Lakehead University’s sustainable communities speaker series hosting two lectures this month

(Pictured from left) Dr. Lesley Lovett-Doust, Monica Virtue, and Shelly Bressette.

(Pictured from left) Dr. Lesley Lovett-Doust, Monica Virtue, and Shelly Bressette.

November 12, 2018 – Orillia, ON

The Research Centre for Sustainable Communities (RCSC) at Lakehead University Orillia is offering two lectures in November as part of its 2018/2019 Speaker Series.

On Thursday, November 15 at 5:30 p.m., Dr. Lesley Lovett-Doust, professor in the Faculty of Arts and Science at Nipissing University, will deliver her lecture, “Endangered species – Plants and people at Point Pelee”. Dr. Lovett-Doust will focus on the Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia humifusa), a classic case of the species at risk. The lecture will be held at Lakehead Orillia in Simcoe Hall, Room 2017.

Then, on Monday, November 19 at 4 p.m., the lecture “Visualizing Ipperwash” will feature filmmaker and digital designer Monica Virtue in conversation with Shelly Bressette, an Anishinaabe writer from the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. Virtue will share her work and perspective on the process and complex politics involved in her documentary, digital and interactive mapping projects over the past 16 years concerning Ipperwash, including her most recent work with the family of slain activist Dudley George. Shelly will speak about her writing and her belief that stories help readers find truth - not by ignoring the past, but by facing it and moving beyond it. This talk will be held at Lakehead Orillia in Simcoe Hall, Room 1033.

Both sessions are free and open to the public. For further information and to RSVP, please contact Dr. Nanda Kanavillil at nkanavil@lakeheadu.ca.

Media are invited to attend.

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Media contact: Jaclyn Bucik, Marketing and Communications Associate, Lakehead University, jbucik@lakeheadu.ca or 705-330-4008, ext. 2014.


Lakehead University has approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and 2,000 faculty and staff in 10 faculties at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead is a fully comprehensive university: home to Ontario’s newest Faculty of Law, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and faculties of Engineering, Business Administration, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities, Science & Environmental Studies, Natural Resources Management, Education, and Graduate Studies. Maclean’s 2019 University Rankings place Lakehead University among Canada's Top 10 primarily undergraduate universities and in 2018 Research Infosource named Lakehead Research University of the Year in its category for the fourth consecutive year. Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.

Dr. Lesley Lovett-Doust, Monica Virtue and Shelly Bressette, three upcoming speakers in the Research Centre for Sustainable Communities speaker series.