WMFN Chief named keynote speaker at Indigenous Resources Opportunities Conference

MOBERLY LAKE, B.C. — June’s Indigenous Resource Opportunities Conference (IROC) will have a strong presence from northeast British Columbia.

West Moberly First Nations (WMFN) Chief Roland Willson is scheduled to be a keynote speaker at the event, scheduled for June 3rd to June 5th in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

Willson has served the WMFN community for a quarter century and will be joined by West Moberly Industrial Metalwork Indigenous relations and communications director Marilyn Nelson and president Steve Gillingham.

They will be joined by Tumbler Ridge mayor Darryl Krakowka on a panel, discussing the Hope Truck Initiative.

A collaborative project between Tumbler Ridge, Chetwynd, Conuma Resources, Saulteau First Nations and WMFN, each sponsored haul of coal a Caterpillar 793 truck moved from the Quintette Mine went toward youth-focused programs.

It raised $151,000 in 2025, split between the four communities, a collaboration Willson, who has served the WMFN community since 2000, calls rare in Canada.

Said Willson: “When you look around Canada [there are] not too many places where First Nations and local governments support one another.” 

“No one has ever done something like this before, so they want to,” said Willson. “It was a flagship of a new project, [a] new concept for doing something different.”

“[IROC] is an opportunity to learn from each other. Hopefully, something that we are doing gets other people motivated. It is a networking opportunity and people get together and talk, and people look into partnerships.”

WMFN was recently nominated for approval for BC Hydro’s ‘Call to Power’ program, which finalized the 251 WM Bessie wind project, a collaboration with Innergex.

The project will generate renewable energy from wind turbines and is expected to be operational in 2032.

The IROC is an Indigenous-centric conference aimed at advancing economic opportunities for the community within the province’s natural resource sector, and has been operating since 2009 according to its website.

Focusing on the principles of development and partnership, energy resources and environmental leadership, food sovereignty, land and resource stewardship and reconciliation and prosperity, 2026 will mark the 10th edition of the conference.

The IROC will take place from Wednesday, June 3rd to Friday, June 5th in Nanaimo at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre.

Further information and the events schedule are available on IROC’s website.