Christopher Addison

Indigenous-led Conservation Specialist

Christopher Addison was born in Mackenzie and grew up in Prince George, BC. After earning a B.Sc. in Biology from UBC in 1996, he became a journeyman biologist in BC and Alberta, researching and surveying bats, songbirds, amphibians, and ungulates across a variety of landscapes. An internship brought him to the Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia where his daughter was born, and he studied the effects of acid rain on salamanders.

In the early 2000s, Christopher became focused on ungulates, including game management and species at risk, primarily woodland caribou, as a consultant and for provincial and state governments in the West where his son was born. Eventually, he joined the provincial government of BC, Fish and Wildlife Branch, in 2008 and in 2011 went to Fort St. John to lead his team of biologists, geomatics, and forestry researchers in trying to meet the province’s conservation mandates during a time of intense industrial development in the region.

Christopher has been working for himself since leaving government in 2018, assisting Treaty 8 and other First Nations in discussions with federal and provincial governments regarding woodland caribou recovery, cumulative effects monitoring, and the protection of Indigenous rights.

Throughout his career, Christopher has had an increasing role with Indigenous people in Canada. He has become committed to decolonization, co-management, and justice, and to Indigenous communities leading conservation efforts with WCS Canada support. He believes in a future in which the myriad Indigenous cultures and people across Turtle Island are safe, their shared history is acknowledged, and their knowledge is respected as ours is. They are each on their own path, and reconciliation is hard, but it begins with all of us.

Christopher lives in Whitehorse with his 9-year-old Rottweiler cross, Gidget. He likes to cycle, hike, and recently picked up some skate skis. However, he fell into ultramarathons during COVID, and everything else has served only to help him run better. He intends to get back into canoeing to explore the Yukon as well.