Reimagining Education Team

Our first and primary host is always the land. This gathering will be taking place on the beautiful and lush unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory, where the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Nations have lived in relationship with the lands since long before today. The beautiful Lake now called Opinicon, the deer, the trees, we are reminded of our deep connection to nature.

In the Dish with One Spoon agreement, the dish symbolizes shared territory and all of the resources indicating that people all eat out of the single dish, so we have a shared responsibility to leave enough of the resources for others to use to meet their needs now and in the future. It also means that we have a responsibility to keep the dish clean. The spoon indicates that when we come together to share these resources there are not to be weapons or sharp words used against one another, but to come together in kindness and with a good mind. 

Steward of the global Art of Hosting community, Chris is a teacher and facilitator of strategic conversations and a practitioner of the Art of Hosting whose work invites collective intelligence and collective leadership to be activated in the service of complex challenges. Chris has worked locally and internationally in a huge variety of contexts including social services, indigenous community development, immigration and refugee issues, business, government, food systems and education.  He has written and contributed to numerous books on the role of participatory processes in activating new forms of leadership and community development.  His well known weblog, Parking Lot, has charted his own learning in the field since 2002.

Troy is a proud husband, father of two, who lives in and is a member of Kenhté:ke Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte). For the last 26 years, He has worked in his passion, Indigenous Education as a classroom teacher, facilitator, lecturer, and currently holds the position of Indigenous Education Lead for the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board. In addition, he organizes and facilitates an annual Provincial Indigenous Education Leads Gathering that is going into its 11th year. Troy considers himself very fortunate to have been grounded in the teachings of many generous people, and from the land.  This has afforded him with a balanced perspective and approach to life that is necessary to move forward with a good mind.

Cédric (he / him)  joyfully teaches Human System Intervention at Concordia University, building capacities of change practitioners. He weaves his 10+ years experience in the innovation sector, leveraging dialogue and complexity-based approaches to help teams, organizations and communities as they invent new ways to think, do and live together. A seasoned Art of Hosting practitioner, Cédric is thoughtful in all his work, be it with indigenous communities or emerging non-profits. Cedric’s daughters are his inspiration to reimagine education.

Jennifer (she/her) is a community-minded and forward-thinking educator and facilitator. She is passionate about helping people uncover passions, build confidence, and explore what it means to be human. A formally trained teacher, Jennifer has spent the past 15 years working beyond the four walls of a traditional classroom on tall ships, leading youth polar expeditions and running other experiential learning programs typically connected to environmental education, leadership training and social emotional learning. Jennifer believes in the possibilities that live within the Art of hosting practices to reimagine how we engage with our education systems.