Lea Nicholas-MacKenzie is a proud Indigenous woman, a member of the Wəlastəkwey (Maliseet Nation), with decades of experience in international relations and the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. She is a former diplomat and a principal of both JWR Business Group and LNM Indigenous Consulting, working with Indigenous Peoples, governments, organizations, and corporations to achieve transformative change through human rights, Indigenous engagement, inclusion, and reconciliation.
As a Canadian Technical Expert for the global Technical Assistance Partnership- Expert Deployment Mechanism (TAP-EDM) initiative, along with her colleague Sashia Leung, Lea will be working to support capacity and enhance dialogue between the Government of Ecuador and Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Ecuador.
Passionate about working with Indigenous Peoples globally to advance their human rights, Lea was a co-founder and the first global coordinator of the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI). She helped to coordinate an Indigenous-to-Indigenous disaster response mission to Indonesia following the 2004 earthquake and tsunami and helped to coordinate both the 2nd and 3rd Indigenous Peoples Summit of the Americas, among many other roles.
Lea is a founding member and co-chair of the Honouring Nations Canada Circle of Advisors at Fulbright Canada and a Coalition for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples member. She holds a BA in French Language and Linguistics from the University of New Brunswick and an MA in Leadership and Training from Royal Roads University. In 2021, she was recognized as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women for her profound, thoughtful, and measurable impact on diversity.