Charla Huber – Moderator
Director of Communications and Indigenous Relations, M’akola Housing Society
Charla is a key player at M’akola in building relationships with First Nations, and facilitating relationships with municipalities, businesses and organizations. Charla writes a weekly column in the Victoria Times Colonist daily newspaper and is a director on the Victoria-Esquimalt Police Board. Charla has a Master’s Degree in Professional Communications and is Indigenous with both Chipewyan and Inuit roots.
Colleen Lucier – Panelist
Executive Director, Lii Michif Otipemisiwak Family and Cultural Services
Colleen Lucier is the Executive Director of Lii Michif Otipemisiwak Family and Cultural Services, a Metis specific child and youth family services agency that offers a wide-range of services. They have recently opened Kikekyelc, a housing development which aims to help Indigenous youth transition to adulthood.
Stephanie Allen – Panelist
Associate Vice-President, Strategic Business Operations and Performance, BC Housing
Stephanie is an affordable housing specialist and organizational development professional with a focus on equitable city-building. She combines her expertise in market and community housing development with her background in government policy and stakeholder engagement to advance community building initiatives across the Province. Outside of work, Stephanie is a founding board member of the Hogan’s Alley Society, and also on the board of the Federation of Black Canadians, the City of Vancouver’s Poverty Action Advisory Committee, and the Community Impact Real Estate Society (CIRES). Stephanie holds a master’s degree in Urban Studies from Simon Fraser University and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Okanagan College.
Janice Abbott – Panelist
CEO, Atira Women’s Resource Society
Janice Abbott has been the CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society since 1992. Atira Women’s Resource Society is a not-for-profit organization committed to the work of ending violence against women through providing direct service, as well as working to increase awareness of and education around the scope and impact on our communities of violence against women and children. She has led the Society through its incredible growth from a single transition house to a large multi-service agency.
Margaret Pfoh – Panelist
CEO, Aboriginal Housing Management Association
Margaret is Tsimshian from the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation and brings more than 23 years of housing management experience to AHMA. She has been involved with Indigenous housing for more than 20 years, bringing leadership and business development in urban native programs that is supplemented with an honours degree in psychology. Margaret has created a strong network of professional relationships that speak to community and social development through empowerment and respect.
