Watersheds Canada staff
Robert Pye
Executive Director
Robert’s conservation career started when a college internship earned him a full-time communications role at the OFAH. After 25-years with the OFAH, Robert now proudly joins Watersheds Canada as the Executive Director. Robert is the author of a national award-winning outdoors program. He was on the communications frontline on some of the biggest topics to face our natural resources. As a senior nonprofit association director, he developed major branding campaigns, introduced new corporate partnerships, and modernized revenue generation programs to support conservation. In 2009, Robert achieved “Certified Association Executive (CAE)” designation from the Canadian Society of Association Executives. Robert is a Public Relations graduate from Durham College, and a Skills Canada-Ontario alumni. He is an accomplished speaker and writer.
As a child, Robert’s passion for freshwater was developed along the banks of his hometown trout stream. Today, his family proudly owns heritage property near Peterborough where they produce maple syrup, manage forests, and host environmental field trips for high school students. Robert’s outdoor passions include fishing, backcountry camping, as well as hunting with his two boys and English Setters.
Deborah D’Amico
Senior Development Lead
Deborah supports Watersheds Canada as a Senior Development Lead. She has had a lifelong connection to nature and the environment, though her professional journey has taken her through many other organizations and sectors – something she is today passionate about contributing to the environmental sector. Deborah has arts and art history degrees from the University of Toronto and University of St Andrews (UK), and has worked in communications and fundraising for the health, arts, communications, and charitable sectors over the last two decades. Over the last few years, Deborah has re-sparked her love of nature by volunteering at the Toronto Wildlife Centre’s nursery and starting an environmental certification program through the University of Guelph. In her spare time, Deborah can be found on a trail somewhere with her nearest and dearest, including her two dogs.
Melissa Dakers
Habitat and Stewardship Program Manager
Melissa Dakers joined the Watersheds Canada team in 2015, after taking time to raise her two sons. During that time, Melissa was a very active member of the Mississippi Lakes Association, where she was the Water Quality & Lake Steward on the board of directors for twelve years. She was an enthusiastic member of the Mississippi Lake Plan Committee, where she has lent her expertise to the completion of the Mississippi Lake Plan, and was an active co-chair and member of the Environmental Committee.
Melissa studied Natural Resource Management at Guelph University and Ecosystem Management at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Lindsay. Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority employed her for 6 years directly after graduation, as a Water Quality Technician and Watershed Monitoring Supervisor. Liaising with other agencies, partners and lake stewards to promote and educate them on environmental practices is her passion. It is a beautiful thing when a career and passion come together.
Melissa lives and plays on Mississippi Lake with her husband and two boys, year-round. When not at home crafting, you will find her camping or paddling around in her kayak and always with a smile on her face.
Chloe Lajoie
National Conservation Director
Chloe Lajoie is an outdoor enthusiast who has been studying and practicing Environmental Stewardship since 2009. She attended Nipissing University and graduated with an Honours Degree in Environmental Biology and Technology. As part of her program, she also attended Canadore College and completed the Environmental Technician – Protection and Compliance Program. While completing her studies, Chloe was able to take part in the Undergraduate Research Conference in 2013, presenting her thesis on the effects of Forest Tent Caterpillar outbreaks on Trembling Aspen. In the past, she has worked at Ferguson Forest Centre and Lake Superior Provincial Park.
Chloe joined the team at Watersheds Canada in 2015 as a Stewardship Program Assistant and now manages The Natural Edge and oversees the growth of Watersheds Canada’s other programs. Her passion is working with landowners to create resilient shorelands to better withstand the impacts of climate change. In her spare time, Chloe can be found having fun with family and friends, camping, kayaking, fishing, hiking, and trying out tasty new recipes!
Monica Seidel
Communications and Fundraising Manager
Monica is a passionate environmental
Nicole Dubé
Freshwater Health Coordinator (on maternity leave)
Nicole Dubé has been passionate about water issues from a young age. Whether she was doing a pond study at a local conservation area or swimming in the Great Lakes, you could always find her in the water. Her love of nature led her to work as an outdoor educator with a school board and local conservation authority.
Nicole graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Master’s degree in Social and Ecological Sustainability and a specialization in Integrated Water Management. Her research focused on community engagement about flooding in the town of New Hamburg, ON. She is interested in engaging a wide variety of people in environmental issues through art and scientific communication. When she is not at work, you can find her camping or playing with her cat named Waffles.
Ty Fischer
Freshwater Health Coordinator
Ty has spent much of his life surrounded by Canada’s wilderness, from the Rocky Mountains to the Great Lakes. As his love of these areas grew, so too did his understanding of the environmental problems that they are facing and his corresponding drive to help address them. Following this passion for environmentalism, he attended the University of Guelph for environmental science where he graduated with a specialization in Ecology.
Ty currently supports communications, education, outreach, and fundraising work for Watersheds Canada. His love of nature and wildlife shines through in his work, through which he strives to connect people to the great outdoors and bring awareness to prominent environmental issues that these areas are facing so they can be protected long into the future. In his spare time, Ty enjoys rock climbing, playing guitar, hiking, cooking, and reading.
Chantal Lefevre
Natural Edge Regional Coordinator
Chantal Lefevre has always loved nature and exploring the outdoors, because of this, she explored a career that can benefit what she loves. She graduated from Fleming College with an advanced diploma as an Environmental Technologist and then obtained her BSc. in Environmental Science from Trent University, finishing her educational career in 2020.
Chantal has experience working with Quinte Conservation Authority, Thousand Island Watershed Land Trust, and municipal and provincial governing agencies. In her free time, she enjoys kayaking, hiking, and swimming with her dogs. Chantal is excited to bring her knowledge and enthusiasm to Watersheds Canada’s flagship program, The Natural Edge.
Karen Ballentine
Bookkeeping, Administration & Fundraising Support
Watersheds Canada Board of Directors
Brett Painter
Treasurer on the Watersheds Canada Board of Directors
Bridget Andrews
Executive Director, Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds
Bridget Andrews has been working in the watershed stewardship field for the past 15 years. She is currently the Executive Director for the Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds and a Professional Agrologist. Bridget has worked with Watersheds Canada on the Love Your Lake project for the past number of years and has been a board member, representing Saskatchewan, for the past four. This has developed into an exciting partnership in supporting watershed stewardship across Canada. Bridget and her family, also own and operate a fourth generation Hereford ranch southwest of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Christie-Lee Hazzard
Supervisor GIS, City of Richmond Hill
President, CLH & Co. Inc.
Christie-Lee is a dedicated conservationist with a deep passion for preserving freshwater habitats in Canada. She excels at connecting people with nature through compelling storytelling. With a diverse career spanning various levels of government, non-government agencies, and non-profits, she also runs her own consulting business. As a Geographical Information System (GIS) professional, Christie-Lee specializes in leveraging spatial information to tackle complex conservation challenges, including mapping critical habitats, and developing programs to address wetland loss, invasive species, erosion mitigation, flood attenuation, water level controls, and biodiversity loss.
Christie-Lee serves on the board of Wildlife Habitat Canada, where she chairs the Nominating Committee, and is the Treasurer for the Parry Sound Anglers and Hunters board. She holds a Master’s degree in Biological Sciences, an Honours B.Sc. in Environmental Sciences, and a GIS – Application Specialist Certificate.
Outside of her professional life, Christie-Lee finds joy in exploring the outdoors with her family and her two labradors. Whether wandering through forests, exploring wetlands or paddling on serene waters, she always has a cup or thermos of coffee in hand, savoring the simple pleasures of nature.
Dustin Hoft
Agriculture Coordinator, Manitoba Métis Federation
Dustin holds a Master of Science in Integrated Water Resource Management from McGill University, In 2017, he had the benefit of obtaining his Certificate of Training for the Love Your Lake program, and was able to evaluate a couple hundred shoreline properties on two small lakes within Saskatchewan. Building upon his experience with the Love Your Lake Program, Dustin worked as an Agriculture Research Associate, and since 2021, Dustin has worked with the Manitoba Métis Federation to support Red River Métis agriculture, food security, biodiversity, research, and policy.
Outside his work, Dustin received the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Farmer-Rancher Award in 2023, and since 2022, Dustin has served on the Winnipeg Food Council representing Food Research, while also serving on its Research and Policy Sub-Committee and its Communications and Development Sub-Committee.
Dustin brings his Métis perspectives, values, and insight to the Board, and hopes to use his personal and professional experiences to help Watersheds Canada build more inclusive partnerships across Canada.
Emma Gignac
ALUS Content and Social Media Manager
Emma is an Environmental Anthropologist with a focus on wetland landscapes. She completed her master’s thesis at the University of Ottawa, conducting fieldwork in the marshes of Norfolk County, Ontario. Her research highlights human connections with wetland landscapes in the Great Lakes region, emphasizing both historical and contemporary attitudes towards wetland conservation and land management.
Emma has extensive experience in research and outreach. She currently works as part of the communications team at ALUS. In 2024, Emma earned the ‘Collaboration with Agriculture for Watershed Management’ micro-credential badge from Holland College. She also volunteers with the McGill Bird Observatory.
Emma loves spending time outdoors cycling, paddling, and exploring the infinite wonders of nature. She believes in the power of collaboration and community action, and is passionate about helping people connect with nature.
Lauren Lawson
PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto, and Secretary of the North American Youth Parliament for Water
Lauren is an ecologist with interests in aquatic ecology, urban ecology, and conservation science. She holds a HB.Sc in Environmental Science and Biodiversity & Conservation Biology from the University of Toronto. Currently, she is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Her PhD work focuses on water quality and land use impacts to aquatic biodiversity. Specifically, she researches the impacts of freshwater salinization on aquatic species (including Species at Risk) in rivers across the Greater Toronto Area.
Outside of her PhD work, Lauren is actively involved in the youth and young professional water sector through her position as the Secretary of the North American Youth Parliament for Water. Lauren feels a deep connection to water and splits her time with her family (including her water-loving Labrador retriever) along the shores of Lake Ontario, the mighty St. Lawrence River, and the beautiful lakes of Hastings Highlands Ontario.
Mary Ellen Stoll
Retired Manager, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
Board Chair, Watersheds Canada Board of Directors
Mary Ellen has been a Director with the Watersheds Canada Board since 2015, and has been Board Chair for the last 5 years. She has board member experience from three other organizations in the non-for-profit sector. In 2015, Mary Ellen retired from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources after a 30-year career in natural resource management that took her across the province of Ontario in a variety of roles.
She holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies, Wildlife Conservation (York University) and an Honours B.Sc. in Fisheries and Wildlife Management (University of Guelph). She currently lives in the Frontenac Arch Biosphere on the shores of Lyn Creek not far from Brockville, Ontario. Early on in her career, Mary Ellen worked for the Ontario Lakeshore Capacity Study and walked both developed and undeveloped lake shorelines in the Muskoka-Haliburton area. This experience left an indelible impact on her understanding of how cottage development can impact shorelands.
Mike Thomas
President of the Paudash Lake Conservation Association
Mike graduated from York University, and after a short career playing hockey in Europe entered the life insurance business. During the next 43 years, he built up a large employee benefits and pension company which became a public company in 2007 and was sold to a private banking firm in 2020, at which time Mike partially retired from the industry. He currently sits on four environmentally related Boards, including Watersheds Canada since 2023, and has always believed that volunteering and giving back is a duty that everyone should undertake. He lives in Uxbridge, Ontario and cottages in the Haliburton Highlands with his wife, four children, and nine grandchildren.
Patrick Racine
Business Executive and Open Water Swimmer
Patrick Racine is a business executive and avid open water swimmer with a background in water and energy management. He is currently leading a climate-tech startup based in Montreal. As a waterfront property owner, Patrick is deeply committed to preserving the health of lakes and rivers to ensure they remain pristine for recreation and ecological balance.
Outside of his professional pursuits, Patrick channels his love of water into open water swimming and cold plunges. He has completed open water races in four of the five Great Lakes, conquered Alcatraz, crossed the Straits of Mackinac, and ventured north of the Arctic Circle for a swim in one of Scandinavia’s many beautiful river. His personal connection to water inspires his dedication to safeguarding these natural treasures for future generations, fostering great swimming spots for all to enjoy.
Tom Whillans
Professor Emeritus, Trent University School of the Environment
Tom is an ecologist with particular interests in fisheries, fish habitat, wetlands, co-management, community development, traditional knowledge, watershed restoration, historical ecology, biodiversity, restoration ecology, and related environmental problems. His Ph.D. was in fisheries ecology, in the Department of Zoology, University of Toronto. Since 1983, he has been a professor in what is now the School of the Environment, Trent University, chairing its predecessor for nine years. He helped to develop and taught in 14 undergraduate and three graduate degrees at the university and is currently Coordinator of the B.Sc. in Ecological Restoration. Relevant to the A/OFRC, he had a key role in the creation of the Indigenous Environmental degrees (B.A./B.Sc.) and related Institute. For the past 30 years he has been involved particularly in the development of the community-based research and education options at the university.
Most of Tom’s research has focused on problems in the binational Great Lakes basin, although he worked in both the Northwest Territories and South America on issues relating to Indigenous involvement with natural resources and the management of watershed and aquatic resources. His research has related notably to community-based aquatic science, especially the rehabilitation of lakes, fisheries, and wetlands. He has served on the boards and management committees of various non-governmental organizations, including a long-standing role on the Committee of Advisors for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. These organizations have focused mostly on natural resource management, ecological restoration, and community development.
