Sheila Watt-Cloutier is an Inuk leader from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik (northern Quebec). She is deeply committed to environmental advocacy, Indigenous rights, and youth empowerment. Raised traditionally in her early years before being sent south for school, as well as attending a government-run residential school in Churchill, Manitoba, she has spent much of her life working to bridge Inuit knowledge with global environmental and political negotiations.

Sheila worked with the Regional School Board in Nunavik as a Student Counsellor and Co-ordinator of Students Services. Later she was elected with Makivik Corporation, and has held numerous leadership roles, including serving as the ICC Canada President, and then the Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), representing 155,000 Inuit across Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and Chukotka, Russia. She has been a key spokesperson in global United Nations negotiations, particularly in advocating for the elimination of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that impact Arctic food systems.

Her work extends to climate change advocacy, where she has brought Inuit perspectives to international human rights discussions, including filing a climate change-related petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2005.

Her contributions have earned her global recognition, including the United Nations Champion of the Earth Award, the Right Livelihood Award (often referred to as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”), the Sophie Prize in Norway, and the Climate Change Award from the Prince Albert of Monaco Foundation. She has received 22 honorary doctorates from institutions across Canada and one from the USA, and in 2006, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. She was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for her pioneering work linking climate change and human rights. Her latest recognition is a lifetime achievement award from the National Geographic Society of Spain (2024).

Her expertise lies in policy advocacy, public speaking, mentorship, and cross-cultural collaboration. Sheila is also the author of The Right to Be Cold (2015), a memoir that highlights the intersection of climate change, Indigenous rights, and sustainability. She has also contributed markedly to ICC Canada’s Institution-Building for Northern Russian Indigenous Peoples’ Project, which focused on economic development and training in remote northern communities. She continues to engage in public speaking, mentorship, and advocacy, emphasizing the vital role of Indigenous knowledge in shaping a sustainable world.