Ms. JoAnne Deneron was appointed as the Chairperson of the Review Board on March 29, 2014 (reappointed on March 29, 2017) and is serving her 4th term. 

Originally born in the Yukon, Ms. Deneron is a member of the Tlingit First Nation. She has lived in Fort Liard for the past 40 years and is an entrepreneur operating her family's successful retail outlet and motel. A community-minded leader, she has been a public figure in Fort Liard having been elected by residents to several positions ranging from Band Councilor to Mayor. She has also served the people of the Northwest Territories in a wide range of roles focusing her efforts on improving education, employment, health and social services, transportation, economic development and the environment.

Ms. Deneron continues to live in Fort Liard where she is an avid gardener who also enjoys traditional on the land activities with her five children and six grandchildren.

The Review Board members and staff welcome Kate Hearn. Kate is a GNWT nominee and was appointed in December 2022 and is currently serving her 1st term.

Kate has a B.Sc. in geology from the University of Toronto and a Masters in Natural Resources Management from the University of Manitoba.  She maintains a Professional Geologist accreditation with the Northwest Territories Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists.

Kate Hearn came to the NWT as an exploration geologist in 1987, moving into the public sector in 1989.  Since that time she has served with the federal and territorial governments in several executive-level positions concerned with land and resource management in the North.   Her most recent role was with the Government of the Northwest Territories where she served as Assistant Deputy Minister of Planning and Coordination in the Department of Lands from 2014 until her retirement in 2021.

Kate lives outside Yellowknife and enjoys snowshoeing, kayaking, dabbling in stained glass, ukulele playing, and Taiko drumming.  She feels very privileged to be able to enjoy the natural surroundings that the North has to offer. Kate believes strongly that environmental impact assessment is an important tool in achieving sustainability outcomes.  

The Review Board members and staff welcome Mr. David Krutko. He is a Gwich'in nominee and he was appointed on February 16, 2017 and is serving his 3rd term. Mr. David Krutko comes to the Review Board with a wealth of knowledge and experience.

As a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko was first elected in 1995 to the 13th Assembly, re-elected in 1999 to the 14th Assembly, was acclaimed to the 15th Assembly in 2003, and re-elected to the 16th Assembly in October, 2007. During his time at the Assembly, Mr. Krutko has served as: Chair and Member of a number of Standing and Special Committees; Deputy Speaker and Speaker of the Assembly; Minister responsible for the Workers Compensation Board and as the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Mr Krutko has most recently (2012-2016) been a Board of Director for the Gwich'in Tribal Council and also serves currently on the Gwich'in Designated Organization. Mr. Krutko worked as a negotiator on the Dene Metis Land Claim Agreement and was a senior negotiator on the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Agreement and the Sahtu and Metis Comprehensive Land Agreement. He continues to work on the Gwich'in Self Government. Mr. Krutko has served as the vice president of the Metis Nation of the Northwest Territories, vice president of the Mackenzie Delta Tribal Council (now known as the Gwich'in Tribal Council), councilor with the Hamlet of Fort McPherson, director of the Mackenzie Delta-Beaufort Sea Regional Planning Commission, member of the Gwich'in Land and Water Board, member of the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, director of the Metis Development Corporation and co-chair of the Northwest Territories Tourism Training Group. Mr. Krutko also worked in the oil and gas industry in the Beaufort Sea and in Norman Wells in the 70s and 80s.

Mr. Krutko has four children: Gordie, Laura, Joanne, and Michelle and he lives in Fort McPherson.

The Mackenzie Valley Review Board members and staff welcome Ms. Sunny Munroe back to the Review Board, who was re-appointed in March 2023, she is currently serving her 4th term.

Ms. Munroe, nominated and appointed by the federal government, brings a thorough understanding of the regulatory process from her previous three-year appointments to the Board that ended 2015 and 2020.

She lives in Yellowknife from where she has worked and travelled extensively throughout the north for more than two decades. For her work for the Board Ms. Munroe can draw on a wide range of northern knowledge and experience. She has worked as a journalist, editor, community relations consultant, business liaison and communications manager and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, a Certificate in Public Consultation from the International Association of Public Participation and is a member of the Editors Association of Canada.

The Review Board members and staff welcome Brenda Gauthier. Brenda is a Deh Cho nominee and was appointed to the Mackenzie Valley Review Board on March 24, 2022.

Brenda M. Gauthier lives in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.  She was born and raised in the Northwest Territories and is a member of the Deh Gáh Got’įę First Nation in Fort Providence.

Brenda has over thirty years of work experience in various positions within the Government of the Northwest Territories.  Most of her experience was working in the Corrections field of the Department of Justice.  She worked as a Probation/Parole officer; and as the Warden of the Territorial Women’s Correctional Centre then at the Fort Smith Correctional Complex for a combination of thirteen years.  Brenda made the transition to Yellowknife and held the positions of Associate Director of Human Resources Management, Special Advisor to the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women and was also an Intergovernmental Relations Advisor for the Aboriginal Consultation and Aboriginal Relations division of the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.   Brenda returned to Fort Smith for a transfer assignment to the Chief Operating Officer position with the NTHSSA Fort Smith Region.

In 1993, Brenda obtained a master’s degree in the Faculty of Education, specializing in Leadership Studies in addition to a bachelor's degree of Social Work she had; both of which were obtained at the University of Victoria, British Columbia.  Brenda worked to advance her education while working for the Department of Justice.

Brenda Gauthier took office of the Languages Commissioner for the Northwest Territories on January 11, 2021, and was appointed on February 5, 2021, for a four-year term. 

Brenda has relocated from Yellowknife to Fort Smith, where she currently resides.

Jim Edmondson was appointed to the Review Board on December 14, 2017.

Jim Edmondson has lived and worked in the assessments of development projects, beginning with the Norman Wells Pipeline Project and more recently with the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project. 

Jim was also part of the consulting team that reviewed the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (YESAA) regime in Yukon.  .He has assisted intervenors in several environmental assessments in the North since the fall of 1984, based primarily in Yellowknife but also in several other communities in Yukon, the NWT and Nunavut. He has done extensive work over the years with Aboriginal governments and organizations, with a focus on Aboriginal and treaty rights negotiations and implementation. This has involved him in many issues relating to self-government and to land and resource management and regulation. He continues to live in Yellowknife and helps to tend his wife’s garden.

Camilia Zoe-Chocolate is a Tłı̨chǫ citizen, the daughter of the late Lucy and Johnny Zoe-Chocolate, and a proud mother to four children. She is fluent in the Tłı̨chǫ language and was born and raised in the community of Behchoko, Northwest Territories, Canada. She spent her childhood living on the land with her traditional Tłı̨chǫ parents and grandparents who trapped and hunted for a living. Camilia has 25 years of experience in Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy research, northern environmental research, northern Indigenous politics, community engagement, project management, Tłı̨chǫ Language education/translation, and Photography (nature, culture, landscapes, weddings, and photojournalism). She served as a board member of "The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board," "Wek'eezhi Land and Water Board," and Arctic Council's "Conservation Arctic Flora and Fauna" and "Sustainable Development Working Group" as a representative of the Arctic Athabaskan Council. Camilia is a graduate of the Natural Resource Technology Program at Aurora College and a Bachelor of Education at Aurora College/University of Saskatchewan, and recently, with a Photography Certificate at MacEwan University.