sʔəyəɬəq Larry Grant, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Elder (Adjunct Professor, UBC; Manager, Musqueam Nation Language Department)

Elder Larry Grant is of mixed Chinese and Musqueam ancestry. Born at home as a premature baby in Agassiz, B.C., Grant was raised in Musqueam traditional territory. After retiring as a longshoreman, Grant enrolled in the First Nations Language Program at the University of British Coumbia to reconnect with his mother’s ancestral language, hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓. Through this transformational process Grant achieved his goal of learning how to welcome people to Musqueam territory using the language, discovered his aptitude for sharing stories, and developed a strong passion for revitalizing hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓.

Today he serves the Musqueam Nation as the Language and Culture Program as Interim Manager. At the University of British Columbia, Grant plays as a key role in educating others about the first peoples who lived here. He is the Elder-in-Residence at the UBC First Nations House of Learning where he welcomes and connects with an array of visitors, students and staff from around the world. He is also an adjunct professor the UBC First Nations Language Program, helping to teach the first-year hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language course which is held at the Musqueam reserve.

Sarah Nickel is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Alberta and Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Indigenous Politics and Gender. She is a member of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc and is author of the award-winning book Assembling Unity: Indigenous Politics, Gender and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. She recently co-edited a collection on Indigenous feminisms, and her next book titled Active Women: Indigenous Women’s Social and Political Work in Kanata’s West will be published with the University of Toronto Press in 2025.

Rita Wong (Emily Carr University of Art + Design)

Rita Wong lives in unceded Coast Salish territories, also known as Vancouver, where she attends to questions of respect for water, decolonization, ecology and climate justice. Co-editor of the anthology Downstream: Reimagining Water with Dorothy Christian, Wong is the author of several books of poetry including current, climate (2021). She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Culture and Community at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Daniel Sims (University of Northern British Columbia)

Born and raised in Prince George, Dr. Daniel Sims is a proud member of the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation. His research focuses on northern British Columbia and he has worked extensively with not only his own community, but also the related communities of Kwadacha and McLeod Lake.

Currently he is working on two books through the University of Alberta Press on the impacts of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam and Williston Lake reservoir on all three communities. As if that was not enough, he is also working on a research project, titled “A Forgotten Land: Development in the Finlay-Parsnip Watershed of Northern British Columbia, 1860-1956,” that examines numerous proposed developments in the Finlay-Parsnip watershed through the lens of concepts of wilderness, development, and colonialism.

His areas of research involve many aspects of history and Indigenous studies, including identity, knowledge systems, treaty and land claims, history, reconciliation and Indigenization. Reflecting his expertise he has held a number of national positions in his career, including serving as academic co-lead of the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health with Dr. Sheila Blackstock and from 2021-2025 serving as a member of Parks Canada’s Indigenous Cultural Heritage Advisory Council.

Mohammed Rafi Arefin (University of British Columbia)

Mohammed Rafi Arefin is an assistant professor of geography at the University of British Columbia. His research and advocacy is focused on environmental and climate justice in cities of the global North and South. In his current BC-based work he is working closely with tenant serving organizations examining how renters experience and navigate the intertwined housing and climate crises.

Am Johal (Co-Director, SFU Community Engaged Research Initiative)

Am Johal has previously been Director of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement, Co-Director of SFU’s Community Engaged Research Initiative and host of the podcast, Below the Radar. He is the author of ‘Ecological Metapolitics: Badiou and the Anthropocene’ (2015), co-author with Matt Hern of ‘Global Warming and the Sweetness of Life: A Tar Sands Tale’ (2018) and ‘O My Friends, There is No Friend: The Politics of Friendship at the End of Ecology’ (2024). He is currently Chair of the Vancouver International Film Festival, Vice Chair of Greenpeace Canada and a board member with the BC Alliance for Arts and Culture.