“The Cariboo-Chilcotin deserves representation that’s ready for the 21st century. I’m running so reconciliation can succeed, and so everyone here can count on a good quality of life and a healthy environment.”

Douglas Gook is a third-generation settler who has spent his adult life in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, guided by a commitment to voluntary simplicity, ecological sustainability, local food production, and community-based forestry.

For decades, Douglas has worked to build relationships with the Tsilhqot’in, Secwépemc, and Dakelh peoples who have cared for these lands for millennia. He believes reconciliation, ecological stewardship, and a strong local economy must be pursued together, with communities having a meaningful role in decisions about the lands and resources around them.

Douglas traces much of his environmental advocacy back to his teenage years in the mid-1970s, when he participated in a community effort involving First Nations, ranchers, and concerned residents who opposed a proposed coal-fired electricity project in the Hat Creek Valley. That experience became an important model for his lifelong involvement in ecological and community advocacy.

He went on to serve for many years as a director of the BC Environmental Network and the Canadian Environmental Network, working alongside organizations focused on environmental protection and social justice. For four years, he represented the BC Environmental Network on the federal-provincial Treaty Negotiations Advisory Committee, bringing his experience as an environmental advocate and First Nations ally into treaty-related discussions.

Forestry has also been a major focus of Douglas’ work. He was a founding member of the Cariboo Horse Loggers Association and is the owner of Silvequus Selection Systems, both focused on advancing employment-intensive Natural Selection Forestry. Through this work, he has coordinated training programs and helped organize provincial forestry conferences in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, advocating for forest management practices that support local employment while maintaining ecological values.

For nearly 25 years, Douglas has also been a founding director of Spirit Dance Cooperative Community, a farm and forest cooperative along the Fraser River in the northern Cariboo-Chilcotin. His livelihood has included raising bees for honey, growing vegetables and fruit, practicing Natural Selection Forestry in the cooperative’s fir and birch forest, and producing goods for farmers markets throughout the region. His personal motto, “Find Home; Grow Food,” reflects his longstanding commitment to local food systems and sustainable community economies.

A lifelong self-directed learner, Douglas is also the proud father of two adult children and grandfather to a young granddaughter and grandson. He is running in Cariboo-Chilcotin to advocate for a future where employment-intensive forestry can thrive, reconciliation with First Nations can advance, and people can enjoy both a high quality of life and a healthy environment.

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