Land as Medicine Learning Forum

Talk Description

Check back for updates.

Biography

Winona LaDuke, in 2007, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame

“Native American land rights activist, environmentalist, economist, politician, and author Winona LaDuke has spent her career working on a national level to advocate, raise public support and create funding for environmental groups. A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, LaDuke has become known as a voice for Native American economic and environmental concerns around the globe.

LaDuke is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg. While attending Harvard University, LaDuke met Jimmy Durham, a well-known Native American activist, and her own interest in issues related to Native tribes began. At the age of 18, LaDuke spoke to the United Nations regarding Native American concerns.

After graduation, LaDuke moved to the White Earth Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota, where she became principal of the reservation high school. There, she quickly became involved in a lawsuit to recover lands promised to the Anishinaabeg people by an 1867 federal treaty. After four years of litigation the case was dismissed, prompting LaDuke to found the White Earth Land Recovery Project. The project’s mission centers on land recovery, preservation and restoration of traditional practices and the strengthening of spiritual and cultural heritage. In 1985, she established the Indigenous Women’s Network, a group devoted to increasing the visibility of Native Women and empowering them to participate in political, social, and cultural processes.

LaDuke is program director of the Honor the Earth Fund, a national advocacy group that seeks to educate and create public support and funding for native environmental groups. In 1998, her work was recognized by Ms. Magazine, which named her Woman of the Year. Four years earlier she was nominated by Time Magazine as one of the country’s fifty most promising leaders under the age of 40.

In 1996 and again in 2000 she was a vice-presidential candidate, joining Ralph Nader on the Green Party ticket. A mother of three, LaDuke has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues.”

LaDuke has written many books:

• Last Standing Woman (1997), novel, and newly released in 2015.
• All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life (1999), about the drive to reclaim tribal land for ownership
• Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming (2005), a book about traditional beliefs and practices.
• The Militarization of Indian Country: Daughters of Mother Earth: The Wisdom of Native American Women
• The Sugar Bush.

She has also co-written several other books including:

• Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide
• Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism
• Sister Nations: Native American Women Writers on Community
• Struggle for the Land: Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide, and Colonization
• Cutting Corporate Welfare
• Ojibwe Waasa Inaabidaa: We Look in All Directions
• New Perspectives on Environmental Justice: Gender, Sexuality, and Activism
• Make a Beautiful Way: The Wisdom of Native American Women
• How to Say I Love You in Indian
• Earth Meets Spirit: A Photographic Journey Through the Sacred Landscape
• Otter Tail Review: Stories, Essays and Poems from Minnesota’s Heartland

Talk Description

Check back for updates.

Biography

(she/her) is a queer Anishinaabe scholar, writer, and commentator, from Eabametoong First Nation and Thunder Bay, Ontario.

She is highly sought after for her words and analysis— called an “Indigenous powerhouse” by the Toronto Star, “one of the brightest young minds in Canada today” by jury members of the Canadian Journalism Foundation, and “a rising intellectual giant by the University of Toronto.

She has been a contributor and commentator for some of the largest media outlets in Canada and the world, including the New York Times, BBC World News, The Globe and Mail, and CBC National News. Riley has also travelled the globe speaking at internationally renowned institutions and events, including the UN climate negotiations, the Stockholm Forum on Gender Equality, TEDx stages, and many others.

She has taught Indigenous governance at Toronto Metropolitan University and is completing her PhD at the University of Toronto, where she is studying Indigenous / Canadian politics and is a Vanier Scholar. Riley is at work on the proposal for her first book of non-fiction, which will look critically at reconciliation in Canada, interwoven with her lived experience.

Links with interviews with Riley Yesno (Political Scholar and Advocate):

Riley on CBC talking about Pipeline Video Link: https://youtu.be/xMyg6Vtd7yI

Talk description

Allyship, Solidarity and Action. 

This keynote talk will address the role of allies in helping stop colonial harm and in supporting healing and wellbeing. From environmental justice to land back, there is a role for everyone in the struggle for a just, decolonial and livable future. But to build relations strong enough to transform systems and cultivate  resilient communities, settlers need to do better. We’ll talk about what that means.

Biography

Jen Gobby is a settler living on unceded Abenaki territory in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. She has a Ph.D. from McGill University and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor with the School of Environmental Studies at University of Victoria. She regularly give public presentations and workshops on topics including climate justice, theories of transformative change, and building stronger social movements through better allyship and solidarity. She is the author of the book More Powerful Together: Conversations with Climate Activists and Indigenous Land Defenders. She works with Research for the Front Lines, a network that supports the research needs of communities and movements fighting for environmental and climate justice across so-called Canada.

Talk description

THE SPIRIT OF NATURE
Nature does so much more than stimulate our senses; its intricacy challenges our intellect and its tonic lifts our spirit.  Michael Runtz provides a highly visual look at the complexity of Nature and its importance to our essence.

Biography

Michael’s association with Algonquin Park spans more than 50 years and includes working in the Park as an interpretive naturalist for 11 seasons.

Michael hosted the international television series Wild by Nature, authored and illustrated 15 natural history books including Algonquin Wild, Wildflowers of Algonquin Provincial Park, The Explorer’s Guide to Algonquin Park, 4th Edition, and a May 2024 release Observing Nature by Canoe and Kayak.

Additionally, Michael provided the images for the award-winning children’s book At Home with the Beaver.

Michael has written more than 1,100 natural history articles for newspapers and magazines (Nature’s Way was nearing its 30th season when Covid-19 cut it short). Michael taught Natural History and Ornithology courses at Carleton University where more than 100,000 students have taken his courses.

His numerous awards include the Council of Canadian University Biology Chairs

Distinguished Public Science Education Award, the Friends of Algonquin

Directors Award, the Friends of Bonnechere Parks Directors Award, and several

Carleton University Teaching Achievement Awards.

A popular keynote speaker and media guest, Michael was the only Canadian featured in the TVO/NHK Japan’s Superteachers series that also featured Nelson Mandela and Dr. Jane Goodall.

Michael and his wife Britta worked behind the scenes for the Eastern Wolf segment of David Attenborough’s The Secret World of Sound and The Nature of Things. Visit Michael and his wife Britta on Facebook and Instagram at Nature by Runtz.