Archived Changemaker Conversations Winter 2023
FROM INSIGHT TO ACTION
WINTER 2023 CONVERSATIONS
ENVIRONMENT + SUSTAINABILITY
Women-led Climate Change Solutions: Developing A Policy Guide from Indigenous and Immigrants’ Perspectives
What does it mean to engage in women lead climate change solutions? Join us for a conversation with Dr. Jebunnessa Chapola as she shares her postdoctoral research which aims to create a Women-led Community Climate Solutions Space (WCCS). Dr. Chapola will cover principles of equity, women’s vulnerability, and fostering community resilience to address climate change risk. Dr. Chapola will particularly focus on Indigenous, transnational immigrant, and refugee women; and provide concrete recommendations to policymakers for creating socially inclusive climate adaptation policies and practices at local, provincial, and federal levels.
Date: April 20, 2023
Time: 12:15 PM - 1:30 PM
FEATURING Dr. Jebunnessa Chapola
RIGHT RELATIONS + RACIAL EQUITY
IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION AND SETTLEMENT IN CANADA: NOTIONS OF ACCEPTANCE, EDI/ANTI-RACISM BEST PRACTICES, AND ROLE OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
Description: In Canada, nearly ¼ of the population (8.3 million people) “were, or had ever been, a landed immigrant or permanent resident” (Statistics Canada, 2021). With this comes a collection of diverse cultures, ethnicities, languages, and religious beliefs; as well as unique experiences and challenges on adaptation both on the part of the newcomer and on the part of other Canadians. How might we evaluate our perceptions, values, and attitudes of integration and settlement of immigrants? Join Marva Ferguson, Moussa Magassa, and Farah Ali in conversation about the Notion of Acceptance in Canadian Society for Immigrants and Refugees, and the importance of grassroot organizations, industries, and higher education best practice approach in effectively integrating and settling newcomers using EDI/Anti-racism frameworks.
Date: February 9, 2023
Time: 12:15 PM - 1:30 PM
FEATURING Dr. Moussa Magassa, Farah Ali, and Marva Ferguson
ENVIRONMENT + SUSTAINABILITY
Street Legacy: Shaping what we owe our future
Celia Lee, Executive Director of Sustainable Calgary, joins us on April 6 to ignite a spark on rethinking the current work of urban design in our city. Celia’s work in “co-designing” healthy neighbourhoods most recently includes bringing children’s ideas to life in and around Calgary. Through their work with kids, Sustainable Calgary re-imagines public spaces and public streets to allow for healthy places that are inclusive and accessible for all. Her work brings children’s imaginations to life and creates spaces to address the state of the climate in Calgary.
Date: April 6, 2023
Time: 12:15 PM - 1:30 PM
FEATURING Celia Lee
Celia Raven Lee is Executive Director of Sustainable Calgary and a private consultant. Through Sustainable Calgary, she has led a team to develop and implement a made-in-Alberta approach to “co-designing” healthy neighbourhoods, and inform policy on equitable and healthy city design. Celia has co-authored work such as Alberta's Nonprofit Sector: Too Essential to Fail (2022), Kids Reimagine School Streets (2022), the Poverty Snapshot in Calgary: Taking Decisive Action (2021), Healthy Places (2019), and The Cost of Poverty in Ontario (2019), each aimed at informing policy decisions. You can check out her TEDxYYC talk Reimagining Public Spaces on Youtube. Celia holds a Bachelor in Environmental Biology and a Master of Environmental Design. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time near trees, talking about the weather and listening to Buffy (St. Marie//the Vampire Slayer).
Dr. Jebunnessa Chapola is a settler woman of colour trained as an anti-racist, decolonial feminist educator. She is a cultural activist and mother of three daughters. Recently, she received Student Changemaker MOMA Award 2023 from the International Association of Maternal Action and Scholarship (IAMAS), USA. In addition to her academic accomplishments, she is also engaged in decolonial social justice community activism and community-building activities. As a community-engaged activist scholar, she has worked in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, for the last ten years and has lived in Calgary for the last three years. She was involved with the Usask community garden, Saskatoon CFCR community radio, and transnational cultural activities in Saskatoon. Various federal, provincial, and local organizations have recognized her community-building work. In 2015, she received the provincial Anti-racist champion recognition (Betty Szuchewycz Award) from the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan, the Anti-racist Beyond Trailblazer Honor (2015), CBC Future 40 Award (2015), and the University of Saskatchewan Graduate Students’ Association's Excellence in Community Services Award (2016). CBC, CTV, Global TV, The Star Phoenix, Saskatoon Express, CFCR, The Sheaf, the YWCA in Saskatoon, Flow magazine, and the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 have featured her.
In 2022, she joined as a contract faculty at the general education department at Mount Royal University (MRU), Calgary. And recently (2023) as an adjunct faculty member at Educational Foundations, University of Saskatchewan, SK, Canada. Besides her teaching at MRU, Calgary, Dr. Chapola is an SSHRC postdoctoral fellow working under Professor Margot Hurlbert, Canada Research Chair in Climate Change, Energy and Sustainability Policy at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina.
More about Dr. Chapola and her work:
https://www.schoolofpublicpolicy.sk.ca/about-us/post-doctoral-fellows/jebunnessa-chapola.php
https://gripinequality.org/2023/03/indigenous-perspective-on-climate-change-and-decolonial-learning/
https://mcos.ca/blog/dr-jebunnessa-chapola
WELLBEING + BELONGING
The Power of Designed Narrative for Wellbeing and Mental Health in our Community
Stacey Perlin, from The Perlin Foundation for Wellbeing, joins us on May 4 to dissect frameworks on what it means to measure wellbeing and mental health. Together, we will take a look at healing systems and mental health resources that already exist in our community, while using storytelling to further explore how to move the conversation and solutions forward. Stacey uses intentionally designed narratives to teach the importance of telling community stories, for community, by community.
Date: May 4, 2023
Time: 12:15 PM - 1:30 PM
FEATURING Stacey Perlin
Stacey has actively facilitated or led strategic planning work since 2004, from a civic context to international conversations within the film and television industry, or through a communications lens for other industries. Her spirit is expressed through her leadership in establishing Bliss Festival in Calgary through the Perlin Foundation for Wellbeing and BlissFest Labs. She curates conversations around wellbeing and connects the local mental health ecosystem at year-round events and an annual gathering that celebrates mental health, mental wellness, and those affected by mental illness.
ENVIRONMENT + SUSTAINABILITY
Biodiversity – going, going, gone?
Biodiversity is a word with a lot of meaning – millions and millions of years worth…it literally encompasses all life on earth. And yet in the last few hundred years we have documented the loss of many species – it is the sixth greatest extinction event. What is biodiversity and why is it important? Danah Duke and Tracy Lee from Miistakis Institute explore biodiversity conservation’s big challenges. They will highlight Miistakis’ current urban biodiversity projects in Calgary, and invite you to share your biodiversity experiences and discuss solutions. Join us on Thursday March 23 and learn what you can do to help support biodiversity.
Date: March 23, 2023
Time: 12:15 PM - 1:30 PM
FEATURING Danah Duke and Tracy Lee
Danah has been the Executive Director of the Miistakis Institute since 2001. The Miistakis Institute is a not for profit environmental research institute affiliated with Mount Royal University in Calgary Alberta. Miistakis scientifically investigates environmental challenges, analyzes policy implications, develops decision support tools, and catalyzes community conservation action to realize environmental benefits and outcomes. Her role as the ED of Miistakis puts Danah at the interface between academia, policy and decision-making and community conservation. Through her tenure at Miistakis, Danah has developed skills in various conservation related disciplines that include spatial analysis, research design, wildlife management, transportation ecology, citizen science and ecosystem services. Her experience also includes non-profit management and governance, facilitation and collaboration and community engagement. Danah holds M.Sc. in Environmental Biology and Ecology at the University of Alberta and a B.Sc. in Biology from McMaster University.
Dr. Magassa is the Associate Vice-President, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB. His mandate is to lead, in collaboration with key university stakeholders, the development of comprehensive institutional EDI/A strategies, processes and evidence-based policies, practices, and programs that center the experiences of equity-deserving people and ensure that EDI/A values are embedded in day-to-day operations of the university, its decision-making, and strategic planning. His approach to EDI/A is rooted in an intersectional and trauma-informed framework that draws on the lived experiences and voices of equity-deserving people and their allies.
Previously, he worked as the Principal Strategist, Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Anti-racism Education and Community Engagement at UVic. Dr. Magassa is also an associate faculty in the UVic social justice program and the M.A in global leadership program at Royal Roads university. He is also an instructor in both the UVic Intercultural Studies & Practice program, and the UBC Centre for intercultural communication.
He holds a PhD in curriculum and instruction (UVic) with special focus on critical race theory, anti-racism, Islamophobia and human rights education; an MA in human security and peacebuilding (Royal Roads university); a BA (Hons) in conflict resolution and peace studies (Kwazulu Natal University, South Africa); and various advanced certifications in human rights and humanitarian law (UNITAR), conflict mediation (UNISA), and intercultural competency development (Portland).
Dr. Magassa also have an extensive background in humanitarian peacebuilding and non-violence work as well as an integration program coordinator with immigrant and refugee settlement.
Dr. Moussa Magassa was born in Senegal and speaks many languages in addition to English and French.
Farah Ali is Network and Cloud Security Consultant and the cofounder and Executive Director of the Calgary African Community Collective (CACC). The CACC brought together many Black / African led organizations together in a collective to promote fair and equitable distribution of resources to empower black-led grassroot communities in Calgary.
Farah Ali also previously worked with Somali Canadian Society in many capacities including President and Eexcutive Director. Through is grassroot organization, he has helped established community center and a gym which serves marginalized at-risk youth, women and seniors access athletic, life skill and counselling programs in a safe and inclusive environment
Farah Also is also a member of the African Advisory Board with Calgary Police where he liaisons the community and the police on matters on mutual concern and building a bridge between the community and the police.
Marva is a social worker, advocate, and Assistant Professor of social work in the department of Child Studies and Social Work, at Mount Royal University, Calgary Alberta Canada. She is also a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Social Work, Memorial University, Newfoundland, and Labrador. A graduate of the University of Calgary, she holds a BSW and MSW in social work, a certificate in Disaster Management from Mount Royal University, and trainer/facilitator in Mental Health First Aid and Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). Marva spent the last 14 years working in mental health as the Employee Assistance Program Coordinator Counsellor at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Prairie Region. Her other professional affiliations include Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse (CCASA), Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter, and Alberta Health Services. Marva’s current research interest is in sequence migration with a focus on The Personal Stories of Jamaican Canadian Adults who migrated to Canada as Children. Marva has presented several papers at local, national, and international conferences such as The Role of Parents/Grandparents in Family Structures, Family Stability and Sustainability and how Reunification has Transformed the Jamaican Family in Canada, the Complexities of Caregiving from Afar, and Centralizing the voices of Immigrants and Refugees in Disaster Management at the Annual Strangers in New Homelands’ Conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the International Federation of /Social Workers (IFSW), Vienna Austria, 2019.
Marva sticks close to her Jamaican roots and recently initiated the Quick Response Project by collaborating and providing basic needs to residents in her home country. She is also patron of the sports program at the Labyrinth Primary School, St Mary, Jamaica, and the Jamaica College (High School) Kingston, Jamaica.
RIGHT RELATIONS + RACIAL EQUITY
JOURNALISM’S RACIAL RECKONING: THE NEWS MEDIA’S PIVOT TO DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Description: During the “racial reckoning” in 2020, racialized and Indigenous journalists in Canada, the United States and around the world called out their employers and industry for the systemic racism too often found in news content, and the newsroom. In the years since George Floyd’s death triggered a global movement, has the news business changed? Mount Royal University’s Brad Clark looks back at the so-called racial reckoning, the issues it exposed, and what – if anything – is different today. Brad is the author of Journalism’s Racial Reckoning: The News Media’s Pivot to Diversity and Inclusion.
Date: February 23, 2023
Time: 12:15 PM - 1:30 PM
FEATURING Dr. Brad Clark
Dr. Brad Clark worked as a journalist for 20 years in both print and broadcasting before entering the academy. At the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the 1990s he worked on an award-winning investigative unit for CBC Radio in Edmonton, and became a national reporter based in Calgary in 2000. In 2006, Brad left the CBC to teach in the broadcast diploma program at what was then Mount Royal College. He later pursued a doctorate, and his dissertation examined television news representations of Indigenous Peoples and racialized groups in Canada. His subsequent research has focused on diversity, equity and inclusion in news, social media, and eSports.
RIGHT RELATIONS + RACIAL EQUITY
EXPLORING THE 7 GRANDFATHER TEACHINGS: MAKING CHANGE FOR RIGHT RELATIONS AND EQUITY THROUGH SELF REFLECTION AND PERSPECTIVE SHARING
Description: Join Simon Ross, Melissa Roy and Shane Gauthier in a conversation that inspires us to question right relations and racial equity from a personal perspective. Thinking about our day to day lives, how do these topics show up and help us learn to advocate for equity among Indigenous and non-Indigenous people? Explore the 7 Grandfather Teachings and how to use them in professional and personal environments.
FEATURING Shane Gauthier, Melissa Roy, and Simon Ross
Shane Gauthier is Metis from Treaty 8 territory (Metis Settlements). Shane has earned a B.Ed with distinction and M.Ed in Educational Psychology both from the University of Alberta. He was bestowed many awards during his tenure there but he is most proud of being the only Indigenous person to win the ABC Mensa Award for academic achievement and nominated for a Rhode Scholarship. In 2005 Shane continued his education at Harvard University taking his second Masters degree in Environmental Management (Indigenous land management).
For 8 years Shane worked at the Alberta Metis Settlements Child and Family Services Authority as a researcher and communication manager. Then he moved onto Alberta Government where he worked for 15 years. He is most proud of the work he lead in creating the First Nations Geodata Mapping Initiative. This initiative created maps to support consultation for land and resource development.
Shane has published extensively on the topics of gifted education, philosophy, history of the Metis Settlements of Alberta and three textbooks on Indigenous history for Native Studies 10,20, and 30 for Duval House.
In his fifth year as the CEO of the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary in September 2022 Shane was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee medal and was named a Changemaker by the Urban Society of Aboriginal Youth.
Melissa is Tsilhqot’in from Tsi DelDel (formerly the Alexis Creek Indian Band) in the interior of British Columbia. Raised by a mother that survived the St. Joseph Mission Residential School and a father that was raised in foster care system. Melissa has a passion to help create brave and ethical space for community to explore and experience culture. In 2010, she graduated from the Human Service Diploma program at Thompson Rivers University. Upon graduation she was employed by Nenqayni Wellness Centre (family and youth residential treatment program) in Williams Lake.
In 2013, she relocated to Edmonton Alberta, where she continued her work in culturally based treatment programming and took interest in the needs of seniors. From 2015- 2018 , Melissa gained experience working with both private and government funded Seniors facilities. Her role was to assess, place and ensure seniors were receiving optimal care. She was responsible for the following: implementing individual care plans, ensuring any referrals (ie. Geriatric reviews, medication reviews, homecare, mental health or addiction services, and accessing provincial/federal senior supports) were provided (and followed up), ensuring health/safety of their building/suites were suitable, settling tenant disputes, and providing support when families had to access higher levels of care. She was also responsible to ensure all building operations/contracts were actioned and annual maintenance was completed for the wellness of the community. Her focus was to ensure all seniors aged with dignity, respect and felt connected to community. These were not Indigenous focused facilities or programming, this further identified the gap of Indigenous seniors accessing key aging supports. She is an advocate for Indigenous seniors having safe access to cultural supports and traditional Indigenous pathways to aging.
Hailing from Nlaka'pamux Nation in British Columbia, Simon has more than twenty – five years of successful experience in the areas of post-secondary education, healthcare, non-profit sector and working with and for Indigenous communities and organizations.
With multidisciplinary interests ranging from community health, career development and leadership training to adventure tourism and environmental land based education. Simon is now the Director of Indigenous Leadership at the Banff Centre. His role is to oversee the Indigenous Leadership portfolio. As the Director he brings his passion, leadership and vision to strengthen and grow the programs for the continued success of participants. Who strengthen and build their communities as sovereign nations with self-governance and self-determination as their footholds for thriving communities.
Throughout his career, Simon has stood at the forefront of developing meaningful connections and has built a reputation as a catalyst in championing the empowerment of individuals and communities. As a senior health program advisor, he partnered with healthcare providers to better understand the diverse needs of First Nation communities in planning quality programs and services. In the areas of education and career development, Simon worked as liaison between Indigenous workers and future employers; and initiated culturally-based Indigenous and non-Indigenous skills and leadership training programs. He provided operational leadership in funding; program advancement; strategic planning; board governance; and community and governmental relations.
WELLBEING + BELONGING
Reconciliation: Notions of Healing and Wellness
Description: The process of healing and fostering wellness is a significant part of the reconciliation journey. For this to happen, it takes both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to work together intentionally and with care towards truth telling and collective action. In this conversation join Elder Marion Lerat as she shares her perspectives on reconciliation and how it ties into her work as an Elder. Elder Lerat will elaborate on why it’s important for her to insert kindness and care in her work within the community. Also, learn about Awo Taan Healing Lodge Society’s work over the past 30 years with Josie Nepinak. The humble beginnings that the organization had and why Awo Taan moved from a crisis model to a healing lodge model. This conversation will explore the need for continued dialogue and collective action in reconciliation.
Date: March 9, 2023
Time: 12:15 PM - 1:30 PM
FEATURING Josie Nepinak and Elder Marion Lerat
Josie Nepinak is the Executive Director of Awo Taan Healing Lodge Society, the only aboriginal urban women’s shelter in Alberta, and has a strong 25 year background steeped in complex, social issues working with Aboriginal organizations and advocating for aboriginal women and families affected by family violence. She has a degree in Women's Studies with a graduate studies in Management. Josie is Anishinaabe from the treaty four area and believes in a balanced approach, with teachings of Aboriginal wisdom and healing in combination with contemporary western methodologies in promoting the health and well-being of First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals, families and communities. Josie brings focus, clarity, creativity and inspiration to ensure Awo Taan Healing Lodge Society achieves results.
Changemaker Conversations: In Person Celebration
Spark new connections, ideas and conversation, and meet our changemakers in person!
On May 11, you’ve invited to the Changemaker Conversations: In Person Celebration! We are celebrating 3 years of Changemaker Conversations, honoring our past guests, their stories and work as changemakers.
Tracy is a senior project manager at the Miistakis Institute. Tracy acquired her BSc from University of Victoria in biology and environmental design and her MSc from the University of Calgary, Resources and the Environment Program. Tracy's graduate work, in association with the Miistakis Institute, focused on the development and assessment of a citizen science project to monitor wildlife movement across a major highway. Tracy is also a founding member and director of The Ssubi Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to alleviate poverty through educational initiatives in Uganda, East Africa.
Elder Marion Lerat attended Merrival Residential School for 11 years– she is from Kahkewistahaw– Broadview Saskatchewan – Graduated from MRU in 1995 in Social work and has been working with Indigenous communities in Calgary and Edmonton for about 30 years. In 2007 she was awarded Esquao Woman of the year and in 2009 was selected Grandmother of the year. Marion has 6 of her own children – and has 4 Grand Children and 4 Great Grand Children.