We Are All Explorers!
Our Explorer Speakers Bureau has some of Canada’s greatest storytellers within their ranks. They have been there and done that, bringing back captivating tales of their globe-trotting adventures & explorations that is sure to educate, inspire and entertain audiences. All speaker engagement bookings and related matters are handled directly between you and the speaker. The Canadian Chapter of the Explorers Club provides this speaker listing solely as a service to connect our Canadian explorers with event organizers.
Underwater, Wildlife & Expedition Photographer, Explorer and Internationally published Scuba & Adventure Travel Writer.
Award-winning environmental writer, conservation photographer and documentary filmmaker who shares her passion for everything wild, big and small, on land, in water, on the move.
Underwater, wildlife and expedition photographer, internationally published writer, explorer, scuba diver and speaker. Her images and editorial are published worldwide in print and online media.
George Kourounis is a renowned global adventurer, storm chaser, explorer and television presenter. Based in Toronto, his efforts to document nature's worst weather conditions have taken him all over the globe, into places most normal people are fleeing from.
Natalie is an empathetic ecologist, conservation geneticist, and documentary presenter (Discovery, Nat Geo Wild), deeply passionate about protecting biodiversity using hard science, public education, and community empowerment.
Polar Ambassador, Author, and Explorer, Sunniva Sorby made history in 1993 as part of the first team of women to ski to the South Pole. She was also the first Canadian woman in 1999 to ski across the Greenland Icecap and in 2021 as the first duo of women to overwinter solo in the Arctic.
Ken McGoogan in action at Westminster Abbey. The award-winning author of five bestsellers on Arctic exploration and three on Scottish-Canadian history, Ken has given scores of talks while traveling throughout Canada and Scotland, voyaging in the Northwest Passage, and sojourning in Sri Lanka, Tasmania, Orkney, Sydney, Melbourne, and Edinburgh.
From topics as diverse as crow societies, the latest discoveries of bird migration, and new cultural connections with nature, Rob has informed, amused and amazed hundreds of audiences for over 4 decades.
Maeva Gauthier is a geographer, ocean ecologist, educator, and filmmaker passionate about participatory research with Arctic communities on the topics of climate change and plastics in the environment. She speaks on the topics of Engaging Inuit youth using film (PhD research), Polar research, Aerial mapping by helicopter in Alaska, Women/Mom Entrepreneur, women in science, place-based/inquiry-based education, arts-based participatory tools in research, and community-engaged projects. French or English.
Jaclyn Whittal is known to Canadians as the one telling them their weather forecast on TV or on The Weather Network app. She is also one of the most accomplished storm chasers in North America. She has covered everything from the world's largest tornado ever recorded, to devastating EF 5 tornadoes. She has reported on hurricanes including Michael, Ian, and Fiona. She has been featured in magazines such as FLARE, Popular Science, and on TV networks such as BBC, CNN, CTV, CBC. She has been an expert on Cottage Life network’s show 'Mutant Weather', and recently Discovery network's show 'After The Storm'.
Director, producer and conservationist Nicole is from Vancouver, and grew up in the Kootenay region of Castlegar BC. Nicole is passionate about sustainable solutions, fluent in French, majored in fine arts, and holds an Executive MBA in Sustainable Business. She is the founder of the 'econic earth foundation' a California based 501(c)(3) dedicated to environmental and wildlife conservation through solar power initiatives for students and communities living off-grid.
She is a Nikon Ambassador and her images appear on magazine covers, in numerous publications, exhibitions and embassies worldwide. Her iconic images appear on a Royal Canadian Mint coin and on Canada Post stamps. Michelle received the Louise Kamookak Medal from the RCGS in 2019, she also won the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers in 2021 and was a gold medalist at the World Photographic Cup in Rome 2022.
Dr. Shawna Pandya (FI'19, EC50'22) is a physician, aquanaut, scientist-astronaut candidate with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS), skydiver, pilot-in-training, VP Immersive Medicine with Luxsonic Technologies, Medical advisor at Orbital Assembly Corporation and Fellow of the Explorers Club. She is Director of IIAS’ Space Medicine Group, Chief Instructor for IIAS’ Operational Space Medicine course, a host with the World Extreme Medicine’s podcast series, Primary Investigator for the Shad Canada-Blue Origin student microgravity competition, member of the AIAA ASCEND Guiding Coalition, and sessional lecturer for “Technology and the Future of Medicine,” at the University of Alberta.
Mark Terry, PhD, is a member of the Order of Vaughan, and a Fellow of The Explorers Club, the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University in Toronto and in the Faculty of Arts at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo.
Joe is an award-winning science educator, communicator, and explorer. He's positioned at the intersection of science, education, outreach, and technology. He founded the non-profit Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants (EBTSOYP), with a goal to inspire the next generation of scientists and explorers. EBTSOYP does this by bringing those on the frontlines of science, exploration, conservation, and adventure live into classrooms through virtual guest speakers and field trips. Since 2015, EBTSOYP hosted 3,500+ live events connecting a million students with leading scientists and explorers from 100 countries.
Jason van Bruggen is a Canadian photographer, filmmaker and entrepreneur. He has traveled and worked in over 100 countries, including some of the most remote and austere locations on the planet. His images capture the vulnerability of ecosystems and the people within; illuminating a tension between the strength and fragility of people and land and the age-old resolve to survive. van Bruggen’s immersive storytelling historically focused on climate change and culture change in the High Arctic, and has more recently considered how climate change affects densely populated and highly developed geographies at mid-latitudes.
Dr. Johnson practices Emergency Medicine at McGill's Health Centres and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine. Her research has focused on genocide, child combatants, sexual gender-based violence and conflict-related mental health and psychosocial support. As CEO of Humanitarian U, she is involved in humanitarian professionalization, and has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. In her talk Dr. Johnson draws upon research and her own experiences to explain how the humanitarian sector is in urgent need of professionalization and how this can be achieved.
I graduated from the University of Western Australia with a double major B.Sc in Geology and Biology in 1961. During my working life I have been employed as a biologist, geologist, mining analyst, stock broker and mining company director. Since retiring in 2000 my interests have focused on conservation of natural areas (in particular old-growth forests), monitoring of Bald Eagle nesting on the North Shore of Vancouver, black bear management on the North Shore and my Reconnecting with Nature program through field trips, lectures and publications in both botany and geology.
Nathalie Lasselin has produced and directed 12 underwater documentaries which have received critical acclaim and numerous awards at international festivals. They are distributed on screen and on DVD in more than 25 countries. She has contributed to over 200 feature films, documentaries and productions as Director of Photography, Underwater Cameraman and Dive Leader. She acts as a guest expert for many regular and youth productions. And it is through her conferences that she inspires her audience to go beyond the discovery of our beautiful blue planet. To learn a little more about how to live in harmony with our own environment, to be healthier and happier. The more I travel the world, the more I realize the multitude of small gestures that we can take to change the health of our immediate environment.
More Canadian Chapter “Explorer Speakers Bureau” members to be added to this roster soon!
We promise!