Dahti Tsetso Becomes the Inaugural CEO of Our Land for the Future Trust

Yellowknife, September 15, 2025: The Our Land for the Future Trust has named Dahti Tsetso as its first Chief Executive Officer. The trust supports an unprecedented partnership between 21 Indigenous Governments, the Government of Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and private donors that is investing $375 million in Indigenous-led conservation, stewardship, and economic development across the Northwest Territories. As CEO, Tsetso will help partners realize their transformative vision.

Tsetso is Tłicho Dene and grew up in Yellowknife. She comes to the OLF Trust from the Indigenous Leadership Initiative (ILI), where she was the Deputy Director for four years. During her tenure there, she played a key role in ILI’s convening efforts to help partners negotiate the NWT: Our Land for the Future agreement. She also helped in the early steps of setting up operations of the Our Land for the Future Trust.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dahti as our first CEO,” said Danny Yakeleya, Chair of the Our Land for the Future Trust. “She has already played an essential role in bringing the partners together over these past few years. We have all benefited from her leadership style, which is rooted in listening, consensus, and respect for Indigenous self-determination. Now she will help ensure the Our Land for the Future Trust honours its commitments to the partners and to the future.”

In her role as CEO, Tsetso will serve as a steward of the trust and work together with the Chair and Governance Committee to distribute investments so Indigenous Governments can realize their aspirations for their territories. 

“I am deeply honoured to take on this role,” said Tsetso. “From the start, the NWT: Our Land for the Future initiative has been about partnership and collaboration. I am committed to helping carry those values forward and working with all the partners to make their shared vision for the land and communities come to life.”

Tsetso has been working in the Northwest Territories throughout her career. Before joining the ILI, she served as the director of Lands & Resources for Dehcho First Nations in Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories. She worked collaboratively with the Nation’s ten member communities to develop the Dehcho K'éhodi Guardians program which approaches conservation from the Dene perspective. In her work with Dehcho First Nations, Tsetso also led a team that finalized negotiations to establish the Edéhzhíe Dehcho Protected Area and National Wildlife Area.

“I view my position with the trust as an evolution of work I began in community and continued in my ILI role helping convene the NWT: Our Land for the Future partnership. The mentors along the way and the partners around the OLF table have helped me see the transformative benefits that come from investing in Indigenous leadership on the land. I am humbled to be part of building a better, more hopeful future for young people across the North.”