Ann Dale is both an academic – one of Canada’s foremost experts in sustainable development – and deeply committed to making a contribution to society as a public intellectual. « I simply can’t believe that as a species we would ever leave our children a legacy less than anything we had, » she says.
Professor Dale has led several major research initiatives at Royal Roads University. She held her university’s first Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Community Development and led a tri-university research project on climate change adaptation and mitigation in British Columbia. She has led an online research program exploring the use of dialogue for literacy and informing the public policy community, and she spearheaded the first exploration of the relationship between agency, social capital, and sustainable community development. Her research interests include climate change adaptation and mitigation policy, biodiversity conservation policies, and governance. She is currently leading a major SSHRC research project on governance for a carbon neutral society in partnership with colleagues from the University of Victoria. Professor Dale has long been involved in building greater capacity in the environmental movement and has led the creation of the National Environmental Treasure, a $30 million people’s trust for the environment.
Professor Dale is the recipient of the 2001 Policy Research Initiative Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Policy for her book, At the Edge: Sustainable Development in the 21st Century. She has edited several seminal books in her field on diverse sustainability issues. Her most recent book is Beyond the Edge: Reconciliation, reconnection and regeneration. Before pursuing her academic career, she was an executive in the federal government, and was one of the two civil servants behind the creation of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy in 1988. Carleton University awarded her the Bissett Alumni Award for Distinctive Contributions to the Public Sector in 2009. She was the 2013 recipient of the annual Molson Prize for the Social Sciences, awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts, and the 2014 recipient of the Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award, given by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia. Professor Dale was named Sun Life Trailblazers and Trendsetters, 2016 Canada’s Most Powerful Woman and recognized as Volunteer of the Year by Nature Canada, 2019.
