Community Impact Conference:

Climate Commitments In Action

April 22, 2023

Eltuek Arts Centre, Gallery 211

170 George St., Sydney, Nova Scotia

What are people doing about climate change in rural Nova Scotia? How are communities leading the way in moving from ideas to action? In this one-day conference, RCFNS highlights the work of several communities dealing with a wide variety of climate change issues to create a circle of informed, innovative, and supportive problem solvers. We set the context with RCFNS' impact giving programs and introduce community members to national initiatives on climate change, truth and reconciliation and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We will discuss deep issues underlying climate change work in rural Nova Scotia, such as building trust and mutual benefit between communities with diverse experience and knowledge bases and what the future might hold. Join us as we set a path towards a healthy, just, and sustainable future!

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Conference Speakers

Featured

Dana Decent: Keynote Speaker

Dana has worked across multiple sectors — non-profit, corporate and academic — all with the goal to advance sustainability in Canada by working with a wide range of people and organizations.

Previously, she worked as Manager of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, a partnership between Intact Financial and the University of Waterloo to prepare Canadians for the impacts of climate change. There she led operations, strategic initiatives and partnership management in the centre’s scaling stages and she also led research on the mental health impacts of flooding.

Dana has also worked as a Sustainability Analyst at Sun Life Financial and as Operations Coordinator at Green Economy Canada. Dana has an M.E.S. in Sustainability Management and a B.E.S. in Environment and Business from the University of Waterloo. She has been recognized as a Clean50 Emerging Leader (2018), named the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association Leader of the Year (2017) and Corporate Knights’ Top 30 Under 30 (2016) and received the St. Paul’s Young Alumni Award (2016).

In her spare time Dana can be found reading, biking, and hiking in her new home of Nova Scotia.

Elder Albert Marshall

Albert is a leading environmental voice in Unama’ki Cape Breton. He is advisor to and is a highly regarded spokesperson for Mi’kmaq natural resources and environmental issues.

Albert advises and lectures internationally on a wide range of topics:

the environment
tribal consciousness collaboration with non-Aboriginal society
traditional healing, traditional teachings
Mi’kmaq orthography and language
First Nations’ vision of science

He is the creator of the “Two Eyed Seeing” concept–Balancing Traditional Aboriginal Knowledge and Contemporary Science.

Albert works to further positive work within Mi’kmaw communities, to seek preservation and understanding of cultural beliefs and practices among all communities and to effect a strong vision for his people and the future.

Brady Reid

Brady Reid is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo studying natural resource management, community engagement, governance and decision-making. Brady also coordinates and teaches in the Certificate in Sustainable Rural Communities program at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University where he advocates for broader campus-community engagement in western Newfoundland (and beyond) to support community priorities and values in transitioning to a better future.

Edmund Yirenkyi-Speaker

Edmund Yirenkyi is a Ph.D. student at the Grenfell Campus, Memorial University studying Trans-disciplinary Sustainability. His research is on the role of philanthropy in financing climate change mitigation and adaptation in Atlantic Canada. Edmund is also assisting with the coordination of activities for the Atlantic Canada Hub of PhiLab.

Conference Media