Cheryl Maloney is an activist from the Mikmak indigenous group. The Mikmak people are First Nations and have a sovereign right to use natural resources in designated areas in Canada. Maloney has been involved in a number of struggles for Mikmak self-determination, including opposition to the Alton Gas Project and for the right to self-sustaining fishing. Cheryl brings a practical indigenous perspective to a range of diverse issues, such as social justice, violence, human rights, climate impacts, indigenous rights, and endangered species. She is the former National Environmental Coordinator of the Aboriginal Women's Association of Canada and former President of the Nova Scotia Aboriginal Women's Association, where she led the organisation's involvement in the investigation of missing and murdered Aboriginal women. She also served as a professor of political science at Cape Breton University, where she taught social justice and Mikmak studies.