Dr. John Sinclair sitting in a boat on a river, looking out at the nature surrounding him.

On February 7^th, Dr. John Sinclair from the Natural Resources Institute at the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources was announced as the winner of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. This award will be presented to Dr. Sinclair at IAIA’s annual conference event in Bologna, Italy during May of this year.

The IAIA Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded to long-term supporters and members of IAIA for major contributions to the field of impact assessment.

Spanning more than 30 years, Dr. Sinclair has been recognized by his colleagues as a champion of impact assessment, working tirelessly to expand and strengthen both its theoretical foundations and practical implementation. He is driven by his passion for furthering what he refers to as “the sustainability project”, where he considers impact assessment one of the most fundamental tools for ensuring sustainability considerations to inform planning and decision making, while simultaneously promoting democratic participation and facilitating social and transformative learning.

Dr. Sinclair’s academic work prominently focuses on learning and public participation in impact assessment, which has led to: over 140 peer-reviewed journal publications and refereed book chapters and reports, 85 conference presentations, dozens of reports for government agencies and environmental organizations, and the training and supervision of over 100 graduate students.

Dr. Sinclair joined the IAIA public participation section in the early 2000’s, and since 2017 has served as section co-chair. This area of work has led to a recently published book, Handbook of Public Participation in Impact Assessment (2024). The book was written with an international group of authors, many of whom are IAIA members.

Leading to research projects in Canada and internationally, Dr. Sinclair’s academic output has led to work in India, Thailand, and Kenya. His current group of 11 Master’s students includes work in: India, examining approaches to community-based strategic assessment; Colombia, considering the local implementation of essential elements for meaningful public participation, and Canada, exploring national carbon offsets in impact assessment.

One recent PhD graduate extended their work on community-based approaches and an incorporation of next generation IA elements in two live assessments of water development projects in Kenya.

Many of Dr. Sinclair’s graduate students have gone on to careers in the impact assessment field with all levels of settler governments, Indigenous governments and governance organizations, consulting firms, and environmental organizations. One of his Master’s students went on to found Narratives Inc., recognized with the 2024 IAIA Corporate Initiative Award for developing a harmonized impact assessment model in partnership with Niiwin Wendaanimok, an Indigenous construction and environmental monitoring firm.

Dr. Sinclair’s colleagues are continually impressed by his tireless dedication to his life’s work, both inside and outside the academy. His achievements have made significant contributions to the understanding and promotion of best practices for impact assessment.

Congratulations, Dr. John Sinclair!

During the conversation, Anishinaabe Elder and knowledge keeper Phyllis Pinesse explained that the waters of Shoal Lake have a holistic health meaning to Indigenous People in Treaty 3. She pointed out how this relation was interfered with by the construction of the dams and the aqueduct constructed in the early 1900s through which water flows to Winnipeg. These developments change water levels, and periodically reverse the flow of water, resulting in an increase in contamination. algae, and sedimentation patterns of what was once pristine water. She also explained that for their ceremonial practices they use water and copper, a mineral that Anishinaabe People used to trade with other First Nations for their healing properties.

Anishinaabe Elder and knowledge keeper Phyllis Pinesse sharing about her helpers that support holistic healing.

Mayan scholar Filiberto Penados shared that in Yucatan language people greet each other asking “how is your walking?”, a greeting that has a profound notion of relational wellbeing. He explained that this speaks for the importance of relationships with other beings. As he noted, Indigenous People have always had ways to relate to others, to sustain relationships and bring these into balance. Relationships with the land have been interrupted and there is a need of restoring them in an Indigenous way. He emphasizes that the healing is not only required within Indigenous communities but within humanity as a whole.

Ărramăt co-leader María Eugenia Choque Quispe shared her personal story about the discrimination she suffered when she entered university and how she “healed her spirit” through revaluing her identity. For her, practicing her language was important to reconstruct and disseminate the ancestral Aymara oral history. Furthermore, she understood that this cultural practice can only be reproduced through the restitution of their territorial rights and the ability of Indigenous Peoples to exercise their territorial autonomy in their Ayllus. In the land-based and Indigenous-led project that she is working on with the community of Corque Marca, Aymara People are recording their songs, myths, and legends as a way to heal their relationship with the territory.

For more information on the Ărramăt project see: https://arramatproject.org

Participants in the Conversation:

Phyllis Pinesse is a Natural Resource technician from Iskatewizaagegan Independent First Nation. She is a Knowledge Keeper, Grandmother and Mother. She is also a teacher of medicinal plants, and cultural values and vision.

Filiberto Penados, a Maya scholar from Belize is Associate Professor and Research Director at Galen University.  His activist scholarly work focuses on Indigenous and critical education and development. He has a long history of working in and with Indigenous communities and organizations in Belize. Dr Penados chairs the Julian Cho Society and is a technical advisor to the Belize National Indigenous Council and Toledo Alcaldes Association.

María Eugenia Choque Quispe, Aymara woman from the Plurinational State of Boliva with Social Work Degree from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Boliva and Master’s in Andean History from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Quito, Ecuador. She has worked for the defense of Indigenous Rights, strengthening of Indigenous organizations with a focus on the participation of women in these processes. She contributed to the development of the American Declaration of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and UNDRIP. She is also a previous member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.