Paul Plater

Chief Financial Officer

As Chief Financial Officer, Paul oversees financial management, investment, technology, philanthropy, government funding, payroll, and administration. He also leads the Deloitte First Nations Child and Family Services and Jordan's Principle teams supporting First Nations youth and families, managing a team of 20 people.

Paul joined the Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS) in 2017 as Director of Finance and Operations before being appointed CFO in January 2022. Guided by a commitment to impact, accountability, transparency, and governance, he has helped grow the organization's capacity, funding, and reserves. The IRSSS now employs 77 staff and 35 elders and cultural workers serving First Nations communities, families, and individuals across BC, working out of 6 offices with an annual operating budget of $12–$15 million.

Before joining the IRSSS, Paul served as Interim CFO and VP Finance in the European resource extraction sector, and as a senior manager at two Big Four public accounting firms. More recently, and concurrent with his work at IRSSS, he was called upon to serve concurrently as part-time Interim CFO at one of BC's largest housing providers. He is also currently a member of the Board of Directors at Pacific Opera Victoria.

Paul has his CPA, CA designation and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University. Paul's values are centered on honesty, trust, clarity, accountability, and transparency. He brings these values to everything he does.

Paul shares his time between the traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen), Songhees, Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples and the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Each day he is challenged by the impacts that colonization has had on Indigenous peoples in Canada, and he strongly supports Indigenous rights and title.