Speakers

Dr. Sarah Burch is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, and holds a Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Governance and Innovation.  

She is the Executive Director of the Waterloo Climate Institute, a Lead Author of the United Nations’ Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and helped to lead expert input into the development of Canada’s first National Adaptation Strategy. Her research uncovers transformative responses to climate change at the community scale, the political and justice dimensions of energy transitions, and the unique contributions that small businesses can make to this solving these complex challenges. 

Dr. Burch holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia, and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute. She was named to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars in 2017, one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40TM in 2018, and one of Canada’s Clean 50 in 2021. 

As Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, Elder Henry provides strategic leadership to the Faculty of Health and our response to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action. He collaborates with the Office of Indigenous Relations and with the Faculty of Health community, and identifies and contributes to building reciprocal and respectful relationships with Indigenous individuals and communities. 

Elder Henry comes to University of Waterloo from Conestoga College where he was the Manager of Indigenous Services and a Professor of Indigenous Studies. He is the former Elected Chief and band councilor for Chippewas of the Thames First Nation. In addition to these leadership roles, he currently serves as Chair for the Ontario Provincial Police and Law society of Ontario Indigenous Advisory councils. Elder Henry also serves as an Indigenous ceremony conductor throughout Canada and the United States of America, traditional medicine practitioner, environmental protectionist, Indigenous counsellor, and Pow Wow coordinator. 

Elder Henry is a member of the UW Indigenous Advisory Circle, which advises the Office of Indigenous Relations on indigenization and decolonization. 

Dr. Grace Nosek is a legal scholar focusing on climate misinformation, protest, and democracy, as well as a long-time community organizer. She centers justice, joyful community, hope, agency, civic engagement, and systems change in her work and scholarship. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto, Grace is researching novel strategies to empower youth in democratic decision-making and to inoculate youth against climate despair. She holds a BA from Rice University, a law degree from Harvard Law School, and a Master of Laws and PhD in law from the University of British Columbia. Grace’s research has been supported by a Fulbright Canada fellowship, a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation scholarship and a Killam doctoral scholarship, among others. Grace is turning her PhD thesis into a young adult fantasy novel about magical youth climate strikers--ROOTBOUND (think Greta Thunberg meets The Hunger Games with heaps of queer joy and swoony romance)--and she’s never met a dance party she didn’t want to join.

Over the past decade, Amy Castator has worked hard to be a changemaker in her workplace and community. She dove deeply into climate action work, spending long hours working at a conservation non-profit, co-founding Carbon Conversations TO, taking personal actions, going to networking events, attending climate marches. Amy put every ounce of my being into climate action work.

Amy quickly realized that she could only feel sustained in climate action work if she was willing to incorporate a kind self-awareness and gentleness into my daily decisions. With the help of peers, mentors, coaches and the ACE Coach training program, Amy learned tools to discover her goals and dreams both as a climate leader and a human being. She gained confidence to forge her own path toward them. Her learning journey is far from over, but it would be her privilege to share these tools and practices with you.

Tova Davidson helps develop strategic direction for Sustainable Waterloo Region, manages the team, and builds key relationships throughout the Waterloo region. She brings her experience in public relations and communications to creatively approach sustainability opportunities. Paired with her business background as the former Vice President of The Letter M Marketing, she is primed to collaborate with top organizations in Waterloo Region and beyond to drive change locally and provincially. Having been selected by The Guelph Mercury for Top 40 Under 40, and the recipient of the Mayor’s Award of Excellence, Tova has demonstrated leadership in the community and continues to lead by example while inspiring others to do the same.

Michelle Angkasais a climate justice advocate and grassroots organizer focused on building equitable and sustainable futures. She recently graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Environment and Business, where she aligned her academic work with her passion for climate action, community engagement, and political advocacy.

Michelle currently serves as the Research & Campus Strategy Co-Lead at re•generation, a Canadian youth-led non-profit focused on advancing climate justice. She has worked with organizations like ReImagine17, Good & Well Inc., and the Green Party of Ontario. Michelle was named a Top 25 Environmentalist Under 25 by Starfish Canada and has been a member of the Climate Reality Project Canada and Fossil Free UW.