My name is Paul Meier and I am the HSD Research Support Team Lead. I was born on Iroquois territory and now live with my family on lək̓ʷəŋən territory. I have worked at UVic for 20 years. I am honored to support the work done by Living Labs.
My name is Mo Mitchell (they/them), and I am the Research Finance Assistant for the UVic HSD Research Support Team.
I help with account management for the Living Labs project, including invoices, budgeting, and more. As a newcomer to the territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən & WSÁNEĆ Nations, originally hailing from the traditional territories of the Myskoke and Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee, East) people, I am deeply invested in learning more about the lands I currently live on.
The Living Labs’ connection and commitment to fostering knowledge about the natural world allow me to learn as I work and gain a new appreciation for the world around me.
Program and Research Developer
ÍY, SȻÁĆEL SIÁM. TE,TES,ȾE ŦE NE SNÁ ĆSE LÁ,E SEN EṮ LEQEṈEN. My name is Lyndsey Joseph, I am Lekwungen from the Songhees First Nation, and I currently reside in Tsawout. I have completed my diploma in Indigenous Language Revitalization, and I recently completed my Bachelor of Education in Indigenous Language Revitalization. My educational journey has sparked many interests and passions that have led me to where I am today. Through my role as a Living Lab Program and Research Assistant, I’m eager to learn more about the Indigenous history of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ people as I am honoured to come from and be apart of both communities. I look forward to being a part of this team, representing my communities and bringing Indigenous history and science to our school’s curriculum.
Jessica Joseph
Arts and Community Engagement Programmer
eyʔ skʷéčəl
I’m Jessica Joseph from the Songhees Nation. I align myself with cultural restoration and art, and I’m inspired by plants and traditional stories. I started working with the Living Lab over the summer, co-facilitating workshops with local and regional youth. I’m drawn to this project because I believe in the work being done from a community-based perspective. Moving forward, I see Living Lab connecting communities and bringing land-based learning into educational experiences.
WSANEC School Board Senior Language Apprentice/Living Lab-WSB Staff Liaison
ÍY, SȻÁĆEL SIÁM NE SĆÁLEĆE. ESE Desiree Jones ĆSE LÁ,E SEN EṮ W̱SÁNEĆ. My name is Desiree Jones, I am from W̱SÁNEĆ territory and Pauquachin First Nation specifically with ties to Lummi Nation as well. I have recently completed my BA in Indigenous studies at the University of Victoria. Being able to be part of this opportunity and working alongside Living Lab allows me to centre the work I want to do within the community. My vision has always been to work within the community in ways that give back and benefit the community as a whole while creating new relationships and making new connections. Also, expanding my knowledge so that I can pass down what I’ve learned to my daughter and our future generations.
Education & Curriculum Colloborator
I am a Canadian-Afro-Caribbean-Celtic mom of four unschoolers with deep gratitude for the traditional territories of the Quw’utsun peoples on which I currently live, work and play with my family. In addition to motherhood, as a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) at the University of Victoria, research assistant and teacher educator at Vancouver Island University, and Education & Curriculum Consultant with the Living Lab, my work aims to highlight how healing, learning and life are intricately connected to the building of more equitable and sustainable futures. As a passionate believer in the necessity of preventative, restorative and relational approaches to diverse, inclusive and decolonizing education, I feel supported by decolonial praxis and an ever-evolving unschooled worldview. I am also graciously humbled by opportunities to weave and learn from/with Indigenous ways of knowing-being-doing on/with the land and water as a non-Indigenous settler of Turtle Island.
Program Director
Greetings! As an uninvited guest, I am honoured to live and work on Coast Salish territories. I am the daughter of Irish immigrants from Galway, (another wild west coast) in Ireland. Over the past 15 years, I have been focused on community-based and driven partnerships for social and environmental justice with higher education at UVic via the former Office of Community-Based research, with the Environmental Law Centre https://elc.uvic.ca/ and nationally with CBRCanada and CFICE – Community-Campus Engage Canada https://carleton.ca/communityfirst/. I love the focus on ecological restoration and decolonization that LLab is committed to supporting Indigenous resurgence as part of connecting to and healing ourselves, our communities and the amazing natural world we are part of. … “Find a way to make beauty necessary, to make necessity beautiful ‘ – (Anne Michaels)
Engagement and Support
Jam is an educator, community worker, & lover of tacos. He graduated with a B.A. Justice Studies at Royal Roads University. He recently completed his M.A. research on the Pedagogy of Space: Deconstructing Colonial Identities with the Cree Nation in Eeyou-itchee.