Eli Enns

POLIS Affiliate; President & Co-Founder, Iisaak Olam

Eli Enns is the great grandson of Na’waas’um (historian and public speaker for Wickanninish) from Tla-o-qui-aht on his father’s side. On his mother’s side, Eli is a 2nd generation immigrant from the Netherlands, grandson of Peter Enns (Dutch Mennonite). Eli is a happy father and a grateful grandfather.

Eli is also an internationally recognized expert in bio-cultural heritage conservation and Indigenous economic development. He is a nation builder and Canadian political scientist focused in constitutional law, geopolitics and ecological governance. He has recently joined the board of directors for the Canadian Committee for IUCN.

Co-founder of the Ha’uukmin Tribal Park in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve on Vancouver Island, Eli was Co-Chair for The Indigenous Circle of Experts for The Pathway to Canada Target 1 (Aichi Target 11). He is CEO and President of the Clean Technology Community Gateway and co-leads the Reconciliation Through Engineering Initiative at the University of Toronto’s Center for Global Engineering.

Eli has been affiliated with the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance at UVic for several years, collaborating in projects and speaking at events.