Melina Laboucan-Massimo

Melina Laboucan-Massimo is a Greenpeace activist who advocates for indigenous rights and ecological well-being in Canada. Massimo is most known for her installation of a solar panel system in Little Buffalo called The Solar Project.

Early life and education

Melina Laboucan-Massimo was born in of northern Alberta, Canada in a small town named Peace River and was raised in a town 65 miles to the east of Peace River, called Little Buffalo. Massimo is Lubicon Cree, one of Canada’s First Nations tribes. Massimo was raised with traditional tribal customs, living off the land, hunting, using local plants as medicines, exploring local forests and swamps.

Her studies at the University of Victoria focused on indigenous rights and responsibilities, media literacy and resource extraction. She holds a Master’s in Indigenous Governance from the University of Victoria and received an Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Change Fellowship while studying. Her thesis consisted of the installation of a solar panel system in her community of Little Buffalo.

Career

Melina Laboucan-Massimo has worked as an environmental activist  with Greenpeace Canada since 2009. She spreads awareness in Canada as a Climate and Energy campaigner and also works with the Indigenous Environmental Network Internationally. In 2015, Laboucan-Massimo established the Pîtâpan Solar Project for her community of Little Buffalo. The Solar Project consisted of the installation of solar panels which provided 20.8 kilowatts of renewable energy to the community. Following mysterious death of her sister, Laboucan-Massimo also began working with Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women in Canada. She is one of the co-organizers of Tar Sands Healing Walk and is the Secretary of the environmental organization 350.org.

Literature

Laboucan-Massimo has been a contributor for two edited volumes. In Downstream: Reimagining Water, she authored the chapter, “From Our Home Lands to the Tar Sands." She also authored the chapter, “Awaiting Justice: The Ceaseless Struggle of the Lubicon Cree.” in A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice.

Media

In addition to several documentaries, Labocan-Massimo has also hosted a Television show called Power to the People, an environmental documentary series that features difference countries and shows how renewable energy and sustainability is empowering First Peoples. In 2018 she was featured on Season 3, Episode 7 of The United Shades of America hosted by W. Kamau Bell entitled “The Canadian Way."