Matthew Norris

Background

About Matthew Norris

Matthew Norris is a member of the Lac La Ronge First Nation in Saskatchewan and President of the Urban Native Youth Association in Vancouver, BC. He has nearly a decade of experience advocating for Indigenous rights across a wide-array of policy and governance areas, as a policy professional, community leader, and academic. He is also a PhD student in UBC's Department of Political Science’s International Relations Programs with a focus on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He is a graduate of the Masters program in UBC's Political Science Program with a focus on Deliberative Democracy, Climate Justice and Decolonization. Matthew has been highly active in the Indigenous community on campus; being the founding president of the First Nations Studies Student Association, an organizational member for the 2012 Global Indigenous Conference, and a graduate with a double Major from UBC's department of Political Science and First Nations Studies undergraduate programs. Matthew is currently employed by the City of Vancouver as a Policy and Communications Advisor to City Councillor Christine Boyle, where he has advised, researched and written City Council motions on housing policy, anti-racism, the implementation of Indigenous rights frameworks (UNDRIP), and heritage protection policy. He has been previously employed by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and worked with the First Nations Leadership Council advising on a wide-array of provincial and federal policy and its impacts on Indigneous Nations. Matthew actively writes on issues and policies impacting Indigenous peoples, including in the Tyee, and the IWGIA's annual publication, The Indigenous World. Matthew has previously been an Indigenous Delegate to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and volunteers his time in a variety of capacities including as President of the Urban Native Youth Association, Director on the Board of the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Member of UBC's Indigenous Strategic Plan Executive Advisory Committee, Co-Chair of the Vancouver Just Recovery Coalition and Member of the Indigenous Climate Adaptation Working Group for BC Climate Action Secretariat.