Join us for the virtual launch of the Green Resilience Project’s final report, which summarizes a series of 33 conversations hosted in communities across Canada on the links between climate change, income security and community resilience.
The report, guided by input from each of our community partners, shows that people in Canada feel the effects of climate change—but are often unable to participate in proportionate climate solutions due to economic and other systemic barriers. Communities want to take action on solutions that make tangible improvements to their lives, and need support from all levels of government to build capacity to do so.
Project leads Mitchell Beer and Sheila Regehr will introduce the project and report, sharing insights on its findings and their policy implications. This will be followed by a discussion with a panel of our community partners on what they learned from their conversation, its significance for their community, and what we need to build capacity for localized action on climate change and income insecurity across Canada.
When: Wednesday, April 13, 12-1:30 pm EST
Where: Virtual webinar hosted via Zoom. Register to attend via Eventbrite.
Speakers
Community Partners:
Laurence D. Dubuc, Tiohtiáke (Montreal)
Laurence D. Dubuc is a researcher-activist based at the School of Industrial Relations of the University of Montreal. Her work focuses on arts labour, precarity, collective action and public policy in the arts sector. Particularly since the beginning of the pandemic, Dubuc has been at the forefront of strategic reflections dedicated to building public capacity in the arts, working collaboratively with a wide array of partners from across Canada (funders, government representatives, professional associations, arts services organizations, researchers, etc.). In parallel to her academic and consulting work, she does as much community work as she can. In 2020, she has so-led a political campaign in Quebec with other artists and educators and has been an active collaborator of the Ontario Basic Income Network campaign in the arts sector.
Dayle Eshelby, Lockeport
Dayle Eshelby grew up in rural Nova Scotia, and returned to tiny Lockeport after close to two decades in research at McGill University. Dayle developed her community’s Integrated Community Sustainability Plan and was a national UNESCO Commission Member. As a Town Councillor, Dayle was appointed the Province’s Municipal representative on the Minister’s Round Table for the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act and received the Lieutenant Governor’s Citation for Community Engagement. Dayle also served as Community Liaison for the Nova Scotia Rural Secretariat. In Nova Scotia Dayle has been a University researcher and has facilitated university and national projects focusing on food security, empowerment and education. Dayle has been involved in the Centre for Local Prosperity since its early days and is in her third term as president.
Josephine Grey, St. James Town (Toronto)
Josephine Grey is a human rights organizer engaged in community development for 35 years. Jo is a Founding Director of Food Share, the St. James Town Community Co-operative, Democracy Watch and Project Esperance, a 111 unit building for domestic abuse survivors. Her work as an advocate and organizer has taken her to the UN, World Social Forums and communities across seven continents. Currently, she is on the board of the Local Food and Farm co-op (Ontario) and the Eco-just Food Network, and is leading the development of the OASIS food hub pilot project for the St. James Town community.
Michelle Pruder, northern Manitoba
Michelle Pruder has worked as a Community Development Officer with Community Futures North Central Development for over 15 years. Serving 17 communities in the North Central region of Manitoba, Michelle loves both the land and its people and finds meaning in the projects she has been involved in. These include recycling and greenhouse projects, removing scrap metal from Nunavut and northern Manitoba, assisting in the management of constructing a Seniors Housing Co-op in Thompson, and working with entrepreneurs in starting small home-based businesses in their communities.
Project Team:
Mitchell Beer, Project Lead
Mitchell Beer is publisher of The Energy Mix, a free, thrice-weekly e-digest on climate change, energy and the shift off carbon. He traces his background in renewable energy and energy efficiency to 1977, on climate change to 1997, and delivered an October 2019 TEDx Ottawa talk on how to build public demand for faster, deeper carbon cuts. A proud moment was building a model wind turbine out of wooden stir sticks with his then-eleven-year-old daughter, and improv comedy practices are often the best part of his week.
Sheila Regehr, Project Lead
Sheila is a founding member of the Basic Income Canada Network and former Executive Director of the National Council of Welfare. Her 29 years of federal public service spanned front-line work, policy analysis and development, international relations and senior management, with a focus on improving fairness and equality, and on gender and race in particular. She has expertise in areas of income security and taxation, such as child tax benefits, child support, pensions and social assistance. Her insight also comes from experiencing poverty as a young parent.
Janet Patterfung, Project Manager
Janet comes to this project with more than fifteen years of experience working in the non-profit sector. In that time she has focused on capacity building and program support, including fundraising, events management and community engagement. Her work has focused primarily on environmental advocacy and, more recently, women’s health and health equity.