Elaine Alec (teɬkənitkʷ) is syilx and secwépemc and works at the intersection of governance and complex multi-party environments across Canada. She contributes through writing, design, and process by helping leaders build the human readiness required for structural alignment in high-stakes work.

Her focus is disciplined thinking and capacity-building: clarifying decision rights, strengthening relational accountability, and weaving Indigenous knowledge systems with systems thinking so governance structures can function under pressure.

For more than two decades, Elaine has worked across Indigenous governance, politics, land use, community planning, and economic development. She brings lived experience navigating layered jurisdictions, constitutional realities, and cross-cultural negotiation environments.

Elaine is the founder of Naqsmist Storytellers Inc. and the creator of Cultivating Safe Spaces (CSS), a practical framework that strengthens internal and relational capacity in complex systems. She currently contributes as Practice Partner at Coeuraj, bringing her lens and methods into governance, infrastructure and capital alignment initiatives. She is the author of Calling My Spirit Back and Coming of Age: Overcoming Trauma to achieve Self-Determination and lives in the Okanagan with her family.