Board
David Livingstone (Chair)
David Livingstone has worked in the north for over 45 years and has made Yellowknife his home since 1987. He worked in several departments during his 33-year career with the federal government, holding different responsibilities but always focused on northern environmental and resource development issues. These included the NWT Protected
Areas Strategy, the NWT Water Stewardship Strategy, the NWT Cumulative Impacts Monitoring Program, the remediation of contaminated sites, contaminants research, the operations of the Taiga Environmental Lab, and numerous environmental and regulatory reviews of resource development projects. Since leaving the federal government in 2009, he has engaged in a wide range of environmental stewardship projects and
programs in the NWT, Nunavut and internationally. In 2011, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society awarded him the Massey Medal for outstanding achievement in Canadian geography, particularly his work on conservation initiatives.
David is currently the chair of the Giant Mine Oversight Board. He also chairs the Inuvialuit Environmental Impact Screening Committee, advises the Délįne Got’įnę Government on the remediation of abandoned mines and other contaminated sites near Great Bear Lake, and is a policy advisor to the NWT-Wilfrid Laurier University research partnership.
Ken Hall
Ken was born in Yellowknife and grew up out at the Giant campsite. His family has a long history of working and living at Giant. Ken holds diplomas in Ecology and Environmental Sciences from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and was the first environmental technician at Giant in the 1970’s. His career included time with Fisheries and Oceans when he travelled and worked throughout the Central Arctic spending time in many small communities. He went on to become a hazardous substance/contaminated site specialist with the GNWT then managed the environmental protection services until he retired in 2011. Working in both industry and public service with people from across the North has helped him develop a balanced perspective. Ken has been on the Giant Mine Oversight Board since 2015.
Graeme Clinton
Graeme is an economist with more than 25 years of experience. His first look at Canada’s northern economies came in the early 2000s while working as a senior economist with the Conference Board of Canada when he studied the economic future of Nunavut and the NWT after the territories separated. Graeme has studied economies in Canada, South America, and Eastern Europe, but after moving to Yellowknife in 2002, has focussed primarily on the growth and development of the NWT and Nunavut. Graeme views economics as the study of choices, specifically, how our individual and collective wellbeing is determined by our ability to understand, assess, and make the most of the choices available to us.
Adrian D’Hont
Adrian brings to the Board experience as a wildlife biologist using GIS to evaluate data, develop analytical and modelling procedures to assist in the planning and management of wildlife, environmental assessments, non renewable resource developments and protected areas. He has worked as a contaminants specialist on behalf of the NWT Environmental Contaminants Committee, on matters regarding contamination and human health in the NWT. Adrian was active in the field of Traditional Knowledge and Harvest studies, representing the GNWT Wildlife Management Division on the Departmental Traditional Knowledge Committee. His experience also includes research for the Dene-Metis Negotiations Secretariat, assessment and communications work with the Slave River Basin Coalition, hydrometric work with the Water Survey of Canada and a radiation technologist running the Eldorado Nuclear Limited Radiation Reduction Program in Uranium City and Eldorado.
Marc Lange
Marc has resided in northern Canada for the past twenty years. An ecologist by training, he is currently the Principle of NorthbyNorth Corp, an environmental and business services consultancy supporting community-based, private, and government initiatives. He has experience with analysis of monitoring results, cumulative effects monitoring, and regulatory decision-making with specific areas of expertise in policy development (e.g., recreational land use framework), strategic planning (e.g., accountability framework for CIMP and Lands Sustainability), program development & implementation related to environment and natural resource stewardship; land use planning; conservation planning; environmental assessment and regulatory processes in the Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut; and Indigenous engagement in program planning and research and monitoring initiatives including community-based research and monitoring.
Mark Palmer
Mark Palmer has over 39 years of experience working primarily in the Federal Government. He started his career in Yellowknife in 1985, focussing on water quality issues with government and at Con Mine. Since then, he has worked for different federal departments in various locations on a wide range of national and international environmental issues. The last 34 years has focused on the remediation of contaminated sites across Canada’s North. In his numerous different roles, he has a wide variety of experience in areas such as site assessments, risk assessments, development of remediation options, regulatory processes, contracting and socio economic strategies. He has served as a director on the
Giant Mine Oversight Board member since 2019.
Staff
Executive Director – Ben Nind
Ben has called Yellowknife home since 1967. He holds a B.A. in Law and Political Science and is currently the Executive Director of the Giant Mine Oversight Board. He has many years of experience in community engagement, facilitation and cross-cultural communications. He has held positions in both the territorial and federal government, as well as in the profit and non-profit sector. Ben announced his retirement from his position January 1, 2025.