Mark Cliffe-Phillips is the Executive Director of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (Review Board), which is an independent co-management tribunal responsible for the environmental impact assessment process in the Mackenzie Valley of the Northwest Territiories. The Review Board is a result of modern comprehensive land claims that created an integrated resource co-management system that enabled Indigenous peoples of the NWT to have greater say in the decision making process.
Prior to joining the Review Board, Mark was the Executive Director of the Wek’èezhìı Land and Water Board, which was responsible for the licensing and permitting of Canada’s largest diamond mines. Mark has been working in the resource co-management sector in the Northwest Territories for nearly 20 years. He is also a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Indigenous Centre for Cumulative Effects. He frequently participates in various environmental impact assessment improvement initiatives across the North and the rest of Canada and is asked to speak regularly on many pressing issues related to impact assessment, such as cumulative effects assessment, regional strategic assessment and the incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge in decision making.
Mark lives with his wife and two children in Yellowknife, NT (Somba’ke) in Chief Drygeese Territory of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, within Treaty 8 Akaitcho Territory, Mǫwhí Gogha Dè Nı̨ı̨tłèè, and home of the North Slave Métis Alliance, where they enjoy exploring the land by canoe, bike and cross-country skiis.