Climate Career Night: Land-Centred Livelihoods

Tara Olivetree (they/them) is an educator, teaching secondary math in the territories of the Lekwungen speaking peoples (Greater Victoria) and facilitating union workshops across the province to colleagues in the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF). Tara is currently a member of the BCTF Committee for Action on Social Justice, as well as the BC Federation of Labour Climate Justice & Jobs Committee. They also represent the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association (GVTA) as a Local Representative to the BCTF, and sit on the GVTA Climate Justice Committee. In addition to union work, Tara also works extensively with community based climate justice organizations, including the UBC Centre for Climate Justice, the West Coast Climate Action Coalition, Parents 4 Climate and Climate Justice Victoria. A life long trade union activist, Tara is excited to work with others to strengthen relationships between labour and the community so that we can collectively build the power to change the world.

Atiya Jaffar works as the Canada Campaigns Manager for 350.org, a global climate justice organization and a community organizer living as an uninvited guest on Unceded Coast Salish territories. During her 9 years on staff at 350.org, Atiya has worked on numerous campaigns including the successful fights against the Energy East and Teck Frontier pipelines, two elections campaigns that mobilized volunteers to elect climate champions across the country, and various campaigns in support of bold, justice-centered climate solutions. Atiya holds a BSc. in Global Resource Systems from UBC and an MA in Geography from the University of Guelph. During her time at Guelph, Atiya was part of a group of students that started the fossil fuel divestment campaign that ultimately successfully pushed the institution to divest. Outside of 350.org and climate work, Atiya supports various organizing efforts for justice and recently co-founded the local group Parents for Palestine.

Sam Myran (she/her/ikwe) was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is from Giinooshkoodeyang, now known as Long Plain First Nation in southern Manitoba. She came to pursue law as a direct result of the Idle No More movement which opened her eyes and influenced her to become a part of advocating for change. Following that winter, Samantha returned to post-secondary studies to earn an Associate of Arts in Aboriginal Studies from Langara College, a Bachelor of Arts in First Nations and Indigenous Studies from the University of British Columbia, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Manitoba. During her academic career, Samantha became a member of many student groups including the Alliance of British Columbia Students through her role with the Langara Students Union as the Aboriginal Students Advisor, the Langara Aboriginal Students Association, and the Manitoba Indigenous Law Students Association. In community she has been a part of planning such events as elders’ trips, an Aboriginal Veteran’s Day Pow Wow, and family days in the Central Park of Winnipeg. Samantha takes pride in her experience working in areas of Indigenous governance within her home community, restorative justice initiatives (as a research practicum student at Onashowewin Justice Circle), as well as in customer service.

Navjot Jassar (she/her) is a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law. She provides legal support to First Nations who are establishing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) or are otherwise revitalizing Indigenous law to protect their territorial land, air and water.

Paige (she/they) is a queer, white settler living on unceded and unsurrendered Musqueam, Tsleil Waututh and Squamish territory in Vancouver. Born and raised in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton), she is passionate about climate justice, anti-colonial solidarity, and collective liberation. Earlier in her career, Paige worked in public libraries and completed her master’s degree in Gender and Social Justice. But after a period of climate despair and depression, she found a home in climate movement. She first cut her teeth organizing sit-ins, marches, and blockades in support of land-based resistance movements, and later campaigning for free public transit as a climate and racial justice intervention. Once upon a time, she even ran for federal office with a campaign for a just transition to 100% renewables. As Dogwood’s Organizing Manager, Paige is hard at work building grassroots power in the Lower Mainland toward bold climate action. She is enthusiastic about bringing art and creativity into organizing and supporting the participation of young people in the fight to keep fossil fuels in the ground.