Sylvia Ann Fox

Conference Welcoming Message and Morning Gratitude

Sylvia Ann Fox

Sylvia Ann Fox, Ii’sts’pan’sts’aa’kee (Singing Alone from Above) has been the Traditional Wellness Coordinator at the Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge for the past 8 years. She is the mother of three beautiful children and four grandchildren.

Sylvia Ann studied Arts and Sciences at the University of Lethbridge and completed the Kainai Studies program with many beloved elders at Red Crow College. She has attended various other post secondary institutions and became an addictions counselor. She worked for Blood Tribe Health and at the Kainai Healing Lodge.

Sylvia Ann is dedicated to her community work, supporting countless groups in developing cultural competencies and participating in sacred ceremonies. She was bestowed and carries the Mii’staa’kii (Mountain) pipe bundle through a transfer ceremony, honoring her 20 years of working for her people. She was the first Indigenous woman to receive the City of Lethbridge Leadership award in 2023 from Reconciliation Lethbridge. She also received the Teams Award for Innovation in 2023 for her work on the Indigenous Cancer Rounds for the Department of Oncology at the University of Calgary. Sylvia Ann was a recipient of the Health Quality Council of Alberta Patient Experience Award in 2024 for her role in the Medicine Within program for outstanding achievements. Sylvia Ann completed the First Thunder Land-based Yoga Teacher Training Certificate and co facilitates Blackfoot Informed yoga throughout the community. Sylvia Ann Fox encourages the people she mentors to walk together as they recognize and honor the Blackfoot ancestors, the parents and grandparents.

Dr. Ellen Field

Climate and Environment

Dr. Ellen Field

Ellen is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University. Her research interests are in policy and practice of climate change education in the Canadian formal education system. She teaches Environmental Education (B.Ed) and Climate Change Education (M.Ed) in the Faculty of Education, and has engaged hundreds of in-service teachers in professional development workshops. Ellen is an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Environmental Education and co-chair of the Canadian Regional Hub of Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Change Education (MECCE). She is also a co-author of the Greening Education Guidelines, a policy framework for countries to follow when integrating climate change education into curriculum.

Dr. Sabine Thomas

Health and Wellbeing

Dr. Sabine Thomas

Dr. Sabine Thomas is a Naturopathic Physician and co-owner of JSOL STUDIOS, a family-wellness centered and nature-embodied organization supporting the parent-child relationship. She also leads The Nature Prescriber PLLC, a private naturopathic medical practice, where she combines the healing power of nature and group medical visits.
Most recently, Dr. Sabine partnered with King County, Washington, to lead Anchoring Our ROOTS, a transformative county-wide program rooted in restorative and nature-embodied practices, designed to support the health and wellness BIPOC childcare providers and parents of young children (birth to 5). Her work is deeply informed by the principles of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. In her spare time she is apprenticing as an AfroFlow Yoga(c) Instructor. Her happiest moments are spent reminiscing about the mango/guava trees of her childhood in the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire); reveries of her Ayitian family’s fruit homestead in southern Haiti or nestled on the sofa between her mother and her 10 – year old son, practicing Kiswahili, Haitian Creole, or French.

Lindy Henderson

Plenary Panel: Land-based Learning

Lindy Henderson

Dr. Lindy Phelps-Henderson is the principal of a K-12 land-based school in Washagamis Bay, Ontario. For over twenty years Lindy worked with youth in the public school system as a classroom teacher, forest school teacher, and Indigenous language lead where she has come to integrate Indigenous teachings and ways of knowing and being in her practice. Her doctoral research Mino-Bimaadiziwin: Re-Indigenizing through Land-Based Learning, focuses on centring Anishinabek teachings and practices through planning and leadership, aligning local Indigenous practices with provincial curriculum expectations. Lindy Phelps-Henderson is a proud citizen of the Manitoba Metis Federation and the Red River Homeland, and she currently lives and works in Treaty 3 Territory.

Nicki Ferland

Plenary Panel: Land-based Learning

Nicki Ferland

Nicki Ferland (she/they) is a two-spirit Métis mother, wife, aunty and helper. Her parents are both descended from scrip-bearing Métis families with ancestral roots in St. Vital and St-Boniface (Winnipeg), and Lorette, Manitoba. Nicki has a Master of Education in Indigenous Land-Based Education from the University of Saskatchewan, and is working on a PhD in Education. Her work and research are focused on (urban) land-based pedagogies and queering education. She is a sessional lecturer at the Universities of Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Nicki is vice-chair of the Two-Spirit Michif Local (Manitoba Métis Federation) and sits on Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak’s Two-Spirit National Committee on gender and culture-based violence. She is the Director of Land Based Education and Indigenous Curriculum at the University of Manitoba.

Sarah Brown

Plenary Panel: Land-based Learning

Sarah Brown

Dr. Sarah Brown is a settler of European descent who is grateful to live and work in Treaty 7 territory. She strives to embody kinship, respect, and reciprocity with the people and beings with whom she shares this land. Sarah is an Associate Professor at Mount Royal University and an instructor in the Adventure Leadership Program at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. Her research and scholarship explores the role of post-secondary field schools in cultivating environmental and cultural reconciliation. As an outdoor guide and scholar-practitioner Sarah is committed to cultivating wisdom and leadership through experiential, environmental, and community-centered education. Sarah is happiest when she is learning from the land alongside her students.

Megan Zeni

TEDstyle Talks

Megan Zeni

Megan has over 25 years’ experience as a professional K-7 classroom teacher and is a mum of 3 active teenagers. Megan is widely known for her expertise in school gardens and risky play at school, and is currently employed as a Teacher Consultant with the BC MOECC provincial outreach program for the early years (POPEY). Megan is particularly interested in how teachers enact pedagogies of place and play in outdoor learning environments. Her PhD research resulted in a FREE teacher capacity building tool for outdoor play and learning available at teacher.outsideplay.org. To learn more about her work, visit: https://meganzeni.com

Dr Gillian Judson

TEDstyle Talks

Dr. Gillian Judson

Dr. Gillian Judson is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. She gratefully works on unceded traditional Indigenous territories, including those of the Semiahmoo, Katzie, kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), Kwantlen, Qayqayt and Tsawwassen Nations. She researches the role of imagination in educational leadership, with a specific focus on leadership for social and ecological justice. She also investigates imaginative and ecological teaching practices (PreK through post-secondary) with expertise in a pedagogy called Imaginative Education. Her latest books are entitled Cultivating Imagination in Leadership: Transforming Schools and Communities (Judson & Dougherty, Eds., Teachers College Press, 2023), Imagination and the Engaged Learner: Cognitive Tools for the Classroom. (Egan & Judson, 2016), Engaging Imagination in Ecological Education: Practical Strategies for Teaching (Judson, 2015), and A Walking Curriculum (Judson, 2018/2019)

Emily McDermott

TEDstyle Talks

Emily McDermott

Em, part-time human, sometimes climber and full-time nature enthusiast. She’s scaled the ranks to third in the world for paraclimbing, proving that even with a limb difference, you can still kick rocks (figuratively, and sometimes literally.) With a passion for the healing power of the outdoors, Em is on a mission to get everyone outside, no excuses. Unless you truly have no interest or have tried it before and decided it’s not for you…she would still strongly recommend giving it another go.

Court Rustemeyer

TEDstyle Talks

Court Rustemeyer

Court has been a full time Outdoor Education teacher in Calgary, Alberta for the past 17 years. Court is the President for the Global, Environmental and Outdoor Education Council, a specialist council within the Alberta Teachers Association. Court sits on the Board of Directors for the Outdoor Council of Canada (OCC) – serving as the Director of the Prairies. Court is also a Field Leader Instructor & Practitioner for the OCC. He is member of the Take Me Outside – Teacher Advisory Committee. Court was awarded the 2021 EECOM Award for Outstanding Educator in Environmental Education.

Court’s passion in student-led and experiential learning allows him to be out in the environment with his students in an outdoor classroom almost daily. When not teaching, you will find Court out in the mountains participating in any number of activities, unplugging and recharging in nature.

Léa Flowers Nelson

TEDstyle Talks

Léa Flowers Nelson

Léa Flowers Nelson is a grade 12 student currently living in Calgary, Treaty 7 Territory. Since grade 10, they have been a part of the leadership committee for the Canadian Rockies Youth Network, a youth-led environmental action and education group that works to foster a community of youth who care about the land and water, provide land-based learning opportunities that promote Indigenous knowledges, and collaborate to take action to address the climate crisis. Léa is also a 2024 Girls* on Ice Canada Illecillewaet expedition alum. Léa enjoys theatre and is currently a part of her school’s musical, as well as writing, reading, exploring nature, art and pop culture.

Maggie Cumming

TEDstyle Talks

Maggie Cumming

Maggie is a grade 11 student in Calgary, Alberta, and is a member of the Canadian Rockies Youth Network committee, a youth-led environmental action and education group. Maggie enjoys playing sports, going on hikes, and camping in Kananaskis and the surrounding area. She believes that equipping youth with the resources, knowledge, and support to help initiate change is one of the key ways to help protect our environment. With the Canadian Rockies Youth Network, she’s been a part of planning, leading, and creating resources for a youth-led summit around the effects of forestry on Alberta’s parks and ecosystems, as well as being part of youth consultation for land-use planning in Banff National Park.

Geovanna Nicole Schmeiske Nunes

TEDstyle Talks

Geovanna Nicole Schmeiske Nunes

Nicole grew up in Brazil and moved to Canada in 2023; she is now a grade 12 student in Calgary. From the jungles of her home to the mountains and plains of her new home, Nicole has always loved to be outdoors and to find the beauty in her surroundings. Even so, she sees the damage that we humans have done and strives for change. Nicole is a member of the leadership committee for the Canadian Rockies Youth Network, a youth-led environmental action and education group that brings youth together to learn, connect, and take action.