Roland Willson was first elected as Chief of the West Moberly First Nations in August 2000, and has continued to serve in that position for the past 20 years. Chief Willson sits on several boards and councils, including the BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council, the BC First Nations Gaming Committee, the Pacific Trails Pipeline First Nations Limited Partnership and the Northeast Aboriginal Business and Wellness Centre. Chief Willson is a prolific presenter. In recent years, he has made numerous presentations at various forums and seminars concerning issues important to First Nations, including the duty to consult, aboriginal land and resource management, and the impacts of the oil and gas and shale gas industries on First Nations in northeastern BC. In the past five years, the Chief has presented at forums and seminars held by the Canadian Institute, Insight Information, the University of Waterloo, the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, the BC Land Summit, the University of Alberta Faculty of Native Studies, the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists, the federal Department of Justice (Ottawa), the Planning Institute of BC, and the University of British Columbia’s Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Colloquium. He has also appeared twice before the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, once with respect to the federal Specific Claims policy and once on the topic of aboriginal economic development. Chief Willson is an active enthusiast of Land and Treaty preservation.
