Meet Our 2026 Staff Team
Liam Agnew
Assistant Director
From Vancouver, British Columbia. Liam graduated from the Outdoor Recreation Management program at Capilano University in 2017. His favourite activities include hiking, reading, and playing board games and D&D. Great Moment in Camping: “Rafting up our canoes while paddling on the Arctic Ocean, and having multiple pods of beluga whales swim directly underneath us.” Liam will be working as our Assistant Director this summer. It will be his eighteenth summer at Wanapitei, and his ninth year on staff.
Jacob Fischer (they/he)
Director of Administration and Communications
From Toronto, Ontario. Jacob studied Philosophy at Trent University with a Specialization in Normative Ethics. Jacob is a competitor for Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ranked 49th in the world. Greatest Moment In Camping: “Finishing the day on the Bay in 2022, seeing the aurora come out during a clear night with mac and cheese on fire and realizing we had gotten away with a low stress Bay Trip” . This is their nineteenth year at Wanapitei, and their ninth year on staff.
Jackie Hodgins (she/her)
Site Director
Jackie has been a part of Wanapitei from the moment she was born. Her grandparents, Stanley and Laura Bell Hodgins, owned and operated Camp Wanapitei when she was a child. Jackie would fly across the country from Calgary starting at the tender age of 5. Stanley and Laura Bell would pick her and her brother up at the airport and she would then spend 10 weeks of the summer immersed in camp life. She completed her camper V2 in 1980 which then morphed into leading trips for several years. In 1985, she had to get serious in her field of Architecture. After a few years working in large Toronto architectural firms, she headed to Yellowknife to advance her career and as a favourite sideline, launched 8 years of V2’s trips into the wilderness. In 1998, she returned to the Wanapitei fold; revamping and running the Junior program, joining the Board, and taking on the vast task of organizing and facilitating transportation for Wanapitei’s canoe trips, and in the last 6 years she has managed the construction of several large site projects such as the new kitchen and office addition. She is currently the year-round resident at camp, Site Director and Transportation Logistics Coordinator, Chair of the V2 committee and Site Committee, and is working alongside our Director to provide a safe and awesome Wanapitei experience.
Cori-Anne Huisman
VII Coordinator
From Fernie, British Columbia. Cori-Anne has spent 26 summers at Wanapitei. She grew up chasing bugs and squirrels around the camp property every summer with her sister while her mother (Jackie Hodgins) worked. As soon as she was allowed, Cori-Anne joined the Trailblazer program and never looked back.
After her Coppermine River VII in 2013, she went on to study Animal Physiology at the University of British Columbia and returned to us seasonally as staff. She led canoe trips for 8 years, including three breathtaking VII trips in 2019, 2021, and 2023.
In 2022 Cori-Anne was Tripping Director at Camp Wanapitei and graduated from the University of Guelph with her veterinary medicine degree. Now, she is a wildlife veterinarian in Newfoundland where she treats caribou, moose, foxes, lynx and all sorts of fun creatures.
As our Voyager II Coordinator, Cori-Anne helps design routes, organize logistics, and orchestrate our VII program. She loves travelling, nerding out over biology, and playing hockey. If you run into her, ask her about Northern rivers!
Laura Peberdy (she/they)
Medical Director
From Erin, Ontario, now living in Toronto. Laura is a nurse based out of Toronto. Her favourite activities include going for hikes and little explorations of her neighbourhood, knitting, cross stitch, and video games. Great Moment in Camping: “When leading Bay Trip. We had just completed a couple of very tiring days on the Kesagami Creek and as we came to the mouth of the creek, Lake Kesagami was very windy (almost a little too windy)! Nonetheless, all around us was swamp so we needed to brave the winds to make it to solid ground. We did a quick paddle and found some solid ground but it really was not a campsite. Even though the site wasn’t ideal, everyone was just so happy to be off the creek and on some solid ground! All of the campers swam happily in the massive waves and the evening turned into an absolute hoot!”. This is her eleventh year at camp and seventh year on staff.
Trish Preston (she/her)
Financial Director
Coming Soon.
