Event 1

Introduction to Decolonizing and Unsettling

A Settler Perspective on Restoring Our Relationships with Water

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We are seeing the words ‘colonization’ and ‘decolonization’ pop up more and more often in the environmental justice realm, and rightly so, but what do we really mean when we talk about ‘decolonizing’ and why is it essential to the water justice movement? Learn alongside cultural ecologist James Wilkes as he presents a settler perspective on decolonization, introduces ways to discuss colonialism in Canada, and provides tangible ways to begin your own journeys to confront colonialism in our lives. The session will include an opportunity to ask your questions about colonialism and decolonization through a moderated question & answer period. This event will not be recorded, so please make plans to attend the live event to learn together.

Speaker

James Wilkes

James Wilkes is a treaty person and a guest in Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg territory, and he works to support the continuation of ecological and cultural diversity through action, teaching, and research. James is a cultural ecologist and contract faculty member in the Indigenous Environmental Studies & Sciences (IESS) program at Trent University, an instructor at the First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) in Tyendinaga, and a PhD candidate in Environmental Studies at Queen's University. James is a member of Decolonizing Efforts for Water (DEW) as well as Community Voices for Manoomin (CVFM) for the protection of wild rice in Nogojiwanong/Peterborough.