Terry Dorward

Terry Dorward is the West Coast IPCA Conservation Director for IISAAK OLAM Foundation. A member of the TLA-O-QUI-AHT First Nations, Terry grew up in Port Alberni and was raised by his great-grandmother, Susan Marshall from Xwisten (Bridge river) of the St`at’imc Nation. At the early age of 12, Terry participated in the 1984 marches and blockades that declared Wah-Nah-Jus/Hilth-Hoo-is (Meares Island) a Tribal Park. It was this profound experience that politicized Terry to have an awareness of the struggles to uphold and protect Indigenous title and rights. Terry graduated from Malaspina University with a Bachelors of Arts with a focus on colonization/decolonization and was an elected councillor for Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations from 2010-2016, and from 2018-2022. From November 2007 to January 2023, Terry was the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks Project coordinator that helped deliver cultural, educational, stewardship, and economic projects in the rainforest. Terry was one of the co-founders of the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks Guardian program that continues to monitor and enforce Tla-o-qui-aht traditional laws within the region. Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks continues to be upheld nationally and internationally as a successful, ongoing developing IPCA.