Seedy Talks with Rebecca Sinclair and Tiffany Traverse
Rebecca Sinclair and Tiffany Traverse will be the next speakers of Seedy Talks. The ninth installment of the speaker series will take place on Tuesday, March 22, at 2 p.m. The virtual discussion will be followed by a Q/A session.
Seedy Talks is a community engagement and educational programming event that focuses on food justice, environmental justice, food and seed sovereignty, racism and discrimination in the food system, and food and farm traditions of People of Color and other Underrepresented Minoritized Communities. The event is organized by service assistant professor Mehmet Öztan, and sponsored by the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences.
About the talk
Academic research, government agencies and world leaders fail to make meaningful Indigenous engagement for climate governance and policy-making while Indigenous communities around the world experience serious impacts of climate crisis. Rebecca Sinclair and Tiffany Traverse will discuss their efforts to decolonize climate policy, vital importance of Indigenous-led climate research and planning, and success stories from their communities in Canada.
About the speakers
Rebecca Sinclair (she/her) is a nêhiyaw-iskwêw, wife and mother of three, she is originally from Barren Lands First Nation (Treaty 5) and a member of Little Saskatchewan First Nation. She moved to Winnipeg, a guest on Treaty One territory, to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental and Native Studies from the University of Manitoba. Rebecca holds multiple positions in land defense, cultural revitalization, research, and is a part of multiple boards. Actively reclaiming her native language, Rebecca pursues higher learning that comes from the land and through learning alongside knowledge keepers and Elders. Her childhood spent on the land in northern Manitoba, has shaped her understanding and guided her efforts to protect and preserve the great gifts of our sacred Earth.
Tiffany Traverse (she/her) is a Secwépemc, Swiss/Italian farmer, land and seed steward, language learner, and food sovereignty advocate. Her passion for feeding people and firm belief in the right to healthy, culturally-appropriate foods for all, drives her work. She is passionate about the uncomfortable work in dismantling structural racism within institutions and conducting experimental plant breeding projects to adapt nutrient-dense cultivars to our changing climate as a guest in Treaty 8 Territory. Traverse has served as a volunteer Advisory Council member with the Community Seed Network. She currently represents the Mountain Forests Biome on Indigenous Climate Action’s Decolonizing Climate Policy Advisory Council, as well as serves on the Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee for Farmers for Climate Solutions, a Board Member of Regeneration Canada, and is the newly-appointed Chair of SeedChange. Her hope is to continue being a ‘Weaver’, advocating to create better access to resources and increase our collective seed and food security and sovereignty.
Registration
This is a free event. Attendees are required to fill the registration form below to receive the Zoom link and password to join. Event details will be sent closer to the event, and registration will close at 9 a.m. EST on the event day. Questions can be directed to mehmet.oztan@mail.wvu.edu.
Resources
Attendees are encouraged to check out the following resources prior to the event, to be prepared for the subject matter.
Deranger, Eriel Tchekwie, Rebecca Sinclair, Beze Gray, Deborah McGregor, Jen Gobby. 2022. Decolonizing Climate Research and Policy: making space to tell our own stories, in our own ways. In Community Development Journal, Volume 57, Issue 1. Pages 52-73.
Indigenous Climate Action: Decolonizing Climate Policy
https://www.indigenousclimateaction.com/programs/decolonizing-climate-policy
Farmers for Climate Solutions: Equity Framework
https://farmersforclimatesolutions.ca/commitment-to-equity/#team