The Peace Region is home to talented people, thriving businesses and strong community organizations. Through our Energy Lives Here series, we’re introducing some of the local people and businesses Energy Alberta works with as we connect with communities and advance the proposed Peace River Nuclear Power Project.

Building Understanding

“Before you can build relationships with a community, you need to understand who they are.”

That idea is at the heart of Gaylene Whitehead’s role as an Indigenous Cultural Advisor to Energy Alberta.

Gaylene supports the Energy Alberta team as an advisor, helping to deepen its understanding of the cultures, histories and perspectives of Indigenous Nations and communities in the Peace Region - including the experiences that have shaped their relationships and connections to the land.

“I want the team to understand the communities they’re engaging with - their history, their culture and why certain things matter. That understanding has to come first.”

It’s work that draws naturally on a lifetime of learning, teaching and bringing people together.

A Lifetime of Learning - and Teaching

Gaylene is a respected Elder of the Lubicon Lake Band and has called Cadotte Lake home for most of her life. During her 25 years working as a school liaison at Cadotte Lake School, Gaylene often found herself acting as a bridge between students, parents, school staff and the wider community.

“I’ve always loved learning new things and passing that knowledge along. I was always the person people came to when they wanted to know what was going on.”

And Gaylene practised what she encouraged in others. As a single mother raising seven children - including four boys in hockey - she continued working while pursuing her own education.

“I put myself through school at the same time while working in the school system,” she says. “Anything’s possible when you set your mind on it.”

That determination continues to shape what she hopes to see for the next generation.

Understanding Comes Before Trust

One of Gaylene’s early messages to the Energy Alberta team was simple: do your homework before entering a community.

Indigenous Nations and communities are distinct, with their own histories, cultures and priorities. Meaningful engagement, Gaylene says, begins with taking the time to understand those differences.

“You have to go to the community and see what is important to them.”

That also means understanding the history behind relationships today.

For Gaylene, building trust isn’t something that happens through a single meeting. It develops over time through listening, learning and continuing to show up.

One of the ways that Energy Alberta is putting this advice into action was through participating in a KAIROS Blanket Exercise, through the advice of Gaylene. The session was led by Cadotte Lake Métis Nation President, Wendy Goulet, and grounded in the history and experiences of Indigenous Peoples in the Peace Region. The interactive experience gave the team important local context for understanding the history that continues to shape communities today.

‍Making Information Meaningful

Gaylene also brings her educator’s perspective to how Energy Alberta communicates about the Peace River Nuclear Power Project.

One of her early recommendations was to present technical Project information clearly and accessibly, with a focus on the questions and priorities that matter to Indigenous Nations and communities in the Peace Region.

That means connecting information to the local landscape - from the Peace River and its tributaries to wildlife, plants, forests, habitat and traditional land use.

“These are the things that are important to our Nations - the water, the landscape, the environment, our animals,” she says.

For Gaylene, these aren’t abstract environmental considerations. They are connected to culture, community and ways of life that continue today.

‍“Dream Big”

When Gaylene talks about what she hopes the Peace River Nuclear Power Project could mean for Indigenous Nations and communities, she comes back to something familiar: education.

She wants people to know about potential opportunities early enough to prepare for them - whether that means earning a trade certification, pursuing a new career or building a business.

“The earlier people know what may be coming, the earlier they can start preparing.”

For Gaylene, that means bringing education and training into the conversation early and helping people see pathways they may not have considered before.

It’s a message that reflects her own life as much as her hopes for the next generation:

“Dream big. We don’t have to think small about what’s possible.”