Kelly Janz
Coordinator
Kelly.Janz@umanitoba.ca
Kelly is Coordinator for Wa Ni Ska Tan and has been in this role since planning the first Gathering in 2014. Her work with Wa Ni Ska Tan involves communications, finance, event planning, management, and evaluation. Kelly has a MSc in Planning from the University of Guelph and a MA in International Development Studies from the University of Winnipeg. She has a long history working towards food security, food sovereignty and community development in Winnipeg and currently sits on the Winnipeg Food Council and on the board of the Farm Fresh Food Hub. Kelly loves cooking, reading, and is valiantly trying to learn the art of hula-hooping.
Michael Tyas
Documentarian
michael.tyas@umanitoba.ca
Michael is a senior videographer and jack-of-all-trades at the Environmental Conservation Lab. His work with Wa Ni Ska Tan involves professionally recording interviews with elders and land users so that the research can be disseminated to a wider audience. He co-directed and filmed the feature-length documentary One River, Many Relations (2014) about Fort Chipewyan, a community downstream from the Alberta oil sands and the B.C. Bennet Dam. The film explores entirely from a grassroots community perspective the impacts of industry and energy production on their territory. – Fun Fact: Michael learned video production skills in Cape Town, South Africa.
Mathew Scammell
Research Facilitator
Mathew.scammell@umanitoba.ca
Mathew is currently an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Global Political Economy, after first finishing a degree in Environmental Science. He has been working with Wa Ni Ska Tan since the summer of 2019 and has worked on various projects such as an archiving project in Grand Rapids, organizing for the conference in Fall 2019, and producing promotional material for Wa Ni Ska Tan. Mathew is especially interested in how environmental and social justice have been affected by hydro development in Manitoba, and plans to continue studying this at university. When he is finished work and studying, Mathew likes to spend time reading, volunteering or going outside for fun.
Bobbie Mang'eli
Communications
bobbie.mangeli@umanitoba.ca
Bobbie is a M. Env. graduate student at the University of Manitoba, after graduating in Summer 2020 with a B. Environmental Science, minor in Sociology. Bobbie is from Nairobi, Kenya and is proud of her family and heritage. She started with us in Summer 2018 and has stayed on. She works on a large variety of projects including communication coordination between Wa Ni Ska Tan (SSHRC), Land Learning (NSERC) and kitatipithitamak mithwayawin (CIHR) projects. She is also co-host of the Akiiwan Podcast and facilitates Who’s Got the Power game among other tasks. Her primary focus now is working with Robert Spence (councillor) under supervision of Dr. Stephane McLachlan to coordinate a wildlife monitoring program at Tataskweyak Cree Nation (Split Lake). For leisure, she enjoys being in the quiet outdoors, biking and hiking. She is determined to learn at least one winter sport but more importantly, Bobbie enjoys meeting people and learning new skills and points of view.
Kimberly Wilde
Coordinator Kitatipithitamak Mithwayawin
Kimberley.Wilde@umanitoba.ca
Hello, everyone. My name is Kimberley Wilde. Here are some things you might like to know about me:
My family has settler (Irish, Welsh, Scots, English) roots in Saskatchewan (Moosomin) and Alberta (Cyprus Hills), and one Anishinaabe-French root in Ontario. I have lived in Manitoba for almost 40 years, and many other places before that – Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Haida Gwaii, Colville Lake, Sahtu region, NT.I have a wonderful son who is 33, and is my light. He has a great sense of humor, and is a very good writer. I have a master’s degree in Native Studies from U of M, having worked (ok, really we spent a lot of time in coffee shops visiting) with Omushkego Elder and storyteller Louis Pennishish (Bird). I love stories, and Louis. His story is way more interesting than mine. I have worked as the office manager at the Department of Native Studies for many years. I have most recently worked as Project Coordinator for another big SSHRC grant held by Dr. Peter Kulchyski: Canadian Consortium on Performance and Politics in the Americas. With this grant, I had the opportunity to travel to Montreal, New York, Santiago (Chile), and Mexico City, and meet some very lively and interesting people. In the photo, I am standing under a tree in Montreal writing a poem in the voice of the tree, about what it is like to have someone stand beneath the branches and write a poem. My hair is longer now. I am looking forward to meeting and working with all of you on this outstanding project while Kelly is on maternity leave. Thanks in large part to Kelly’s obvious superpowers, the transition so far has been painless, at least for me!
Taylor Galvin
Coordinator Kis Kin Ha Ma Ki Win
taylor.galvin@umanitoba.ca
Taylor Galvin is an Environmental Studies student at the University of Manitoba. She is the land-based education coordinator for the Kis Kin Ha Ma Ki Win, Land-based Science Camps. As an Indigenous woman from Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, she wants to learn from and help her community, as well as other First Nations communities, engage in different traditional, land-based practices. She would like to help other Indigenous and non-Indigenous students learn about the importance of keeping our traditions alive for the next Seven Generations. While in school she volunteers with the Graduation Pow Wow, she is a leader in an Indigenous environmental student group called the University of Manitoba’s Indigenous Concerns on the Environment and would like to help make positive changes to the environment as much as she can through my studies, volunteer, and work.