Christianne Wilhelmson

Executive Director Georgia Strait Alliance

  • Vancouver BC

Non-profit leader in ocean conservation in urban British Columbia, where 75 per cent of the province's population lives, works and plays.

Contact

Social

Biography

Christianne has been Executive Director of Georgia Strait Alliance since 2010 after spending six years as the organization’s Clean Air and Water Program Coordinator. She is an Ontario transplant who came to BC in 1995 to pursue her MSc in ecology at UBC and, like so many, stayed on after graduation. Past experience includes time as a lab technician and freelance science writer. Christianne leads Georgia Strait Alliance’s government and media relations efforts, along with supporting the organization's strategic campaigns and programs. She has a deep passion for social change and connecting with people across sectors to build a better future for our communities. Christianne is the Past-President of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival Board of Directors and a Founding Board Director and Vice-President of The Elbow Theatre Society.

Industry Expertise

Non-Profit/Charitable
Renewables and Environmental
Fishery and Aquaculture

Areas of Expertise

Ocean Conservation
Whale protection
Habitat protection
Marine planning
Salmon Aquaculture
Sewage
Environmental Policy
Charitable Sector
Governance and leadership
Water and Wastewater Treatment
Waterfront planning
Fresh water conservation
Protection environmentale
Ecology
Environmental Protection
Pollution Ecology
Marine and freswater aquatic ecosystems
Marine Biodiversity
Climate Change

Education

University of Ottawa

BA

English/History/Political Science

1987

Trent University

BSc

Biology/Environmental and Resource Sciences

1993

University of British Columbia

MSc

Ecology

1999

Studied learning and memory in rufous hummingbords

Affiliations

  • PuSh International Performing Arts Festival (Board)
  • Elbow Theatre (Board)

Languages

  • English
  • French

Media Appearances

Courts, cashflow and election campaigning: what lies ahead for Kinder Morgan pipeline

Metro News  print

2017-01-13

Texas energy giant Kinder Morgan no doubt breathed a sigh of relief this week. That's because on Wednesday, the B.C. government gave it the OK for its $7-billion pipeline expansion, toppling yet another obstacle to it ramping up the flow of diluted bitumen to the West Coast.

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B.C. oil spill response times make Trans Mountain Pipeline 'a ticking time bomb'

CBC News  online

2016-12-13

Despite assurances from Canada's minister of transport that Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline is safe, environmentalists in B.C. fear the expansion is an environmental disaster waiting to happen.

Christianne Wilhelmson, the executive director of the Georgia Strait Alliance, said that B.C.'s current spill responses is not effective even for the ships currently operating in the region. "There is no such thing as an oil spill clean-up. There is no such thing as world class spill response. These are two terms that we use a lot that are actually meaningless," she said.

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Christianne Wilhelmson , directrice générale de l’organisme environnemental Georgia Strait Alliance, réagit à l’aval donné par Ottawa au projet d’oléoduc Trans Mountain

Radio Canada  radio

2016-12-01

Christianne Wilhelmson , directrice générale de l’organisme environnemental Georgia Strait Alliance, réagit à l’aval donné par Ottawa au projet d’oléoduc Trans Mountain. En plus des risques de déversement de pétrole, elle souligne que l’impact de l’augmentation du trafic de pétroliers sur la population d’épaulards évaluée à environ à 80 mammifères.

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Articles

Opinion: Is B.C.'s new spill response law really world-leading?

Vancouver Sun

2016-04-13

The provincial government’s new and long-awaited oil spill preparedness bill will soon be debated in the legislature for the first time. The bill is an important step forward, promising new provisions aimed at reducing the tremendous gaps in B.C.’s ability to respond to spills. Although this is good, and much-needed in our province, the bill has some notable missing pieces.

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A healthy future for Vancouver's waterfront

Georgia Straight

2015-09-23

If we see the waterfront as a natural resource and acknowledge that without adequate planning and care it might someday look very different than today, wouldn’t we want to commit to developing a vision for its sustainability in the near and long-term future?

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Christianne Wilhelmson: Municipalities, First Nations, deserve say on oil-spill plans

The Province

2015-09-22

This week, local politicians will be hunkering down at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Vancouver to discuss key issues facing our communities. Among elected officials’ top priorities, and the fourth item to be debated, is strengthening local oil spill emergency planning and response.

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