Lynn Konwaia’tanón:we’s Jacobs

Policy and Operations Advisor

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Lynn is Kanienkehá:ka of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy on her father’s side, adopted into the Turtle Clan, and mixed settler ancestry on her mother’s side. She lives and works from her home community of Kahnawà:ke, located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River near Tiohtià:ke (Montreal).

Before joining ILI, Lynn spent more than two decades working in her community on land stewardship initiatives, habitat monitoring, mapping, protection, and restoration. She helped to establish a new Environment Protection Unit for the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke and acted as its inaugural Director for five years, before joining the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada as Director of Programs, where she supported the organization’s decolonization goals. Lynn also does work at the international level on biodiversity and plastic pollution issues, where she strives to elevate Indigenous science, approaches, rights, and voices for solving the planetary crises.

Lynn holds a Bachelor of Environmental Science in Ecology, a Master of Environment and Management, and she is currently a PhD candidate and Leadership for the Ecozoic Fellow at McGill University. Her doctoral research is focused on plastics and colonialism, impacts to Indigenous Peoples, and Indigenous-led solutions.