About Andrew

Andrew Frank is an award-winning communications consultant and university instructor, working with Indigenous nations, law firms and non-profit organizations to help achieve social justice and sustainability through strategic communications.

Andrew teaches in the Public Relations and Environmental Protection programs at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where he works to create inclusive and supportive learning environments that help students develop the skills and confidence to achieve their goals as professionals and citizens.

He has a Master of Arts in Communication from Simon Fraser University, and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Radio & Television from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), where he was the recipient of the Gold Medal for the Faculty of Communication and Design.

Through his consulting practice, Andrew has produced award-winning communication campaigns and media relations strategies, and his writing has been published in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Georgia Straight, Vancouver Sun, and Huffington Post, among others. He has helped to raise public awareness and pressure decision-makers to act on a wide range of topics including Indigenous rights and title, racial profiling, environmental legislation, oil spills and pipelines, prison reform, internet surveillance, climate change and environmental conservation. In 2013, the Gitga’at Nation named Andrew a “Friend of the Great Bear Rainforest” for his work publicizing opposition to oil tankers in their marine territory.

In January 2012, Andrew acted as a whistleblower, exposing the Harper government's pressure tactics against a registered intervenor in the National Energy Board review of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, including the use of the word "enemy" to describe critics of oil sands pipeline construction. He acted because he believed the pressure tactics of the Prime Minister’s Office represented illegal interference in the pipeline review process, and Indigenous nations deserved to know, as the Joint Review Panel was the government’s official mode of consultation and was legally required to be done in good faith. The event (dubbed the “#enemygate” scandal by Margaret Atwood) sparked national media coverage (Canadian Press, CBC, Globe and Mail and others), and was a watershed moment in raising public concern about the pipeline review process, as well as the government's audits against environmental charities.

A settler Canadian of mixed Scottish, English and Irish origin, Andrew lives with his family in the unceded territory of the Musqueam and Kwantlen nations. He supports restitution for Indigenous nations, and hopes to contribute to reconciliation over time.