Miranda Jimmy is a passionate Edmontonian and member of Thunderchild First Nation. She is a community connector and fierce defender of truth. Miranda is committed to the spirit and intent of the Treaty relationship and finds ways each day to demonstrate to others what this looks like.

Miranda’s professional life has focused on contributing to her community in a variety of ways. She has training in arts and cultural management, conflict resolution and negotiation, and communications. She has made a career in the arts and heritage sector, working with many different non-profit organizations, nations, governments, and private businesses. Currently, Miranda works remotely for the National Trust for Canada part time along with managing a variety of other heritage projects and contracts.

Most of the time, Miranda can be found online sharing her thoughts and amplifying the experiences of Indigenous Peoples on Twitter @TheMirandaJimmy and on her blog at MirandaJimmy.com.

Kamala Todd is a Métis-Cree mother, community planner, curator, and filmmaker born and raised in the beautiful lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Skwxwú7mesh-speaking people (aka Vancouver). She is adjunct professor at SFU Urban Studies and UBC SCARP. She was the City of Vancouver’s first Indigenous Arts and Culture Planner. Her film credits include Welcome to Our Homelands, Cedar and Bamboo, RELAW: Living Indigenous Laws, and Indigenous Plant Diva. She advises local governments and other organizations on decolonizing with a focus on planning, heritage, public art, education, and other areas of systemic colonialism.

@indigenouscitymedia
@KamJasTodd

Charlayne Thornton-Joe is a third generation Victorian. She attended University of Victoria where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Pacific and Asian Studies. Before being elected to Council, she was employed in the hospitality industry since 1979.

As a part of City Council, Charlayne is a committee member for Victoria Civic Heritage Trust and Victoria Heritage Foundation. She also served the Chinese community in various roles. She was a director on the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and member of the Victoria Chinatown Lioness, serving four terms as President. She currently is a member of the the Chinese Freemasons and a new club called The Jade Phoenix Club.

Find Charlayne on twitter

Suzan has lived Kaslo for over 40 years and is in her 2nd term as Mayor and in her 17th year on Council. In addition to her role as Mayor, she has worked full time as an accounting technician for the past 20 years. She is the Regional District representative, Chair of the West Kootenay-Boundary Regional Hospital District and a committee member on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

As a member of the City Hall Restoration Committee, Suzan helped raised funds to renovate the deteriorating City Hall, one of Kaslo’s two National Historic sites. It took over 10 years but in 2018, the renovations were completed in time for Kaslo’s 125th birthday. As Mayor, Suzan works to ensure that Kaslo’s heritage values are represented in their downtown Heritage Zone. She is currently a member of the Events Committee which has been celebrating Heritage Week over the past 2 years virtually by showcasing the many heritage assets in the area.

Suzan manages Kaslo Now the popular local Facebook page dedicated to sharing Kaslo’s history.

Chief Executive Officer, The Exploration Place

Since 2003 Tracy Calogheros has served as the CEO for the Exploration Place Museum + Science Centre on the traditional and unceeded territories of the Lheidli T’enneh Nation in what is today known as Prince George. Working in the industry since 1994, Tracy came to the museum with a love of biology and background in fine art and has spent her career exploring the synergies between the two. Currently serving as the Vice President of the Association of Science Museum Directors, Past President for The Canadian Association of Science Centres, and on the Boards for the Association of Science + Technology Centres and the Fraser Basin Council, Tracy’s roles have largely centred on advocacy, government relations and governance.

Executive Director, Gulf of Georgia Cannery

Stephanie Halapija is the Executive Director of the Gulf of Georgia Cannery located in the historic village of Steveston in Richmond, British Columbia. Formally the Director and Curator of the Nisga’a Museum (Nass Valley, northwest B.C.), Stephanie moved to B.C. six years ago to take up the Directorship of the Nisga’a Museum, following her passion for museum administration and leadership, curatorial work, and Indigenous social issues. Stephanie is enthusiastic about the role of museums in the shifting cultural landscape of the Province and the Country, bringing awareness to the importance of the Arts and Culture industry, and the power museums carry to create lasting social change.

Culture & Heritage Manager, Tla’amin Nation

Operations Manager, Barkerville Historic Town & Park
Fire Chief, Wells Volunteer Fire Brigade, District of Wells, BC

Carrie Chard works out of the main Barkerville Townsite (86km east of Quesnel) and manages and oversees Cottonwood Historic Site (32km east Of Quesnel). Carrie grew up in Abbotsford before heading north in 1995 in search of adventure. She earned a business degree and has since worked in and learned about a number of disparate industries including restaurants, sales, and forestry. Carrie worked in a sawmill and planer as well as a pulp and paper mill. Many years of heavy industrial work, safety planning, firefighting, heavy equipment operation, and a Red Seal brought her to where she is today. Growing up and visiting Barkerville and Cottonwood House with her family every summer, Carrie finds it surreal to be responsible for protection and security of these amazing places that hold so many personal memories.

Visit Barkerville

Roger Tinney has been working in heritage planning and design for over 30 years. Formerly Principal at Tinney and Associates for land planning and design, Roger now works at the Provincial Heritage Branch managing the oversight of provincial heritage sites, including Hat Creek Ranch and Barkerville Historic Town and Park.

In addition to his position at the Provincial Heritage Branch, Roger takes part in the City of Victoria Heritage Advisory Committee,
the City of Victoria Advisory Planning Committee, the Victoria Civic Heritage Trust Architectural Conservation Committee and the Victoria Civic Heritage Trust Board of Directors and Chair.

Learn about the Heritage Branch

Leslie Norman, a graduate of the Classical Studies program at UBC, has been the Curator/Manager at the Pitt Meadows Museum and Archives since late 1995. Prior to that time she was with the Fraser Fort George Regional Museum (now The Exploration Place) in Prince George. The mother of two grown daughters, she was born and raised on the North Shore of Vancouver, and now resides in Coquitlam, BC with her husband Bjorn and her dog Gabby.

Follow the Pitt Meadows Museum on Instagram or on Facebook.

Lead Consultant, Aboriginal Affects Consulting
Building & Sharing Connections
in Partnership with Barkerville Historic Town & Park

Cheryl Chapman is a member of the Xatśūll First Nation. With over 40 years of experience working with Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, communities, businesses, and all levels of government. Cheryl excels at capacity building, sustainable community development, and building mutually beneficial relationships.

An advocate for inclusive communities, Cheryl developed Aboriginal Affects Consulting in 2003 when she recognized the need and opportunities to create meaningful relationships and understanding through respectful communication and truth telling. Her passion is education through heritage tourism and she seizes every opportunity to share her ancestral stories, which are based in cultural values, research and experiences. Cheryl is a traditional dancer, drummer and singer.

Facilitating personal and career development programs which bring forward personal truths for inclusion of individual, community and corporate values that enhance the knowledge and understanding of all participants.

Find Cheryl on LinkedIn.

Youth Collaborative for Chinatown, and UBC Master of Archival Studies candidate

June Chow 周慕慈 is the recipient of two BC Heritage Awards and a BC Museums Association Award as a member of robust community teams and programs in and involving Vancouver’s Chinatown. She is a co-founder of Youth Collaborative for Chinatown 青心在唐人街 whose work advances the understanding, appreciation and practice of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of these historic neighbourhoods locally and across Canada. The group’s work has challenged and helped shape City of Vancouver policies on public space, public art, cultural planning and legacy business support. June is currently in the Master of Archival Studies program at UBC where she researches and practices community archives across Chinatown and Chinese Canadian contexts. A Cantonese-speaking second-generation settler, she has served on the board of her Chinese clan association for almost a decade.

Find the Youth Collaborative for Chinatown on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Professor of Museum and Curatorial Studies, Centre for Sustainable Curating, Western University

Kirsty Robertson is Professor of Contemporary Art and Director of Museum and Curatorial Studies at Western University where she also directs the Centre for Sustainable Curating. Her pedagogy involves curating large-scale speculative and experimental exhibitions with students. In her academic work, Robertson has published widely on activism, visual culture and museums culminating in her book Tear Gas Epiphanies: Protest, Museums, Culture (McGill-Queen’s University Press, May 2019). Her work on museums has expanded into a new project focused on small and micro- collections that repurpose traditional museum formats for critical and politically radical projects. In addition, Robertson is a founding member of the Synthetic Collective, a group of artists, scientists and cultural researchers working on plastics pollution in the Great Lakes Region and project co-lead on A Museum for Future Fossils, an ongoing “vernacular museum” focused on responding curatorially to ecological crisis.

Find Kirsty online at:
@centreforsustainablecurating
@kirsty_roberso
www.kirstymairirobertson.com
www.sustainablecurating.ca

Monica Braun – Chilliwack Heritage Society’s video series “On the Porch”

Laura Saimoto – Lillooet Memorial Garden

Tammy Bradford – Logging Arch Restoration at Creston Museum

Eric Anderson – The Forest History Association of BC’s oral history digitization project

Winnie Cheung & Patara McKeen – Pacific Canada Heritage Centre/Museum of Migration Society

Deron Johnston – Britannia Mine Museum

Jules André-Brown is a leadership consultant specializing in the governance of arts organizations. Jules is involved in music and arts organizations across BC, and his recent graduate work looks at how young people see the future of leadership in arts organizations. He has previously served as the board chair of the student lead CiTR radio and Discorder magazine. In addition, Jules has worked in non-profit social services supporting the advocacy for people with disabilities. Jules is also a founding member of the International Leadership Association’s Arts & Leadership community. In 2022, Jules was appointed by the Hon. Melanie Mark, HLI HAYKWHL ẂII XSGAAK to the B.C. Arts Council.

Find Jules on instagram and twitter.

Sherri is Director|Curator at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre in Burnaby. She is honoured to work, live, and play on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm. Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, səl̓ilwətaɁɬ, and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm First Nations. Sherri has been a fine-arts professional since 1992 as a gallerist, gallery director, gallery owner, writer, editor, publisher, and curator. She is a graduate of the Sauder School of Business at UBC and of the Board of Trade’s Leadership Vancouver program. She co-owned the Bjornson Kajiwara Gallery from 2004 – 2008, and launched an online arts communications company, Vantage Art Projects, 2009-2015, to create parallel opportunities for artists through satellite exhibitions and on-demand prints and publications. Sherri remains passionate about communication and collaboration to support creativity. She is dedicated to the mission of honouring, preserving, and sharing Japanese Canadian history and Japanese culture in Canada.

E: skajiwara@nikkeiplace.org
W:www.centre.nikkeiplace.org

Find the museum on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Carolyn and her family moved to the gorgeous Snuneymuxw territory in 2020. She joined the team at Nanaimo Art Gallery as Executive Director. Carolyn has a passion for community engagement and believes strongly in the potential of art galleries to connect people and create community. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Queen’s University in studio arts, a Masters of Museum Studies degree from the University of Toronto and has been working in art galleries since the age of sixteen. When not at the Gallery, Carolyn can be found gardening, hiking, exploring the region or catching up on Reality TV.

Find the Nanaimo Art Gallery on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

She oversees the development and implementation of the CCM’s public programs and outreach initiatives. She holds a BA in English Literature with a minor in First Nations and Indigenous Studies, and a MA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of British Columbia, with a community-centered research background in Chinese and Indigenous relations on Musqueam territory. Born and raised in Prince Rupert, northern BC on Ts’msyen (Tsimshian) territory, she is delighted to establish relationships in support of building the first Chinese Canadian Museum with individuals and community partners across the province. She is an active volunteer in Vancouver Chinatown and serves as chair of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC. She was producer of the documentary All Our Father’s Relations (2016) and co-directed the documentary film series Keys to Living Heritage (2021).

Find Sarah on Twitter.

Find the Chinese Canadian Museum on Twitter and Instagram.

A descendant of Cumberland and Vancouver’s Chinatown and anthropologist by trade, Dr. Lim’s expertise on Chinese Canadian communities, especially on Vancouver Island, spans well over two decades and her work has included numerous collaborations with local museums. She is a founding member of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC, and worked with the BC Legacy Initiatives Advisory Council on the Historic Sites and Celebration book projects. She co-developed the exhibit, 150 Years and Counting: Fighting for Justice on the Coast (2017), and served as a member of the exhibition advisory committee for the Museum of Vancouver’s (MOV) A Seat at the Table (2020). In 2021, she was awarded the Province of BC Medal for Good Citizenship.

Hereditary Chief ; Master Carver and Master Painter, Ninalk’inuxw

Cecil Dawson’s early years were spent in Kingcome Inlet with his paternal Grandmother Louisa Dawson (née Coon) and fishing with his father from an early age. He spoke only Kwak̓wala until he was nearly school aged when his family moved to Campbell River. Weekends were spent in Alert Bay with his maternal Grandparents, James and Mary Dick, learning about his family history, their community connections, dances, songs and regalia, and other important cultural practices such as smoking fish, and carving cedar.

After graduating from High School he enrolled in the Kootenay School of Art in Nelson, BC. Upon completion of the program, he began carving with his grandfather’s knives and has never looked back.

Today, Cecil is a Hereditary Chief, G̱ixkastallasame-gi, taking up his father’s position at a Potlatch in 2015. He describes himself as a master painter who also carves. He has worked over many years to uplift his family, making regalia, and continuing to potlatch, his most recent was held in Alert Bay in August 2019.

Find Cecil on Instagram.

Curator, Museum at Campbell River

Beth Boyce is a third generation Canadian, her family immigrated to the west coast from Ireland, Scotland and Guernsey. Growing up on the coast, she split her time between parents in Nanaimo and Prince Rupert. Beth completed a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Victoria, followed by a Master’s Degree in Art Conservation from Queen’s University, where she specialized in the treatment of archaeological waterlogged basketry and ethnographic artifacts. She has been privileged to work as the Curator for the Museum at Campbell River since 2013.

Find the Museum on Facebook and Instagram.
You can also email her.

Cathy Armstrong has been Executive Director of TLC The Land Conservancy of BC (TLC) since 2015.

TLC recently entered into a partnership agreement with W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council that will transfer title of SISȻENEM, a 9.67-acre island off the east coast of Sidney Island, from the charitable land trust to the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council as an act of reconciliation. The transfer will be historically significant as the first of its kind between a land trust and an Indigenous community in Canada. TLC will work together with the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council to draft and register a conservation covenant and develop a co-management plan that will incorporate Indigenous land management principles to provide access for cultural, education, research, and monitoring purposes.

SISȻENEM (pronounced Cease-kwa-nem) is an important cultural place where W̱SÁNEĆ people would fish for cod, collect traditional medicines, and harvest camas.

Find The Land Conservancy on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Director, Indigenous City Media

Kamala Todd is a Métis-Cree mother, community planner, curator, and filmmaker born and raised in the beautiful lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Skwxwú7mesh-speaking people (aka Vancouver). She is adjunct professor at SFU Urban Studies and UBC SCARP. She was the City of Vancouver’s first Indigenous Arts and Culture Planner. Her film credits include Welcome to Our Homelands, Cedar and Bamboo, RELAW: Living Indigenous Laws, and Indigenous Plant Diva. She advises local governments and other organizations on decolonizing with a focus on planning, heritage, public art, education, and other areas of systemic colonialism.

@indigenouscitymedia
@KamJasTodd

Miranda Jimmy is a passionate Edmontonian and member of Thunderchild First Nation. She is a community connector and fierce defender of truth. Miranda is committed to the spirit and intent of the Treaty relationship and finds ways each day to demonstrate to others what this looks like.

Miranda’s professional life has focused on contributing to her community in a variety of ways. She has training in arts and cultural management, conflict resolution and negotiation, and communications. She has made a career in the arts and heritage sector, working with many different non-profit organizations, nations, governments, and private businesses. Currently, Miranda works remotely for the National Trust for Canada part time along with managing a variety of other heritage projects and contracts.

Most of the time, Miranda can be found online sharing her thoughts and amplifying the experiences of Indigenous Peoples on Twitter @TheMirandaJimmy and on her blog at MirandaJimmy.com.

Canada’s inaugural Associate University Librarian – Reconciliation, University of Victoria.

Ry’s role within UVic Libraries’ focuses on building and sustaining relationships to introduce Indigenous approaches and knowledge into the daily work of the Libraries and more broadly across the campus community.  In so doing, Ry plays an active role in advancing UVic’s strategic goal of being a globally recognized leader in areas of reconciliation.

Ry came to this position from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) hosted by the University of Manitoba.  As the founding director, Ry guided the creation of the NCTR from its inception.  Along the way, Ry contributed to major national initiatives such as the creation of the National Student Memorial Register, designation of multiple residential schools as national historical sites, development and launch of the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada, and a major educational broadcast which reached over three million Canadians.

Prior to the NCTR, Ry served with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). On the TRC’s behalf, he facilitated the gathering of nearly 7,000 video/audio-recorded statements of former residential school students and millions of pages archival records.

Ry’s life-long passion for the arts and music continues to be an important part of his life as he continues to write and produce original music.

Ry is a distinguished alumnus of the University of Victoria and was awarded a Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General. Ry is a proud member of the Red River Métis.

Carla Jack is a member of Penelakut Tribe currently living in Lekwungen Peoples territory (Esquimalt). Passionate about languages, mapping, layers of history on the land and communicating heritage values, Carla delighted to find a career in place naming which brings all those interests (and more) together. As the Provincial Toponymist in the BC Geographical Names Office, Carla enjoyed many years of learning about all areas of the province through its place names, as well as working in partnership with Indigenous governments and communities to restore Indigenous place names to official government maps. Now the Senior Toponymist in the Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation, part of Natural Resources Canada, she currently focuses on place naming at the national and international level by working with the Geographical Names Board of Canada and the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names.

Outside of work, you can find Carla in her garden year-round, growing as many veggies as possible with the ‘help’ of her feisty cat, or wandering the many parks and beaches in southern Vancouver Island with her husband and their doggie-nephew.

Spencer is a Queer non-binary mixed Métis-Cree planner, advisor and consultant who lives on the unceded ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ peoples. As a student, Spencer co-led UBC’s first building naming project in collaboration with xʷməθkʷəy̓əm in their hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language. Later, as the City of Vancouver’s Indigenous Engagement Specialist, they coordinated a quad-lateral process to name two prominent downtown plazas. Spencer currently works as the Reconciliation Planner for the Vancouver Park Board, where their primary project is a first-of-its kind Colonial Audit of the organization.

Gaad Gas Raven Ryland is from the Yaahguulaans Raven Clan from Gaw Tlagée Old Massett and is currently living in HlGaagilda Skidegate. She is a Haida language learner, weaver and currently works for the Council of the Haida Nation as the Communications Executive Assistant. Under the Communications Program, Gaad Gas oversees the Culture & Language files which includes the Place Name Restoration project and communicating with the Skidegate Haida Immersion Program and Xaad Kíl Née to ensure proper language use and spelling. On January 7, 2022, CHN in collaboration with the BC Geographical Names Board officially restored 12 Haida place names back to Haida Gwaii.

Bill, William, and Joëlle are representing the newly re-named qathet Museum and Archives Society (formerly known as the Powell River Historical Museum and Archives Association), located in the coastal community of Powell River. Bill Vernon is President of the Board of Directors of the qathet Museum and Archives Society, William Adams is the Executive Director, and Joëlle Sevigny is the Programs and Education Manager.

Julia Hulbert is an Arts & Culture Planner with the Vancouver Park Board’s Decolonization, Arts & Culture team at the City of Vancouver. Julia oversees the Park Board’s public art, monuments and memorials program and is currently working with Kamala Todd to develop a new park naming policy and City-wide Commemoration Framework. Her policy and academic interests include decolonization, heritage and commemoration. Julia’s graduate thesis analyzed a municipal heritage program’s response to the Truth & Reconciliation Commission Calls to Actions. Julia served two terms on the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Commission and the Vancouver School Board’s Heritage Advisory Subcommittee. Prior to joining the Park Board, Julia was part of the award-winning consultant team that produced the Create Victoria: Arts & Culture Master Plan (2018) and Maple Ridge’s Cultural Plan Update (2019).

Find Julia online at @jadhulbert.

Miranda Jimmy is a passionate Edmontonian and member of Thunderchild First Nation. She is a community connector and fierce defender of truth. Miranda is committed to the spirit and intent of the Treaty relationship and finds ways each day to demonstrate to others what this looks like.

Miranda’s professional life has focused on contributing to her community in a variety of ways. She has training in arts and cultural management, conflict resolution and negotiation, and communications. She has made a career in the arts and heritage sector, working with many different non-profit organizations, nations, governments, and private businesses. Currently, Miranda works remotely for the National Trust for Canada part time along with managing a variety of other heritage projects and contracts.

Most of the time, Miranda can be found online sharing her thoughts and amplifying the experiences of Indigenous Peoples on Twitter @TheMirandaJimmy and on her blog at MirandaJimmy.com.