About Takaya Energy Solutions

Chief Dale Harry (Pekultn Siyam), President

Chief Dale Harry is a hereditary chief of the Squamish Nation, carrying the name Pekultn Siyam from his late father, Hereditary Chief Ernie Harry of Seymour Creek. He was born and raised in Squamish and lives on the Stawamus Reserve.

He served twelve years on Squamish Nation Council, from 2001 to 2013, where he was often one of only two councillors representing the Squamish Valley membership. Over that period he negotiated, concluded and implemented a run of major agreements and developments on behalf of the Nation. Those include the Skookum Creek and Culliton Creek run of river power projects, the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Agreement and the Sea to Sky Highway Development Project, Porteau Cove Properties, the Site B developments, the Chances Gaming Centre, Standard Building Supplies, the Squamish Valley Gas Bar and the Cheekeye Fan developments. He also represented the Nation through the 2010 Olympic Games, working with local, provincial and federal leaders.

His board and governance experience runs alongside that. He has served on the Board of Governors of Quest University, where he was Chancellor in 2022, and on the boards of the Squamish Credit Union, the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre and the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, where he was President from 2008 to 2014. He holds certification through the Governance Essentials Program for Directors.

Since 2014 he has owned and run Aboriginal Economic Solutions, and since 2021 he has served as a Senior Advisor to Natural Law Energy. Earlier in his career he worked as a cultural and language worker with Squamish Nation Education, and that work continues to shape how he approaches business.

He puts his purpose simply. Protect the land, set the table for our children's children, and create real economic prosperity for our people.

Terry Lalari, Executive Director

Terry Lalari has spent his career at the point where government, industry and Indigenous interests meet.

He served as Chief of Staff across multiple British Columbia ministries under two premiers, which put him in the room for the machinery of provincial decision making, from cabinet process and budget cycles to regulatory files and major project approvals. He then led government relations for the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Canada's largest port, and has held vice president level roles in the energy and forestry sectors.

He is the principal of Seabrook Strategies, a government relations and Indigenous affairs consultancy based in Victoria, with regular presence in Ottawa. His practice covers Indigenous affairs, clean energy and storage infrastructure, healthcare advocacy and major project files. He takes lobbyist registration and disclosure seriously and keeps every engagement properly on the record, which matters in a sector where public money and public procurement are involved.

At Takaya Energy Solutions he leads strategy, partnerships, and the path through utility procurement and public funding.

Teresa Harry, Elder and Community Relations Advisor

Teresa Harry has spent close to thirty years working directly with Squamish Nation members, and she brings the part of this business that cannot be bought in.

From 2008 to 2017 she was the Elders Coordinator for the Squamish Nation, responsible for the weekly programming for elders across the Squamish Valley. That meant meals, wellness programming, cultural and craft activities, and organizing the elders gatherings that hold a community together. Before that, from 1994 to 2002, she worked as a First Nations Support Worker with Squamish Nation Education, supporting First Nations students across three elementary schools in School District 48. Alongside that work she spent nearly two decades in resident care at Hilltop House in Squamish.

What that history produces is a person who knows how information actually travels in a community, whose word carries with elders and families, and who can tell the difference between a consultation that has been done and a consultation that has been felt.

At Takaya Energy Solutions she leads community engagement and elder relations. She advises on how a project is introduced, who needs to hear about it first, what protocol applies, and what pace a community process actually needs. She sits in the meetings, not just on the org chart.