Meet Our Executive & Board Of Directors

Dean Assinewe is a consultant with several organizations including Forest Canada / Reforest Canada Collective, KPMG forest auditing, Timber Products Inspection and also provides services to First Nations.  Through his volunteer work, Dean is currently the Vice President of the Canadian Institute of Forestry and a dedicated member of the Ontario Woodlot Association. With 20+ years experience in the Ontario Professional Foresters Association, Dean’s work promotes sustainable and capacity development in a diversity of sectors including the forestry, renewable energy sector, mining, as well as the federal and provincial governments.  Dean focuses his  consulting business on economic development, forest management, industry relations, forest auditing and assisting First Nations who are pursuing forestry and non-timber forest product businesses. Dean is a graduate of the Sault College Forestry Technician Program and obtained his Forestry Degree at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, ON. In his spare time, Dean is a co-owner of Green Legacy Farm where he and the family do a variety of agricultural and forestry activities including: gardening of fruits and vegetables, beekeeping, raise meat chickens and egg layer hens, small scale sawmilling and starting a maple syrup operation in Bonfield, ON.

Ken has been a Registered Professional Forester in the Province of Ontario for over 30 years, a CIF-IFC member since 2002, and, since 2013, Chair of the Ottawa Valley Section. Since 2020, he has served on the CIF-IFC Policy and Governance Committee and Silver Ring Taskforce. In his 30-year career as a policy advisor and manager at the Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, his work included participation in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), legal international trade in forest products, and development of national policies for urban forests and urban forest science. He has also worked as a forest research technician, an adjunct professor of dendrology at the University of Toronto, and assistant professor at the Algonquin College Department of Horticulture.

I am an accomplished environmental scientist and project manager with a career focused on responsible land stewardship and ecosystem health. My expertise includes reclamation monitoring, vegetation assessments, and developing tree preservation strategies, providing me with a critical, applied perspective on sustainable forest management. Academically, I hold an MSc in Land Reclamation and Remediation from the University of Alberta and a BSc in Environmental Science and Biology from Saint Mary’s University. I am also currently a Registered Professional Forester (R.P.F.) in Training with the OPFA. In my current role, I use my leadership and coordination skills to ensure regulatory compliance and successful environmental outcomes.

Margaret Symon RPF is the manager / owner of a professional forestry consulting firm based in the Cowichan valley on Vancouver Island. Margaret has a background in industry, government, First Nations, and international work.

A proud member of the CIF-IFC since the start of her forestry career, Margaret initially joined the then very active Northern Vancouver Island Section (now disbanded) which, as part of its whirlwind of annual activities to promote forestry, enjoyed hosting multi-agency / multigenerational tree planting events in the rugged hills of northern Vancouver Island during National Forest Week. A big draw to those events was the gourmet picnic lunch meticulously prepared by and carefully delivered on site by Bill Dumont. As a silviculture rookie, Margaret enjoyed learning from, and sharing knowledge with other foresters on CIF-IFC site tours across the north island. Those experiences, combined with rewarding times volunteering with CIF-IFC members at fish hatcheries, science fairs, and at elementary schools, where CIF-IFC members distributed Christmas trees to classrooms of excited students, helped to create a strong camaraderie with foresters of all types – and sparked a special connection with the public – especially children.

After a brief interlude in Saskatchewan (notable were the field trips in the boreal forest with the CIF-IFC Saskatchewan Section), Margaret and family located to southeastern Vancouver Island, where, like the Saskatchewan Section, the Pacific Section provided all important vectors for knowledge sharing and networking.

For many years after returning to BC, Margaret enjoyed heading a group of enthusiastic forestry types who hosted highly popular National Forest Week Celebration Days (complete with helicopter tours, Mars bomber water drops, and raffles of logging truckloads of firewood). When the Vancouver Island Section was reinvigorated a few years ago, Margaret was pleased to join the Board to support a range of activities up and down the island, including a mentorship program with Vancouver Island University Forestry, Silver Ring ceremonies at two island institutions, National Forest Week events, fundraisers, and, in 2019, in collaboration with CIF-IFC National, a well-attended Indigenous Forestry forum.

As the only national forestry society, the CIF-CIF is fortunate to have strong roots in history. Key objectives of our organization: promotion and forestry education, stewardship of our forest resources, and mentorship – are essential to current programs and future initiatives. Giving back to the CIF-IFC is very important. We – the Board, National staff, and members across the country – have important work to do to increase resiliency of the CIF-IFC in response to pressing needs and changing times in forestry.