Growing up in national parks across the Northwest Territories started John off from an early age with a love of the land and the people. Taking this passion, he went into the study of archaeology and anthropology and has been living and working in the Northwest Territories as a multidisciplinary consultant in the fields of environmental science, stewardship and guardian programs, education, and wilderness safety for over a decade.
John on a late night paddle near his home in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories
John has always been one to shy away from holidays to sunny beaches and as a result has ended up travelling or living in many places across the circumpolar world including Svalbard, northern Scandinavia, Greenland, many communities in the Canadian Arctic, and even Yakutia in the far east of the Russian Arctic.
John paddling the big water
For the last fourteen years John has run a multidisciplinary consulting firm blending the fields of environmental education, outdoor professional safety certification, and Indigenous guardianship training. Since 2016 John has been working in the expedition cruise industry in various capacities. John is an avid whitewater kayaker who spends many summer days in the big rapids outside his home on the Slave River in Fort Smith. John is a Canadian Ranger as well as a 2020 Arctic Inspiration Prize Laureate. John spends his free time working on oil pastels, linocut prints, and working with his bird dog Louis.