One of Canada’s most influential and action-oriented Indigenous leaders is the next guest of the Salt Spring Forum.
Ginger Gosnell-Myers is a member of the Nisga’a and Kwakwaka’wakw nations and was the City of Vancouver’s first Indigenous relations manager. According to the Forum, “She played an instrumental role in Vancouver becoming the world’s first official City of Reconciliation and to its Canada 150 celebrations paying homage to Indigenous history and culture.”
Her leadership also led to the city recognizing and implementing 28 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and its incorporating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into all aspects of city planning.
For 20 years Gosnell-Myers has researched the experiences of Indigenous peoples living in urban settings, breaking down common misconceptions about them.
She is currently a fellow at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University and is also chair of the Greenpeace Canada board.
The discussion with Gosnell-Myers — titled Urban First Nations: Decolonizing Canada’s Cities — takes place on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at ArtSpring.