationship agreement with BC Hydro.
Jay is the BC First Nations Leadership Council’s provincial coordinator of the BC First Nations Gaming Committee, has been a special advisor to three BC cabinet ministers and has worked on international development projects in Jordan, Egypt, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Jay holds an MA in International Political Economy from Dalhousie and is a PhD Candidate at the University of Alberta. He has taught political science and Indigenous governance at the University of Alberta, Athabasca University and the University of Victoria.
