Melina Laboucan-Massimo
Founder and Executive Director of Sacred Earth Solar
Melina Laboucan-Massimo has worked on climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty and women's rights for over 20 years. Melina is Lubicon Cree from Northern Alberta, Canada. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Sacred Earth Solar and co-founder of Indigenous Climate Action. Melina is the inaugural Fellow at the David Suzuki Foundation where her research focused on Climate Change, Indigenous Knowledge and Renewable Energy. She is the Host of a new TV series called Power to the People which profiles renewable energy in Indigenous communities.
Melina holds a Master’s degree in Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria with a focus on Renewable Energy. As a part of her master’s thesis Melina implemented a 20.8 kW solar project in her home community of Little Buffalo which powers the health centre in the heart of the tar sands. Melina has studied, campaigned and worked in Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Canada and across Europe focusing on resource extraction, climate change impacts, media literacy and Indigenous rights & responsibilities.
In 2021, Melina was named one of the 26 Climate Champions in Canada by the Canada Climate Law Initiative. She has also been recognized for her work throughout the years, being profiled and named as a social & climate justice influencer in Global Citizen, Elle Magazine, Chatelaine, Flare, CBC, 350.org and Refinery29. She received the Canadian Eco-Hero Award in 2019 by Planet in Focus.
Melina has campaigned to build brighter futures alongside icons including Jane Fonda, David Suzuki, Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein. She has been invited to speak before hundreds of audiences over the years including in the US Congress, the Harvard Law Forum, in British Parliament and numerous international organizations like Amnesty International while campaigning globally for climate justice.
Prior to Melina’s climate justice work, her focus was on media literacy in print & film making at the Indigenous Media Arts Group and Redwire Native Media Society. Her extensive advocacy is deeply rooted in her first-hand experience as an Indigenous woman being on a blockade in her community’s struggle to protect their homelands at the tender age of 7 years old. The impacts of the oil tar sands on her home community compelled her to be a strong voice from a young age. It is from her love for her community and for Mother Earth that she draws her convictions to stand up for environmental rights, climate justice, and Indigenous-led movement building.
Melina also works on the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women after the suspicious death of her sister Bella whose case still remains unsolved.
Melina currently serves on the boards of NDN Collective and Seeding Sovereignty as well as the Executive Steering Committee of Indigenous Clean Energy Social Enterprise.
This Entrepreneur Is Installing Solar Power Projects In Oil Country
Chatelaine Magazine, April 26, 2019
David Suzuki Foundation appoints 1st Indigenous research fellow
CBC News, July 15, 2017
Jane Fonda sounds climate change alarm in Toronto
Toronto Star, July 4, 2015
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