Leslie serves as President and is a founding member of GIMS. She is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with a private practice on Gabriola and is the Principle of Cygnus Counselling. Her deep love for the environment and natural ecosystems is core to her identity and she believes a natural cemetery and compassionate deathcare are important to the health and wellbeing of Gabriola residents and the community. Her past board experience includes serving as a director with the Gabriola Housing Society.

Kristina is a founding member of GIMS and serves as Vice President and Secretary. She is inspired by the idea of creating a beautiful and sacred space for burial on Gabriola and working to support holistic deathcare in the community. Kristina is an artist, working primarily in ceramics. She has served on a number of boards including the Gabriola Housing Society, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival Society and the Persons With Disabilities Advisory Committee for the City of Vancouver.

Maureen is a Gabriola resident since 2007, a founding member of GIMS, and currently its Treasurer. Her professional background is in education with a M.Ed. focused on earth literacy, bioregionalism, and the larger epic story of our evolving universe. She has served as both educator and director of two ecological learning centres (US and Canada), and  assisted a 5-year collaborative effort co-creating community water projects in El Salvador. Her passion for living within a balanced, sustainable way within Earth's limits naturally attracted her to work with others towards a community affirmed natural burial site on Gabriola as together we face the urgent need for a new cemetery.

Elfi is a founding member of GIMS and of the Gabriola Deathcare Collective. Always aiming to be more and more compassionate in her approach to life (human and otherwise) and community is foundational to Elfi’s spirit. She has long worked as a massage therapist and healer, and continues to grow her knowledge of and experience with community deathcare practices. Elfi is often the face of GIMS at the Gabriola Farmers’ Markets. Elfi really enjoys meeting people and talking about green burial and compassionate deathcare so when you see her, please come and say hello!

Having joined the GIMS Board in February 2024, Brian brings a wealth of experience in corporate communications,  conference and event planning and logistics management. Being a newcomer to the island at just five (5) years, he finds volunteering in the community such a great opportunity to connect with residents on the island and work towards a collective goal, such as the green burial initiative. When not traveling for work for conference planning, Brian dedicates his spare time to gardening and baking for the local farmer's markets on the island. 

Megan is a writer, weaver, and community convenor who brings a creative and contemplative lens to her work with the Gabriola Island Memorial Society. A longtime Gabriola resident, she is engaged in Zen practice and values the role of ritual, simplicity, and presence in both life and death. With experience in nonprofit governance, strategic planning, and public communications, Megan is committed to expanding green burial options and fostering community-led conversations around death, dying, and remembrance. Megan joined the GIMS Board in March 2024.

Emily feels strongly that natural options after death should be the norm, not the exception. Her work in documentaries and podcasts focuses heavily on logistics, and provides constant learning; skills and experience she brings to the Board, which she joined in April 2024.  When not working, Emily can usually be found tending to chickens (spoiling) and the garden (weeding).