World Water Day "Protecting our Waters"

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Live Streaming Location in Orillia - AO2006

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Speakers

Sheila De Corte is an Ojibwe Elder and knowledge keeper from Animkii Wajiw (Thunder Mountain), which is more commonly known as Mount McKay located in Fort William First Nation in the Robinson Superior Treaty Territory of 1850. Her Spirit name is Niibin Giimiwan (Summer Rain), and she is from the Turtle Clan. Sheila was born and raised in the city of Fort William/Thunder Bay, Ontario. She retired from the Federal Public Service in January 2020 to allow her the freedom to feed her spirit by following her cultural path and to be afforded the free time to share her traditional knowledge and teachings with those who call upon her. It was through Sheila's volunteer work with the Thunder Bay National Aboriginal Day Committee in 2000 that first introduced her to her first pow wow and to the heartbeat of the big drum. This began her pull and reconnection to her Anishinaabe way of living. She entered the pow wow circle in 2002 as a fancy shawl dancer and has since transitioned into a women’s traditional dancer. She picked up her hand drum in 2014 and now leads the “Sisters of Turtle Island” Women’s Drum Group where songs, teachings, and knowledge are shared as well as the sharing of the group’s community initiatives which support important indigenous community events. Her Anishinaabe way of living continues to pull her into many cultural related areas, which includes walking for the water to bring healing and awareness on the importance of protecting the water. She and other water walkers are fulfilling their promise to the late Grandmother Water Walker Josephine to continue the work she started for the water. Sheila shares awareness and teachings to support “For Love of the Rivers” water walks in Thunder Bay. Sheila also continues to build her relationship with the traditional medicines that she has learned about during her 4-year commitment studying under the guidance of Kathy Bird, Medicine Women, from Matootoo Lake Medicine Camp located in Peguis FN.

Juan Guillermo Sánchez Martínez was born in Bakatá/Bogotá, in the Colombian Andes. He coordinates the online multilingual anthology and exhibition Siwar Mayu, A River of Hummingbirds. He has published the following books of poetry: Uranio (2023), Bejuco (2021), Salvia (2014), Río (2010), and Altamar, awarded with the National Prize in Colombia in 2016 (University of Antioquia). He is the author of Memoria e invención en la poesía de Humberto Ak’abal(Abya-Yala, 2012). In 2019, he co-edited the volume Muyurina y el presente profundo with Quechua writer Fredy Roncalla (Pakarina/Hawansuyo), and he is currently co-editing Abiayalan Pluriverses. Bridging Indigenous Studies and Hispanic Studies with Gloria E. Chacón and Lauren Beck (Amherst College, 2024). He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Indigenous Learning at Lakehead University (Thunder Bay, Canada). 

 Katie Freeman, Student, Masters of Social Justice Program

  Maya Oversby, Student, Masters of Social Justice Program

Dr. Glenda Bonifacio, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanity. Dr. Bonifacio was the UNESCO Chair in Gender, Migration and Post-disaster Communities (Asia-Pacific) in 2023.  She is the author, editor, and co-editor of 10 books. Her recent co-edited book is Disasters in the Philippines: Before and After Haiyan published by Bristol University Press, UK in 2023.  She completed her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts at the University of the Philippines and earned her PhD from the University of Wollongong in Australia.

Dr. Bonifacio is a community-engaged scholar working in local and global contexts. Her research centres on the intersections of gender, migration, and disaster in island countries in Asia and the Pacific region. She is a Visiting Scholar with the University of the Ryukyus, an Honorary Research Fellow of the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS) hosted by Hiroshima University, and the recipient of the 2022 international research fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). She is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the Small Island Cultures Research Initiative (SICRI).