Cultural Advisor

Dr. Dan Longboat/Roronhiakewen (he clears the sky)

Dr. Longboat is Haudenosaunee, Turtle Clan is from the Six Nations community on the Grand River.  He is an Associate Professor in the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies at Trent University.  We are so grateful he is one of the IKS Lab cultural advisors.  He promotes using a “Good Mind” as part of our responsibilities in taking the collective actions needed to restore the Earth for the next seven generations. Dr. Longboat is Dr. Melanie Goodchild's Uncle and she is his niece, bringing strong kinship energy to our work.

Cultural Advisor

Melissa Roberts

Melissa Roberts, Anishinaabe, is an Elder, knowledge keeper, powwow dancer, grandmother and retired educator.  We are so grateful that she brings her makwa (bear) healing energy to the IKS Lab.  Melissa is a consultant, facilitator and speaker.  She leverages her deep roots in Anishinaabe teachings to enhance educational offerings. She actively develops and facilitates interactive online sessions tailored to Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners, focusing on cultural competency, practices, and modern challenges Indigenous communities face. She is a maker of things and pollinator of ideas.

Senior Fellow

Vanessa reid

Vanessa Reid is an architect of cultural evolution who works at the intersection between systems and soul. She co-founded the Living Wholeness Institutewhich works around the world to co-create cultures and communities of practice dedicated to systems transformation amidst complexity, collapse and chaos. Vanessa has Masters degrees in both architecture and process-oriented psychology and brings her depth of practice and wild perspective to her work with the Wolf Willow Institute for Systems Learning and the Trailblazery’s Hedge School, lauded for its ‘exploration of the possible.’