All Research

Captain Ivan Oxford, MM

Captain Oxford is a Senior Master at Transport Desgagnés, a Director at the Nautical Institute-BC Branch as well as a part-time Instructor at the Camosun College. He is an experienced shipmaster, ice navigator, and educator. He graduated from Memorial University’s School of Maritime Studies and is a Master Mariner with over 35 years of experience at sea on commercial and government vessels engaged in near-coastal and foreign trade. Captain Oxford taught at Camosun College’s Nautical Department from 1999 to 2014, returned to sea, and is currently serving as Shipmaster and Ice Navigator on commercial heavy-lift vessels engaged in Arctic operations. He also sits on the Board of Directors of the Nautical Professional Education Society of Canada.

Sonia Simard, LLB

Sonia Simard, LLB, has more than fifteen years of experience as an advocate for sustainable maritime transportation. Throughout her career, she practiced law within the non-profit, public, and private sectors, in both English and French. Most recently, she was Director, Legislative and Environmental Affairs for the Shipping Federation of Canada, and prior to this, held positions at Fednav Ltd, and Environment and Climate Change Canada. Ms. Simard received her law degree from the University of Ottawa and her Masters of Law degree from the School of Law of the University of Washington. She’s also a graduate in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

Francis Wiese, Ph. D.

Francis Wiese is the Technical Leader for Marine Science at Stantec Consulting. He joined Stantec in 2013 after serving as the Science Director for the North Pacific Research Board in Alaska. In that position, he designed, implemented, and managed large multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional marine ecosystems programs in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, and set annual research priorities. Since 2011, he has served on the Chukchi-Beaufort Ecosystem Collaboration Team of the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee and been a lead-author on a conceptual ecosystem model document for the US Arctic.

Dr. Wiese has worked for and with academia, government, non-profits, and industry, and acted as a reviewer for over 20 international journals and has served on a variety of national and internal science panels and working groups. He has provided expert testimony for oil pollution-related issues in Canada and the United States. Dr. Wiese enjoys thinking outside the box and taking new, inter-disciplinary approaches to tackle old and current issues that require good science.