Celebrating Indigenous Expertise in Sustainability
A Sustainability across Disciplines conference
March 23-25, 2022 at Concordia University
The Loyola Sustainability Research Centre and the Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability collaborated with Concordia's 4TH SPACE to host a series of panels, discussions, workshops, and presentations in celebration of Indigenous expertise in Sustainability.
This online conference brought together very honoured guests, as well as faculty, students, and the broader community from the University and beyond to celebrate Indigenous expertise in sustainability and sustainability research at Concordia more generally.
Schedule of synchronous events
The synchronous events were broadcast in real-time on Zoom for registered participants.
Wednesday, March 23
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
- Wendat ecology, featuring Nicolas Renaud
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- Decolonizing climate policy in so-called Canada, featuring Sarah Hanson, Deborah McGregor, Tiffany Traverse, and Jen Gobby
1:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
- Co-developing knowledge with Indigenous communities to facilitate sustainable fisheries management: a ‘FISHES’ perspective, featuring Pamela MacLeod, Monica Mulrennan, Stephan Schott, Louis Bernatchez, and Dylan Fraser
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Representations and rights of the environment, featuring Deborah McGregor, Matthias Fritsch, Sandy Lamalle, and Peter Stoett
Thursday, March 24
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
- Partners in Indigenous Conservation and Environmental Futures (PICEF)
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Keynote address by Danika Billie Littlechild
Friday, March 25
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- Indigenous youth perspectives on climate justice / Les perspectives des jeunes autochtones sur la justice climatique, featuring Julie Teiokeráthe Delisle, Ohontsakéhte Montour, Carlee Kawinehta Loft, Alicia Ibarra-Lemay, and Natasha Blanchet-Cohen.
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Decolonization strategies in film and journalism, featuring Miranda Crowdus and Aphrodite Salas
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Keynote address by Andrea Reid: Indigenous leadership is essential to conservation: An example from coastal British Columbia
Schedule of asynchronous events
To support the online format of the event, pre-recorded talks and films were made available for viewing at any time during the conference.
Films
- Brave New River by Nicolas Renaud
- Florent Vollant: I Dream in Innu by Nicolas Renaud
- The Hive: A step toward food sovereignty by Andreanna Theriault-Vinci, Adana Okorie and Marie Ward
Pre-recorded presentations
- Evaluating the quality of science used in environmental impact assessments, by Xing Yu Zhao.
- 21st Century spatial analysis of phenological trends in the North American tundra, by Olivier Makuch.
- Mapping Concordia's sustainability ecosystem, by Karine Balé.
- Urban greening and gentrification, by Zoe Tripetujen, Jasper Cobb, Stephanie Proctor, Emma McLaughlin, Kenna Aviles, and Lindsay Doyle
- Student climate anxiety: The role of campus green spaces and ecotherapy, by Garance Rosmorduc.
- Canadian oil interests in the Okavango Delta, by Elliot Lauzon-Schlachter.
- Recent decline in suitable large mammal habitats within the Dzangha Sangha Protected Areas, Central African Republic, by Yisa Ginath Yuh
- Bridging the divide between Indigenous and Western knowledge systems regarding the climate crisis in Canada, by Harvin Bhathal
- Language matters: An introduction to ecolinguistics, by Zoey Davis.
- Underwater trees and the pre-colonial forests of Gespe’gewa’gi by Alex Pace.
- Concordia's Sustianable Event Certification Program, by Jessica Krejcik of the Office of Sustainability.
Special thanks
This conference is brought to you by:
- Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability
- Loyola Sustainability Research Centre
- 4TH SPACE
With the support of:
- Office of the Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies
- Faculty of Arts and Science
- Canada Excellence Research Chair in Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Communities and Cities
- Youth Network Chair
- School of Community and Public Affairs and First Peoples Studies
- Science College
- Department of Applied Human Sciences
- Department of Biology
- Department of Communication Studies
- Department of Geography, Planning and Environment
- Department of History
- Department of Political Science
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology
This conference contributes to Concordia's Sustainability Action Plan by increasing the visibility of sustainability research at Concordia.
This conference is also certified platinum under the Concordia’s Sustainable Virtual Event Certification program.
Territorial acknowledgement
Although this conference was hosted online, most of the participants will be located in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), on the unceded lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation, one of the founding nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. If you are not in Tiohtià:ke, you can find out whose land you are on.
