Catharine Grant
Senior Corporate Campaigner
Catharine has more than 10 years experience working on biodiversity campaigns, with expertise in species at risk in Canada, conservation planning and multi-stakeholder engagement processes related to forestry and fisheries. At Canopy, I am focussed on viscose and paper related issues.
More about Me
I am first and foremost a lover of wild things. This is what inspired me to take up conservation work a decade ago – the desire to protect the spaces that countless plants and animals call home. Having grown up on the east coast of Canada, and experienced the collapse of the cod fishery in my lifetime, I also have a keen appreciation of the impacts of environmental destruction on the social fabric of our communities.
I am particularly interested in working on conservation solutions that benefit those who lives in our natural world, both human and non-human, and a challenging the paradigm that pits economic prosperity against the environment.
My forest conservation work started in 2006 at a small grassroots organization working to protect old growth pine forests on the Canadian shield. I eventually moved to markets focussed campaigns, first with ForestEthics (now Stand) and then Greenpeace, working most recently on negotiating provisions for Intact Forests within Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards. And for a couple of years in there, I also worked on Atlantic Canadian fisheries, with a particular focus on fisheries that impact marine fish species at risk.
Why Are Forests Important To Me?
Forests are the places I feel the most alive and at peace with the world. When I step into a forest, I am reminded about how beautiful the planet is, and why conservation work is what I want to dedicate my professional life to. Forests are places of solace and inspiration.
Why Canopy?
Canopy understands the power of relationships and collaboration. It harnesses these things to create real change.
Ask Me About
Forest certification, intact forests and species at risk, and the Canadian Boreal Forest – oh and scuba diving and sea lions!
What ruffles my feathers?
Ideological rigidity. Sometimes our pre-conceived views get in the way of interest-based solutions. Let’s sit down and talk it out – I know we’ll be able to find common ground!
