The Society is governed by a Board of Directors representative of broad skill sets, inclusive of Indigenous communities and regions from Hope to Barkerville.

On this balanced board, half of the Directors are Indigenous representatives. There is also one designated Multicultural Director and two co-chairs, one of whom is Indigenous.

Currently there are vacant seats for representatives from North Cariboo, Thompson, Canyon, and Ashcroft (Indigenous).

Chief James Hobart
Chief James HobartCo-Chair, Canyon, Indigenous
Chief James Hobart joined NPTGS as the Indigenous Director representing the Canyon Region in October 2017 and became Indigenous Co-Chair in December 2022. James is the Chief Councillor for the Spuzzum First Nation and has also served as their CEO. He’s chaired the Aboriginal Children and Family Chief’s Coalition and held leadership positions with the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. He’s also an inventor.
Brent Rutherford
Brent RutherfordCo-Chair, South Cariboo
A Cariboo resident for nearly half a century, Brent Rutherford spent over 35 years in public education. He also has extensive experience in regional government and is an active member of South Cariboo Emergency Social Services group. In addition to being an active member of the NPTGS Board as Secretary, he is also a member of the Lac La Hache Volunteer Fire Department. He became Co-Chair in April 2022.
Byron Spinks
Byron SpinksSecretary, Thompson Indigenous
Byron Spinks was the founding co-chair of the New Pathways to Gold Society in 2007 and served on the board until 2015. After a break, he returned as Indigenous Director (Thompson) and became Secretary in April 2022. Byron is the manager of Tuckkwiowhum Village and the former Chief of the Lytton First Nation.
Mike Retasket
Mike Retasket Director, Tourism Associations
Mike Retasket joined the NPTGS Board as Director Representing Tourism Associations in October 2017. A champion for traditional knowledge and cultural-heritage values, he’s a storyteller, dancer, drummer and singer who served for 10 years as Chief of the Bonaparte Indian Band. Mike is also an experienced negotiator and a founding member of B.C. First Nations Leadership Council.
Roy Christopher
Roy ChristopherSouth Cariboo, First Nations
Roy Christopher has extensive experience as a business professional, administrator and leader. He has served the Canim Lake Band, the Cariboo Tribal Council and other First Nations organizations. He’s been Chief, Secretary-Treasurer and Band Manager of the Canim Lake Band and been on the NPTG Board of Directors since 2012.
Rocky Nenka
Rocky NenkaNorth Cariboo, Indigenous
Indigenous to the Beaver First Nation, Rocky has almost 30 years of experience in restaurant development, marketing and management experience. He has experience with operations at Fort Langley National Historic Site, The Powerhouse at Stave Falls National Historic Site, Cottonwood House Historic Site, and Barkerville Historic Town and Park. He is currently Barkerville’s Commerce and Indigenous Relations Manager.
Susanna Ng
Susanna NgMulticultural Director
Susanna Ng joined the NPTGS as its multicultural director in 2020. Before joining NPTG, Susanna had built a successful career in journalism, winning the prestigious Jack Webster Award three times. She devotes her post-journalist life to heritage conservation in Vancouver’s Chinatown and elsewhere.
Donna Barnett
Donna BarnettHonourary Director
Few people are more committed to serving their community than Donna. She has served as Councillor and Mayor of the District of 100 Mile House and the Cariboo Chilcotin MLA from 2009–2020. A founding Director of the New Pathways to Gold Society, she is an active volunteer, taking leadership roles in organizations such as the South Cariboo Health Foundation and the 100 Mile House Museum Society and many more.

Board of Directors Emeritus

The New Pathways to Gold Society has been privileged to have many outstanding Directors serve on its board. All of them have been community leaders committed to Indigenous Reconciliation, Multiculturalism and building local economies via heritage tourism. Two of these Directors have stood out as examples not just for NPTGS, but the whole of British Columbia as models of devoted service. They are our Directors Emeritus.

Terry Raymond

Terry Raymond

Terry Raymond worked for so long and so closely with First Nations that he was given the name “White Bear.” And for those who knew him, he was a force of nature, giving his energy and wisdom selflessly for decades to too many organizations and causes to number. He was a founding director of the New Pathways to Gold Society and became Co-Chair in 2011. But that was just the tip of his commitment iceberg.

Raymond graduated from Boston Bar Secondary and worked as a paramedic. His involvement in the life of the people of the Gold Rush Spirit Trail was immeasurable. He was a Fraser Valley Regional District Director, Siska Traditions Society Administrator, Gold Country Communities Services Society and Gold Rush Trail Committee Director to name but a few of his offices. He was also strongly affiliated with the Boston Bar and Siska First Nations in economic development. He was also a Director of the Fraser Valley Regional District.

As an NPTGS Director and Co-Chair, Terry was passionately committed to Indigenous Relations and an advocate for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples long before those principles were enshrined in provincial law. He ensured that whatever NPTGS did, the Society did it looking through an Indigenous lens.

Terry died on April 7, 2022 at Fraser Canyon Hospital after a long battle with cancer. In 2023, he was the posthumous winner of Heritage BC’s Ruby Nobbs Distinguished Service Award. The citation honouring him praised the countless hours he spent as a volunteer to so many groups.

“It is with pride that Heritage BC bestows posthumously on Terry Raymond our Ruby Nobbs Distinguished Service Award,” saisd Britney Dack, Chair of Heritage BC. “He was a champion of all things heritage: recognizing early in his volunteering the importance of Indigenous heritage and culture. There are countless organizations in the Fraser Canyon area that benefited from his leadership and boundless energy.”

Terry is greatly missed, but his spirit lives on in the work on the New Pathways to Gold Society and other organizations who are still guided by his vision.

Lily Chow

Lily Chow

Historian, author, humanitarian and educator Lily Siewsan Chow literally wrote the book on the early Chinese experience in B.C. and those pioneers’ relationship with our province’s Indigenous Peoples. Her outstanding work has earned her many honours: the Order of Canada, the Queen’s diamond jubilee medal (twice), numerous heritage and academic awards and even a book award named in her honour.

The founding Multicultural Director of the New Pathways to Gold Society in 2007, Lily was born in Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1931 and has lived in Canada since 1967. She came to Canada as a qualified teacher and taught general science, Biology and Mandarin in Prince George Secondary School and Duchess Park Secondary School. She then graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Education and received her Master of Education in University of Victoria. She taught in the Prince George School District for 25 years. In 1993 she retired from teaching high school but continued teaching Mandarin in the University of Northern British Columbia.

In 2021, Lily’s outstanding contributions were recognized as she was named to the Order of Canada. In her citation, Governor General Mary Simon stated: “Lily Siewsan Chow, C.M. Victoria, British Columbia: For preserving and promoting the history of early Chinese immigrants to Canada and their contributions to the country’s social and economic development.”

A tireless advocate for human rights and social justice, Lily was a member of the Legacy Initiatives Advisory Council that sought redress for the injustices done to the Chinese community in our province.

As Multicultural Director, Lily was energetic and creative. She was up for anything, whether it was rafting down the Fraser River to commemorate the 1862 smallpox epidemic or touring members of the Canadian Senate through the Fraser Canyon to show them the footprints that the early Chinese pioneers left on the landscape. But most of all, she brought to light the “Cedar-Bamboo” relationship between the Chinese pioneers and B.C.’s Indigenous Peoples. That’s why upon her retirement in 2020 NPTGS and her friends and admirers awarded her a book prize in her own name: the “Lily Chow Cedar-Bamboo Heritage Award,” which will be given annually to a writer who exemplifies her spirit of multiculturalism, inclusivity and excellence.

Lily is now retired and lives in Victoria.