S01 E1: A Shared Vision for Climate Solutions with Siila Watt-Cloutier

The Arctic is the cooling system for the entire planet, and as the ice melts from climate change, the effects are felt around the world. Inuk climate advocate Siila Watt-Cloutier has made it her life’s mission to advocate for her people’s right to be cold, and for the protection of their cultural practices and knowledge––exactly what the world needs to prevent further devastation.In Episode 1 of A Radical Act of Hope, we’ll hear the beginnings of Siila’s story and how she connected with the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions at the University of Victoria, which culminated in this podcast’s exploration of her remarkable life, heart-centred leadership style, and groundbreaking advocacy work.Siila is joined by her series co-hosts from PICS: Executive Director Dr. Ian Mauro, and Indigenous Research and Partnerships Lead Janna Wale. We’ll take a look at PICS’  relationship with Siila––one of mutual respect and shared values between Indigenous advocate and institution––as a model for reconciliation in real time. About the HostsSiila Watt-CloutierSiila Watt-Cloutier is a lifelong advocate for the rights of Inuit and a leading voice in climate action. Her groundbreaking work has connected human rights and climate change in the public and political consciousness, transforming international policy and creating a new area of scholarship and advocacy.From 1995 to 2002, Watt-Cloutier was the Canadian President of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC). From 2002 to 2006, she was the International Chair of the ICC, representing the 155,000 Inuit in Canada, Greenland, Alaska and Russia. She was an influential force behind the adoption of the Stockholm Convention to ban persistent organic pollutants, which accumulate in Arctic food chains.She is the author of the memoir, The Right to Be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet, which was nominated for multiple writing awards. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Aboriginal Achievement Award, the UN Champion of the Earth Award, the Norwegian Sophie Prize, the Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue and the Right Livelihood Award, which is widely considered the “Nobel Alternative.”Janna Wale Janna Wale is the Indigenous Research and Partnerships Lead at the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. She is Gitxsan from Gitanmaax First Nation and is also Cree-Métis on her mother’s side. In her work, she uses a complex human-environmental systems approach and believes that this lens can be used when looking for ways to bridge western and Indigenous climate work. In 2025, she received the Women of Influence Nanaimo (WIN) Award for STEM. She was selected as a Top 30 Under 30 Sustainable Youth Leader in Canada by Corporate Knights in 2024. She was also a finalist for the Community Advocate of the year award through Foresight Canada and was selected for a Community Award – Emerging Leader through the B.C. Achievement foundation. In 2023, she was the recipient of the Anitra Paris Memorial Award for female youth climate leadership through Clean Energy BC. Janna has published two reports in collaboration with the Yellowhead Institute and was named as an Indigenous Trailblazer through Diversity in Sustainability. She holds a Bachelor of Natural Resource Sciences (B. Nrsc.) from Thompson Rivers University, and a MSc in Sustainability from UBC Okanagan, where her work focused on climate resilience in Indigenous communities, using a seasonal rounds model.Dr. Ian MauroDr. Ian Mauro is the Executive Director of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. As a scienti