Keynotes & Performers

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Dr. Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair is Anishinaabe (St. Peter’s/Little Peguis) and an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba. He is a regular commentator on Indigenous issues on CTV, CBC, and APTN, and his written work can be found in the pages of The Exile Edition of Native Canadian Fiction and Drama, newspapers like The Guardian, and online with CBC Books: Canada Writes. Niigaan is the co-editor of the award-winning Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water (Highwater Press, 2011) and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories (Michigan State University Press, 2013), and is the Editorial Director of The Debwe Series with Portage and Main Press.

Dr. Samantha Nutt is a respected authority for many of North America’s leading media outlets. She is a regular foreign affairs panelist on the acclaimed news program, CBC TV NEWS The National with Peter Mansbridge. Dr. Nutt’s written work has been published by The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Maclean’s Magazine, Reuters, The Ottawa Citizen and The Huffington Post, among many others, and she has appeared in Time Magazine, Chatelaine Magazine , More Magazine and on CTV National News, Global TV News, NBC Nightly News and BBC World News Service, to name just a few. Dr. Nutt was named one of Canada’s 25 Transformational Canadians by The Globe and Mail, and has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Time Magazine has featured her as one of Canada’s Five Leading Activists. In July 2011, Dr. Nutt was appointed to the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honour, for her contributions to improving the plight of young people in the world’s worst conflict zones. Join recognized global affairs expert and award-winning humanitarian Dr Samantha Nutt as she explores the meaning of Canada in the 21st century and learn about what Canadians can do to have a lasting global impact.

Dr. Carol Davis is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. In the early 1970s Carol helped establish Turtle Mountain Community College. From 1988 to 2006 she was an administrator at Turtle Mountain Community College. She retired from North Dakota State University in 2011. “I firmly believe in setting high goals for Native American students and employees and providing the support to enable them to reach those goals.” She is a tribal elder who is active in the “No Fracking Way Turtle Mountain Tribe” committee, which helped to ban fracking on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. She was a member of the committee that wrote the Turtle Mountain Tribal Water Act that was adopted by the Turtle Mountain Tribe in 2015. Dr.Davis is a founding member and Senior Associate of the Tribal Nations Research Group, organized to help the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa make good decisions based on quality research that supports the cultural values of the tribe. Dr. Davis and her husband reside at Turtle Mountain, where she enjoys spending time with family, especially her 19 grandchildren.

Activist, ethicist and writer Peter Denton has taught university and college students for nearly 30 years on many different aspects of what an sustainable future requires. Author or editor of six books, including Gift Ecology: Reimagining a Sustainable World (2012); Technology and Sustainability (2014) and Live Close to Home (Fall 2016), he has volunteered with the United Nations Environment Programme for the last four years as a regional representative for North America; as an author in GEO 6; and in various roles relating to sustainable production and consumption. A United Church of Canada minister, with a Ph.D. in Religion and Social Sciences, he is Adjunct Associate Professor of History at the Royal Military College of Canada. In 2014, two Maasai communities in Kenya honoured him as an elder for his work there in sustainable development.

Performances

Hailing from what has been described as the music capital of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, WCMA award winners Sweet Alibi (Jess Rae Ayre, Amber Rose and Michelle Anderson) have captivated audiences since 2009 with their charming and personal performances. With 3 releases, over 360 shows across Canada, 33 plus festival performances, in numerous radio performances and interviews Sweet Alibi is fast becoming a well-known Roots/Pop group. Tom Power of CBC Radio 2 describes Sweet Alibi as this, “If Mumford and Sons and the Supremes had a love child it would be named Sweet Alibi.”

Sierra Noble has been one of Winnipeg, Manitoba’s most promising young talents since releasing her first instrumental fiddle album at age 14. Well known for most of her life as a fiddle champion who breezes through numerous styles of music with stunning ease, Sierra’s breadth of experience in music and in life at 25 is nothing short of impressive. Encouraged by fellow musicians to sing, at age 18 Sierra decided to try her hand at writing songs. Her journey as a singer-songwriter has proved to have a promising start with her debut critically acclaimed 6 song EP release, “Possibilities” (2009). The single, “Possibility” was played on radio stations across Canada with her music video for the song debuting in the Top 20 Countdown on CMT Canada. Sierra now lives in Nashville and is an artist to watch for with her full length album, “City of Ghosts” with a brand new sound produced by Murray Pulver and Alex Wong, to be released early 2016.