The 2022 RISE Webinar Series is a follow-up to the popular series from 2021 and 2020. While the pandemic makes it challenging to gather and learn together in person, we’ve gone virtual and have made all 6 webinars available online. No expiry dates or time limits. Feel free to watch at your leisure.

We encourage educators from across the province, as well as the general public, to learn about the variety of sustainable education projects, initiatives, and activities that are happening in First Nation communities around Manitoba and here in Winnipeg.

GET INSTANT ACCESS TO THIS YEARS WEBINAR SERIES!

This years 2022 RISE Lunch and Learn Series has officially wrapped up for the year. In the event you missed a webinar, the recordings are available below.

Our speakers were diverse and came from a variety of backgrounds. You can read more about them below. They are listed in ascending webinar order.

• Angela Dumas is an elder and knowledge keeper from Brokenhead Ojibway Nation (BON). She is a single grandmother of seven grandchildren and is a student at the University of Manitoba where she is studying Agricultural Crop Planting on a small scale for preservation over the winter. She describes herself as a researcher, gatherer of natural medicinal wild plants, and composter who is interested in rejuvenating soil health. She has been an avid gardener since she was a child and is passionate about environmental sustainability because she believes that everything we eat, we drink, we wear, we use in our daily lives comes from the earth elements. By taking care of the earth, it will in turn take care of us.
• Dr. Shirley Thompson is the Principal Investigator with the Mino Bimaadiziwin partnership and Associate Professor with the Indigenous Focus Group at the Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources, University of Manitoba. This Mino Bimaadiziwin partnership works to build capacity, food security, and housing in Northern Manitoba through partnerships for community-led post-secondary education with First Nations and the International movement for Ecosystem Restoration Camps (ERC). Shirley is the interim Ecosystem Restoration Camp Manager for Kitigay Camp at Beauconia, Manitoba.

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  Alfred Pruden is the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative (ADI) worker for Pinaymootang First Nation Health Program. He has been in this position for the past 17 years. The ADI program is a federally funded program that focuses on raising awareness of diabetes, its risk factors, assessments, the value of healthy lifestyle practices, activity, prevention, promotion and building capacity and linkages. His presentation is available here: ADI pdf.

• Carl McCorrister is from Peguis First Nation, a retired teacher of 25 years, who has operated the Peguis Community Garden Project since 2008. He is a Indian Residential School Survivor, who has raised 5 children, and currently has 7 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. During his teaching years, he was a sports coach for hockey, baseball, curling, and cross country running. He has a 4 year Bachelor of Education Degree and when he retired, went back to university to get his Graduate Degree in Education. He always wanted to return to the land, so he came home to Peguis and started their community garden on 7 acres of land. Read more about this project here: PCG ppt.

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  Wakpa McKay is the Climate Change Research Assistant for the Wipazoka Wakpa Climate Change & Environment program in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation (SVDN). He began working in SVDN as the Summer Student Coordinator where he helped facilitate and organize a kayaking camping trip in 2021 which ignited his passion for protecting the environment, animals, and plants as a whole. He has also worked in SVDN’s community gardens to help mound and water the vegetables, which were later harvested and distributed to elders, the elementary school, and local community health fair. You can view their presentation here: SVDN ppt

• Durdana Islam is the Project Manager for the Climate Action Team at Green Action Centre. She has a PhD in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from the University of Manitoba with several years of teaching experience at the University of Winnipeg. She has worked with many northern Indigenous communities in Manitoba during her doctoral and postdoctoral studies. As a climate change researcher, and a mother of two kids, her heart is in creating a healthier and sustainable community. She envisions a Manitoba where real action on climate change supports thousands of new jobs and saves Manitobans millions of dollars as we transform to a more efficient and green economy.
  

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• Eddie Ayoub is an artist and has been involved in Winnipeg’s art community for 30+ years. He is the Artistic Director of Art City. Joining as a volunteer in 2003, Ayoub has directed Art City programming since 2007. He is co-chair of the Manitoba Artist-Run Centers Coalition (MARCC), representing Manitoba as chair of the national Artist-Run Centers and Collectives Conference (ARCA) Board. Ayoub is passionate about environmental sustainability, social justice, decolonial practices, and designing art programming that addresses these themes in a constructive and hopeful way.
  

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• Brett Huson is from the Gitxsan Nation of the Northwest Interior of British Columbia, Canada. He grew up in a strong matrilineal society, where he developed a passion for the culture, land, and politics of his people. Brett created the award-winning book series Mothers of Xsan which is part of a larger vision he has in sharing the worlds of the Gitxsan Nation. Brett currently works with the Prairie Climate Centre (PCC) at the University of Winnipeg where he teaches about applying a two-eyed seeing lens that integrates Indigenous knowledges with western science in understanding and addressing climate change.
• Dr. Ian Mauro is the Executive Director of the Prairie Climate Centre and Associate Professor in Geography at the University of Winnipeg. He is a former Canada Research Chair, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, and has served on expert panels related to food security, climate change, and energy issues. Most recently, Dr. Mauro and the PCC team created the newly launched Climate Atlas of Canada which provides information about the impacts of climate change on 634 First Nation communities & 53 Inuit communities across Canada.
  

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• Audrey Logan is a Nehiyaw (Cree)/Métis from northern Alberta and currently resides in the inner-city neighborhood of West Broadway in Winnipeg. She is a long-time gardener, traditional foods educator, and dehydration expert. She is a 60s Scoops Survivor and in her 20’s reconnected with the land reclaiming blood knowledge from her kokum and auntie. Her goal is to see “a dehydration station in every nation!” Check out her website and zine to learn more about her journey.