Aurelia Jas, one of the winners of the Green Dream Internship Program, is working at Weyerhaeuser in Grande Prairie, and proving there’s lots of opportunity for women in forestry.

Jas, a fourth-year forestry student studying at Lakehead University, moved to Grande Prairie from Thunder Bay Ont. to work at Weyerhaeuser as a woodland intern.

She made the move after being selected as one of the winners of the Forestry Products Association of Canada’s (FPAC) Green Dream Internship Program.

“I want to encourage other women to pursue jobs and careers in a male dominated industry,” said Jas, adding “There’s something about proving people wrong and showing them I’m much more capable than they assumed me to be.”

Jas became one of the winners of the internship program because of her desire to work in the field where there hasn’t traditionally been a lot of women, and also because her life took a major pivot from artist to forestry worker.

Jas, who also has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and is a professionally trained sculptor, tried for years to break into Toronto’s art scene before making a change.

“The whole starving artist thing wasn’t really working out for me,” said Jas, who felt the burning desire to work outside instead.

“The idea of being a forester just got me excited,” said Jas.

Derek Nighbor, president and CEO of FPAC, believes there are many opportunities in forestry for women.

“Women only make up under-20 per cent of our workforce, and we have a real opportunity to increase that number,” said Nighbor, who added that Jas’s story was very compelling because of her decision to shift careers.

Although the forestry industry has traditionally been a male-dominated workplace, companies are always vying for talent, and women like Jas will likely play a major role in their future.

“From a historical perspective, there have been fewer women in this field, fewer women loggers, fewer women foresters, that’s changing rapidly and It’s certainly changing within our company,” said Karl Wirsing, director of communications at Weyerhaeuser.

Jas is one of 15 students who won the Green Dream internship contest. Each year, FPAC selects students for a wide variety of internships, spanning numerous types of jobs across their member companies.

“The biggest drive for us is to allow young people to see themselves in a potential career in forestry and, and I think, for people to understand what jobs are out there, or what might be possible,” said Nighbor.

“I feel like forestry is moving towards a more positive environment where women are encouraged to pursue these kinds of jobs,” said Jas, “So, I definitely have hopes for the future.”

Source: https://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/news/local-news/green-dream-intern-car...

Steven High (MA'94) is a leading oral and public historian whose research empowers individuals and broadens understanding of Canada’s multi-faceted history.

As a co-founder of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University, Dr. High works collaboratively with the communities that he studies and is a pioneer in digitizing the life stories that he collects.

Much of his work is grounded in the everyday lives of Canadians, connecting individual experiences to bigger narratives in history. As a national leader in oral histories, he has published extensively on the methodology and ethics of this approach.

From 2006 to 2012, Dr. High led a project to collect the life stories and experiences of Montrealers displaced by war, genocide and other human rights violations.

Through radio programming, academic publications, theatrical performances, art installations, educational modules, and museum exhibitions, these stories were further publicised and shared with the public. His monograph, Oral History at the Crossroads: Sharing Life Stories of Survival and Displacement, explores the work of this project and challenges previously held conceptions about how oral histories should be recorded and shared.

Dr. High is committed to broadening our understanding of Canada’s history and to disseminating the voices of ordinary people in multiple formats. He regularly writes for the popular press and explores new digital tools and platforms to open up creative spaces for Canadians to engage with and listen to these histories.

His approach to collaborative research and sharing authority highlights his belief that history is a societal project rather than the job of a select few.

Source: https://www.canadashistory.ca/awards/governor-general-s-history-awards/award-recipients/2020/steven-high

Sarah Pash (MA'04/PhD'14) has been re-elected chairperson of the Cree School Board, the organization founded in 1978 to provide education in Eeyou Istchee, the Cree territory in northern Quebec. 

Pash campaigned for greater transparency, meeting firm education standards, and hiring Crees. 

This will be her second three-year term at the helm of the organization after first being elected chairperson in 2018. She is pushing to expand the range of Cree content taught in schools, in addition to the Cree language and culture classes which she called "ghettoized." 

Pash has a PhD in First Nations education from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Before becoming elected to her first mandate as chairperson of the Cree School Board, she was executive director at the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute in Oujé-Bougoumou. 

Read full article here.

Sean Monteith (BEd, 1994, MEd 2008) has been appointed as Senior Vice President Academic at Loyalist College effective August 3rd.

Monteith was Director of Education for the Hastings Prince Edward District School Board and was Director of Education for the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board.

“I am excited and energized to join Loyalist College as its Senior Vice President Academic, and contribute to a learning and innovative executive team,” said Monteith. “The opportunity to build a new Strategic Academic Plan for the future, and out of a pandemic, is an opportunity of a lifetime. The added opportunity to work collaboratively with First Nations and communities in support of advancing career paths and postsecondary achievement, is work that is generational and I am proud to be part of an organization that will lead it.”

Dedicated to lifelong learning, Sean holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Ottawa; a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Education from Lakehead University; and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. through the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto.

Source: intelligencer.ca

A third-generation pulp worker, Kelly has used his engineering background and penchant for change management to lead multiple improvement initiatives in his five years in the machine room, including a profiling steam box design, construction and install for PM1, vacuum optimization and PH control design projects for the pulp machine, and production loss analysis implementation and tracking.

“The passion, commitment, and energy that he puts into his role here at Mercer has led to significant reliability, production and morale improvements,” says Jeff Dechaine, Kelly’s manager and nominator. “He is a leader beyond his years, and a shining example of what the next generation of leaders in our industry can be.”

Upon receiving the news of his award, he shared, "I owe a lot of this success to the education I received at Lakehead. I graduated in 2008 with a B.Eng (Chem), and just can't say enough about the education I received at LU."

Source:  Pulp & Paper Canada and Mercer Celgar

Former Lakehead Thunderwolves player and associate coach Brennan Menard has been added to the coaching staff of the Ontario Hockey League's Kitchener Rangers.

He'll be an assistant under coach and general manager Mike McKenzie.

Brennan was the Associate Coach for the Lakehead University Thunderwolves Mens Hockey Team for two seasons and spent one season as an Assistant Coach with the Spruce Grove Saints of the AJHL, and is a member of the Belfry Hockey Coaches and Skill Coaches Development Network.

Prior to coaching, the Thunder Bay native played five years at Lakehead University and one year with 3 Oberliga in Germany.

(sources: kitchenerrangers.com and tbnewswatch.com)

Nathan Lawrence (HBComm'07), is a Managing Partner with Royal LePage Lannon Realty and a Licensed Mortgage Broker with Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Excellence.  Drawing on his experience and knowledge of the Northern Ontario Real Estate Markets, he works closely with both his teams and clients.

Nathan earned an Honours Bachelor of Commerce, Majoring in Human Resource Management from Lakehead University in 2007.

He is an active community member and proud member of the Chamber Network.  He has served two terms on the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and served as the 2018/19 Chair of the Board.  He is the Past President of the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce.  Served on the Board of Directors of SHIFT: Thunder Bay’s Young Professionals Network, two years as President of the Board.  He joined the Ontario Chamber Board of Directors in 2015.

Following an intensive search, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Beth Potter (BA English 1990) as the new President and CEO starting March 15, 2021.

Beth has a long and distinguished career in Canada's tourism sector, including most recently serving as the President and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario. She is a recognized leader with more than 30 years of experience in the not-for-profit and tourism industries and has worked with a variety of boards and committees, including her recent contributions to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s tourism recovery efforts.

Beth Potter said: “I’m excited to be taking on this new challenge as the President and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada. This is a critical time for the tourism industry. The decisions the government takes in the coming weeks and months will have a significant impact on our ability to bring back the jobs and economic growth that tourism contributed to the Canadian economy before the COVID-19 pandemic.

These are undoubtedly challenging and difficult times, but the tourism industry is an innovative and resilient sector. I will harness all of my thirty years of experience in advocacy, shaping government policies and experience in collaboration on the international stage to meet these challenges head on.

In the past eleven months, TIAC has made significant progress in winning key economic support programs for the tourism industry. I am determined to build on these achievements and ensure that tourism receives the sector-specific support it requires to rebuild.

I’d like to thank TIAO’s past and present staff members and directors for their unrelenting support during the past eleven years TIAO, like the tourism industry in Ontario, has grown exponentially during my tenure. No more so than in the last eleven months, where TIAO has worked with government, stakeholders and members to provide vital support for our industry.

I am invigorated by the challenge lying ahead at TIAC and look forward to working with my new colleagues and board members to position tourism front and centre of Canada’s economic recovery” continued Beth Potter, TIAC’s new President and CEO."

-courtesy of tiac-aitc.ca

Northwestern Ontario’s largest independently owned engineering consulting firm, TBT Engineering Consulting Group, announced the appointment of Scott Peterson as the new President, TBT Engineering Limited.

Peterson, who previously held the position of Vice President, assumes the role of President from the company’s co-founder, Rob Frenette (B.Eng'88), effective February 1, 2021.  Peterson is widely respected in the geotechnical, geological, transportation and environmental engineering community. As Vice President, he was responsible for providing technical, professional and project management services for several of the company’s core divisions. This experience coupled with the company’s current leadership team and business strategy will allow Peterson to integrate quickly into the President role. Peterson will work closely with the TBTE Senior Management team including Liana Frenette (BEd'88), CEO.

-TBT Engineering website

Maclean’s canvassed the landscape for Canadians with qualities they think represent power in a time of transformative change.  Lakehead alumnus Sean Speer (HBA'05) made their Top 50 list: "By their actions, words or character, they force us to watch, listen and learn. They are moving the needle in their chosen fields, and in many cases the wider world. Importantly, they are good-faith actors. History may judge them wrong, but they act in the belief that doing so will result in a better world."

Sean's entry writes: "The Tories in Ottawa feast on scandal, always hunting for the next ethical lapse or spending spree that might knock the Liberals off their game. Sean Speer, a big-ideas machine and former economic adviser to Stephen Harper, takes a longer view. Speer publishes papers at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and serves as director at Ontario 360, a think tank based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. His arguments on economic growth and recovery are credible enough that Liberals have a hard time disagreeing with him. He wrote that no party is speaking to the “forgotten people” of Canada who struggle to shift to an “intangible economy” based on intellectual property and data. Those voters are up for grabs. Will the Conservatives listen to one of their keenest thinkers and build a tent for them?"
(written by Nick Taylor-Vaisey)

Read the complete article here: https://www.macleans.ca/rankings/canadas-most-powerful-people-2021/#ranking