Founder & Executive Director, Sacred Earth Solar

Melina Laboucan-Massimo is Lubicon Cree and was born in her community of Little Buffalo in Northern Alberta. She has worked on social, environmental and climate justice issues for the past 20 years.

Melina is the co-founder of Indigenous Climate Action, the founder of Sacred Earth and the inaugural Indigenous research fellow at the David Suzuki Foundation where her research focused on Climate Change, Indigenous Knowledge and Renewable Energy.

She is the host of a TV series called Power to the People which profiles sustainable climate solutions from renewable energy, food security to eco-housing in Indigenous communities across Canada which is currently airing on The Weather Network, the Knowledge Network, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and on SBS Australia.

Melina holds a Master’s degree in Indigenous Governance with a focus on sustainability and energy transition at the University of Victoria. Melina has written for a variety of publications and produced numerous short films on climate change, environmental justice, just transition, water issues, energy sovereignty, MMIWG2S and Indigenous cultural revitalization.

Melina has been involved in Indigenous media making since 2004 while working as a coordinator to support emerging Indigenous filmmakers through a film training program at the Indigenous Media Arts Group and as a media literacy program coordinator at Redwire Native Media Society. Melina has studied, campaigned and worked in Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Canada and across Europe focusing on environmental justice, resource extraction, climate change impacts, media literacy and Indigenous rights & responsibilities.

In 2021, Melina was named one of the 26 Climate Champions in Canada by the Canada Climate Law Initiative. She has also been profiled and recognized for her work throughout the years in Elle Magazine, CNN, Global Citizen, Chatelaine, Flare, CBC, Earth.org, 350.org and Refinery29. She received the Canadian Eco-Hero Award in 2019 by Planet in Focus.

Melina has campaigned to build sustainable futures alongside icons like Jane Fonda, Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Klein, David Suzuki, and Bill McKibben. She has been invited to speak before hundreds of audiences over the years including in the US Congress, the Harvard Law Forum, British Parliament, CTV’s The Social, National Geographic, Climate Week NYC, Sustainable Production Forum and numerous universities and international organizations like Friends of the Earth and Amnesty International while campaigning globally for environmental and climate justice.

Melina has worked on the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women since 2013 after the suspicious death of her sister Bella whose case still remains unsolved.

Melina currently serves on the boards of NDN Collective, Seeding Sovereignty, David Suzuki Foundation as well as the National Steering Committee of Indigenous Clean Energy.