Celeste Haldane is serving her third term as Chief Commissioner and was first appointed in April 2017. Celeste is Musqueam (Coast Salish) and Metlakatla (Tsimshian) from the Sparrow and Haldane families, and has European ancestry.

She is a practising lawyer and was appointed King’s Counsel in 2019. Drawing from over 25 years’ of experience, her specializations are in Indigenous law and corporate governance, and she previously practiced criminal defense and civil litigation. Celeste is an active member of both the Indigenous Bar Association and the Canadian Bar Association, and currently serves on the CBA Indigenous Advisory Group.

Celeste holds a Master of Laws in Constitutional Law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. She also earned a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology) from the University of British Columbia.

She also serves on governance boards and is currently serving as a volunteer member of the Advisory Council on Diversity to the Commander Joint Task Force Pacific. Previously, she has also served on the Brain Canada Foundation, Legal Aid BC, Hamber Foundation, UBC Board of Governors, Musqueam Capital Corporation, the Indigenous Bar Association, and is an alumna of the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference. Celeste lives with her husband, Conrad, on Vancouver Island, and is the proud mother of three and grandmother of two.