Team - Living Lab

Program Staff Advisors / Knowledge Keepers Steering Committee

Core Team (Staff & Students)

Jessica Joseph

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…

Maeve Lydon

Core Team

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…

Desiree Jones

Core Team

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…

Lyndsey Joseph

Core Team

WSANEC Leadership Secondary School LLab Program Developer ÍY, SȻÁĆEL SIÁM. TE,TES,ȾE ŦE NE SNÁ ĆSE LÁ,E SEN EṮ LEQEṈEN. My name is Lyndsey Henry, I am Lekwungen from the Songhees First Nation, and I currently reside in TSAWOUT. …

Zarya Thomas

Core Team

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.…

Jam Ramjattan

Core Team

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…

Nicholas Stanger

Core Team

Western Washington University - Research / Environmental Education I work as an associate professor of environmental education at Western Washington University. My research uses an educationalist lens and participatory techniques to understand…

Mo Mitchell (they/them)

Core Team

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…

Paul Meier

Core Team

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…

Kyle Clarke

WSANEC & PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ (PH) Team

Education Coordinator Kyle is of Ukrainian, Irish, and Métis ancestry who grew up on the W̱SÁNEĆ territory. Recently, Kyle graduated from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Environmental Studies. He…

Esther Morris

Songhees Team, WSANEC & PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ (PH) Team

WSANEC School Board, Executive Assistant Hi, I’m Esther Morris from Tsartlip First Nation, and I work with the WSANEC School Board as the Executive Assistant. My role with Living Lab is to help coordinate the WSANEC School Board engagement;…

Sarah Jim

WSANEC & PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ (PH) Team

Stewardship Coordinator I am a member of the W̱SÁNEĆ nation from the Tseycum village and have been working with PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ since 2018 and with the Living Lab Project since 2019. Living Lab and PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ allow me…

Judith Lyn Arney

WSANEC & PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ (PH) Team

PH Ecosystems Director I grew up in the beautiful forests, beaches, and meadows of the W̱SÁNEĆ homelands. I‘m an ethno-ecologist of British ancestry doing ecosystem restoration work. My role with Living Lab is supporting “on the ground”…

Songhees Team/Liaisons

Erin Glasgow

Songhees Team

Director of Education Songhess Nation (Bio Coming Soon)

John Harris

Songhees Team, Steering Committee

Indigenous Education Elder & Indigenous Knowledge Facilitator SD61 ’Uy’ skweyul, I am an Indigenous Educator and member of Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo) First Nation, working in the Greater Victoria School District’s Indigenous Education…

Tye Swallow

Songhees Team, Steering Committee

Adult Education Facilitator WSANEC Schoolboard I am a Facilitator for Language Revitalization with the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board. My interest in being involved in the Living Lab work revolves around helping transform educational structures to…

Esther Morris

Songhees Team, WSANEC & PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ (PH) Team

Kaeli Dyer

Esquimalt Team/Liaison

Bio Coming Soon.

Maya Hamel

Esquimalt Team/Liaison

Esquimalt Nation, Program Supervisor Hello, my name is Maya Hamel. I was born in Hefei, China. I was adopted and brought to Canada, where I grew up on Treaty 7 territory in Calgary, Alberta and moved to Victoria 7 years ago. I am grateful…

NICHOLAS XEMŦOLTW̱ CLAXTON

Advisors

Co-Founder and past Academic Director of Living Lab, UVic School of Child & Youth Care I work with UVic as an assistant professor in the Department of Child and Youth Care. I am also a W̱SÁNEĆ community member and past Chief of the…

Leslie Brown

Advisors

Professor Emeritus, UVic School of Social Work I am a Great-Grandmother and University of Victoria Professor Emerita, who has a life-long passion for community-based research and Indigenous child and family wellbeing. The Living Lab embodies…

Shelly Niemi

Advisors

Director of Indigenous Education School District 61 Bio Coming Soon!

Budd Hall

Advisors

Settler / UVic Professor Emeritus - UNESCO Chair in Higher Education

Butch Dick

Advisors

LEKWUNGEN, Songhees Nation

Frank (Bangus) George

Advisors

LEKWUNGEN, Songhees Nation

John Elliott

Advisors

WSANEC / UVic Honorary Doctorate, TSARTLIP Nation

Lorna Williams

Advisors

Lil‘wat / St’at‘yem’ Nation, Professor Emerita / Faculty of Education & Canada Research Chair - Indigenous Knowledge & Learning

Earl Claxton Jr.

Advisors

WSANEC / PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ - TSAWOUT Nation

Mavis Underwood

Advisors

Research and Planning Advisor I am proud to be invited to the Living Lab Project. As a past IGOV scholar, I pressed for improved curriculum in our professional schools of law, health, education and social development to counter the colonizing…

John Harris

Songhees Team, Steering Committee

Ruth Lyall

Steering Committee

Indigenization Coordinator, Camosun College Nugwa’am ɁIxcəmga. Gayutɫan lax Gwa’yasdams. My Kwaḱwala-given name, Ixcəmga, was given to me by my Coon family, from the village of Gwa’yasdams, of the Kwiḵwa̱sut̓inux̱w…

SXEDTELISIYE – Renee Sampson

Steering Committee

WSANEC School Board Bio Coming Soon!

Tye Swallow

Songhees Team, Steering Committee

Tricia Roche

Steering Committee

UVic - HSD Development Officer After a decade of experience in youth-focused research at UVic, I now work as a Development & External Relations Officer in the Faculty of Human & Social Development. I find congruence between the values…

Erich Kelch

Steering Committee

PARKS CANADA - Sea Gardens Project Manager My name is Erich Kelch, and I was born in Lekwungen territory/Victoria and now live on PKAALS/Mt. Tolmie/District of Saanich. I am of German and English descent and feel connected to the people and…

Dorothea Harris

Steering Committee

Office of Indigenous & Academic Community Engagement, Indigenous Initiatives Coordinator. Director, Indigenous University Initiatives. My family is from Snuneymuxw First Nation, and I am a grateful visitor on the Lekwungen, W̱SÁNEĆ…

Darcy Mathews

Campus Partners, Steering Committee

Assistant Professor, School of Environmental Studies, UVic. UVic Academic Co-Leads I am an Archaeologist and Ethnoecologist working primarily via UVic with the Songhees Nation. We are working collaboratively at Tl’ches (Chatham/Discovery…

Heather Castleden

Steering Committee

UVic Academic Co-Leads Professor and Impact Chair in Transformative Governance for Planetary Health Hello! My name is Heather, which is the name given to a flowering evergreen plant that thrives on the peaty barren lands of Scotland,…

Core Team (Staff & Students)

WSANEC & PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ Team – Liasions

Songhees Team/Liaisons

Esquimalt Team/Liaisons

Advisors (Elders / Knowledge Keepers)