MERRELL-ANN PHARE is a lawyer, writer, and the founding executive director of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, a national First Nation charitable environmental organization. She is a commissioner of the International Joint Commission. As chief negotiator for  the Government of the Northwest Territories, Merrell-Ann led the negotiation of transboundary water agreements in the Mackenzie River Basin and the creation of Thaidene Nene, a national and terrritorial park in the east arm of Great Slave Lake. She is the author of the book Denying the Source: the Crisis of First Nations Water Rights and co-author of Ethical Water. She facilitates the BC First Nations Water Governance Roundtable and the Collaborative Leadership Initiative in southern Manitoba. Merrell-Ann is a member of the Forum for Leadership on Water, Smart Prosperity's Leadership Council, and is a recipient of Canada's Clean 50 Award. She is legal counsel and advisor to a number of First Nation and Metis governments and organisations and regularly speaks on water, governance, and Indigenous rights issues.