Founding Director, Board Chair
Whitehorse, Yukon
bdownie@trust.firstcontactdesign.com
Over the years Bruce developed a broad base of expertise in the field of natural resource planning and management, and in the field of education, including wide professional experience with Parks Canada and three provincial parks agencies. In addition, he has extended that experience to a development context in Africa. Specifically his resource management experience has focused on strategic planning for protected areas and associated recreation and tourism activities. His planning experience has frequently embraced issues of sustainability in aboriginal communities and has involved the facilitation of public involvement processes and capacity building. His experience as an educator includes teaching in the public school system and at university, post secondary education program and curriculum planning and design, and interpretive planning, design and production related to parks and tourism.
Throughout his career Bruce has had management responsibilities for a wide variety of large and small projects and programs. He has designed multifaceted projects, provided leadership to interdisciplinary teams of professionals, provided professional inputs in problem solving and product development, and liaised with client staff, affected agencies, community groups and organizations. This experience has involved extensive work in cross cultural settings in aboriginal communities of the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and in southern and eastern Africa.
Bruce is one of the founding directors of the Kesho Trust and has been responsible for the development of the Africa programs of the organization. His educational background includes both resource management and education. He received his PhD at the University of Victoria and his research focused on the interface of community development, tourism and conservation as experienced in Tanzania’s Saadani National Park, and its surrounding communities.
Bruce is a member of the IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas and the Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy. He also holds an appointment as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria.