Merrell-Ann Phare is a lawyer with the Phare Law Corporation, a writer and the founding Executive Director of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER), a national First Nation charitable environmental organisation. She is the author of the book ‘Denying the Source: the Crisis of First Nations Water Rights’ and ‘Ethical Water’. As Chief Negotiator for the Government of the Northwest Territories, Merrell-Ann lead the negotiation of transboundary water agreements in the Mackenzie River Basin and the creation of Thaidene Nene, a national and territorial park in the east arm of Great Slave Lake. She is legal counsel and advisor to a number of First Nation and other governments and organizations and regularly speaks on water issues and First Nations.