Doug Donaldson has lived in rural British Columbia for more than four decades. He served as an elected three-term (2009-2020) Member of the B.C. Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing the remote-rural constituency of Stikine. As the Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (2017-2020) Doug oversaw major reforms in forestry legislation and policy; new approaches to old growth management, land use planning, and wildlife management; and the rebuilding efforts for ecosystems and communities after the record-breaking 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons. His Official Opposition portfolios included mining, energy, Indigenous relations, and for three years he was the vice-chair of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. He also held public office at the municipal government level, serving as a Village of Hazelton councillor from 1999-2009.
Doug lives on the territories of the Gitxsan First Nation in northwest B.C. He worked supporting the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs on the successful Delgamuukw-Gisdaywa aboriginal title case to the Supreme Court of Canada as communications director with the Gitxsan Chiefs Office. He was a co-founder of Storytellers’ Foundation, a Hazelton-based NGO focused on community economic development and reconciliation.
Doug’s formal education includes a MA in journalism and a BSc in wildlife biology. He and his wife Anne live on Wilp Nikate’en territory in the Regional District of Kitimat Stikine, in Two Mile, just outside of Hazelton.
