Mark Wedge/ Aan Gooshú

Mark has long been actively involved in economic and social development, land claims negotiations, ceremonial leadership, and dispute resolution in his community and throughout Canada and the United States. He has served as Khà Shâde Héni (Chief) of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation, as Executive Director of the Council of Yukon Indians, as President and Chairman of Yukon Indian Development Corporation and däna Näye Ventures, an aboriginal capital corporation. For over 20 years, Mark has held peacemaking circles in the workplace and public forums for sentencing for individual crimes, land claims disputes between First Nations and the Canadian government, and outstanding issues between victims of Mission School abuse and the Anglican Church. He is co-author of the book Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community, alongside Kay Pranis and former Chief Judge of the Yukon Territorial Court Barry Stuart. Mark has taught in communities throughout North America and abroad, and is working towards creating Circle-based forms of contemporary tribal governance in his First Nation Government. He advises several postgraduate students; most recently with Eleanor Hayman and Colleen James, he co-authored a chapter on a Tagish and Tlingit approach to water governance in the book, Global Water Ethics: Towards a global ethics charter. Mark currently sits on the Board of Directors of the First Nations Bank of Canada, on the Board of Governors of Yukon University, and is a Guiding Elder of RIVER. He is enjoying his new role as a grandpa.