Walk in the Montreal Botanical Garden, followed by a conversation on Rematriation Of Strong Communities: Restoring Forest Resilience

12:45pm -1:15 pm

Walk in the gardens with ethnobotanist Alain Cuerrier

1:30pm – 2:30pm via Zoom

Eva Snyder and Teresa Sm’hayetsk Ryan, in conversation with moderator Alain Currier.
Link to the Mothertree project: https://mothertreeproject.org/

Panelist:

• Sm’hayetsk Teresa Ryan
• Eva Synder
• Moderator: Alain Cuerrier

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Bios

Sm’hayetsk Teresa Ryan, PhD., (Ts’msyen) is Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Science Lecturer at UBC Forestry. For her dissertation she examined colonial dispossession of Aboriginal lands and trade by exploring ecological-social institution linkages and the connection of these complex adaptive systems to heterogeneous mosaic landscapes. She demonstrated how thousands of years of sustainable use based on Ancestral knowledge of cyclic resource production and variability was an intuitive component of Aboriginal stewardship. Her current Salmon-forest research investigates the potential to restore salmon abundance by using ancient Aboriginal fishing technology and strategies. She is also a Scientist on the Pacific Salmon Commission Chinook Technical Committee (Canada). She is First Nations Liaison on the Mother Tree Project 

Eva Synder was born in Vancouver, BC and grew up moving around BC and the Yukon. She started with the Mother Tree Project in 2016 as a field crew member during initial site layouts, and continues on with the project as a field and lab technician. Eva began her forest-sciences education at Selkirk College in the West Kootenays and finished her Bachelor’s degree in Urban Forestry at the University of British Columbia. She is currently pursuing a PhD under the mentorship of Dr. Suzanne Simard.  Her research is based in BC’s Western redcedar forests, investigating the role of below-ground microbial feedbacks for tree defences and inter-species carbon flow.

Alain Cuerrier Researcher at the Montreal Botanical Garden and writer, Dr. Alain Cuerrier earned his PhD in plant systematics (University of Montreal with one year at Harvard University) before switching to ethnobotany in 2001. He participated in the creation of the First-Nations Garden in Montreal as well as in Laquenexy (France). Since then, he has started ethnobotanical and ethno-ecological projects with the Inuit, Innu, Naskapi, Cree, Squamish people of Canada as well as Palikur (French Guiana) and Cabécar (Costa Rica). As a member of the Canadian Institute Health Research Team in Aboriginal Antidiabetic Medicines, he has been active in traditional medicine since 2003. Alain Cuerrier is a member of the Plant Biology Research Institute and adjunct professor at University of Montreal. He has been vice-president of the Natural Health Product Research Society of Canada from 2010-2013 and was president of the International Society of Ethnobiology (2014-2016). Dr. Alain Cuerrier has published more than 12 books on plant uses by First Nations and Inuit of Canada as well as on the philosophy of biology.

All presentations will take place in the Amphitheatre (room # B104) of the Centre for Biodiversity.

Zoom link for Saturday to attend remotely: 

https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/j/87275244560?pwd=QUFiNFViNXRBVkNCZXBLblZBZ2ZFZz09

Meeting ID: 872 7524 4560

Passcode: 422567