Staff

TRACEY HERBERT, CEO, FIRST PEOPLES’ CULTURAL COUNCIL Tracey Herbert is the Chief Executive Officer of the First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC), a First Nations-run provincial Crown Corporation that supports the revitalization of Indigenous languages, arts, culture and heritage in B.C.

Tracey is a member of the St’uxwtews First Nation (Bonaparte Band), located in the territory of the Secwepemc Tribe in the Thompson Okanagan region of B.C.’s interior. While serving as the band’s only female councillor in the 1990s, Tracey saw firsthand the many challenges facing her community, which inspired her to create positive change and seek opportunities for First Nations people across the province. Tracey has spent 27 years in the service of First Nations communities across the country, motivated by a strong belief that Indigenous peoples must be recognized and respected as experts of their own cultures.

On September 20, 2018 Tracey was honoured with the Order of B.C. in acknowledgement of her decades of work advocating for B.C.’s First Nations people. As CEO, Tracey leads FPCC in providing B.C.’s 203 First Nations communities with training and resources that enable their languages, cultures and arts to thrive. Under her leadership, the FPCC has developed into a globally recognized Indigenous organization that guides innovation in First Peoples’ arts and language programming. FPCC’s programs are designed and delivered in partnership with indigenous experts. The programs are community driven, evidence-based, deliver measurable results and strengthen the well-being of First Nations communities in B.C.

In her early years, Tracey was raised by her grandparents and elders, so she is driven by a strong sense of responsibility to First Nations people. Tracey strongly advocates for Indigenous arts and culture to inspire interest and investment from senior levels of government. During her tenure at FPCC with a small and dedicated team of ten, the number of grants available for language and arts programs has grown, leading, most recently, to a $50-million funding commitment by the provincial government for Indigenous language revitalization. This historic investment has been heralded as a concrete step towards reconciliation by Indigenous leaders in B.C. and across the country.

Tracey’s collaborative leadership style has led the FPCC to establish productive partnerships on behalf of FPCC with Google.org, Canadian Commission to UNESCO, the National Research Council, the Vancouver Opera, BC Ferries, Library and Archives Canada, the Knowledge Network, the New Relationship Trust, the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation and the Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM). The most recent partnership with the RBCM resulted in the ground-breaking and award-winning interactive exhibit, Our Living Languages, which focused on the history and importance of preserving the unique diversity of B.C.’s 34 Indigenous languages.

Prior to her role at FPCC, Tracey was part of a team at Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada that developed the first B.C. Region Strategic Plan. Tracey also worked at the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch. In her role at FNIHB, Tracey collaborated with federal and community organizations, First Nations bands and community groups to develop, fund, administer and evaluate community health programming, health promotion, community development training and culturally relevant and user-friendly health programs.

Tracey holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria. She is currently the Chair of the Governance Council for the Endangered Languages Project, launched in partnership with Google.org, University of Hawaii at Manoa and Eastern Michigan University in 2012. She has been a consultant on Canadian International Development Agency projects in Africa and China sharing best practices in Indigenous cultural program delivery and development.