Events

Dr. Mariana Brussoni is Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership, a collaborative research and knowledge mobilization centre at the University of British Columbia that brings together expertise, from across disciplines and sectors, to contribute to improving conditions that promote an equitable start in life for all children and their families. Mariana is Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the School of Population and Public Health at UBC and Investigator with BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Her cross-disciplinary research investigates child injury prevention and children’s outdoor risky play. She is a founding member and on the board of Outdoor Play Canada and partners with practitioners and policymakers in early childhood education, schooling, municipal planning, and recreation provision, with the aim of creating environments where all children can thrive in healthy societies.

Jean Lloyd is the proud mother of two sons, seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and four step-grandchildren, some of whom she has gratefully shared her culture with. Jean is honoured to have a grandchild with Down’s Syndrome, a great-grandchild with autism, and an adopted grandchild with complex support needs.

For most of her life, Jean was unaware of her Indigenous roots. Her contributions as a respected Elder reflect her commitment to learning her culture and engaging in her community. Jean applied for citizenship with Métis Nations BC in 2013 and has since held the positions of treasurer, vice-president, president, and for a short term, women’s representative for nearly a decade on the board of directors of the Boundary Métis Community Association. In 2021, Jean received the Volunteer Recognition Award from Métis Nations BC for her continued community engagement.

As an Elder, Jean is honoured for her wealth of experience, wisdom, and the deep compassion she shows for people. Jean is the provincial Elder on the Minister’s Advisory Council for Children and Youth with Support Needs in BC and sits on additional councils and committees working to support children, inviting them to open themselves to the natural world of Creator’s great outdoors.

Jean was part of a University of British Columbia pilot project assessing how the Aboriginal Head Start program supports children, their families, and ultimately, their communities. She is currently connected to UBC as an Elder on the PRO-ECO 2.0 Steering Committee, a project supporting outdoor play in early learning childcare facilities across BC

Jean is a self-published author of the children’s novel Little Bird, a story inspired by years of hiking in the Kootenays and a joyful rewrite of a childhood she never had. 

Stella Johnson, née Erasmus, was born in McLennan, Alberta, raised by her grandmother from the age of five, and taught the Cree language. Stella worked as a registered care aide in Dawson Creek, BC before moving to Nanaimo in 1987 where she worked at Traveller’s Lodge for 16 years. Upon retiring in 2006, Stella spent four months exploring Canada coast-to-coast. In 2006, Stella was hired by the Duncan Métis Nation as a Métis support worker and worked in the Lake Cowichan District. In August 2012, Stella began her new journey as an Elder at Vancouver Island University.

Sheila Grieve enjoyed working as a frontline educator, floor supervisor, and centre director for almost 20 (1987-2006). During that time, she gained experience in a wide variety of early childhood education and care settings, including multi-age care, nursery, school age care, head start, and at a “paivakoti” in Finland. She has been able to apply that experience as a post-secondary instructor since 2006. Informed by her Métis, Cree, and Scottish ancestry, Sheila’s research involves a combination of child development and ethnobotany. She has partnered with early childhood care and education settings, adding culturally relevant plants to the outdoor classroom of each setting. Sheila is passionate about working with students and community members to enrich the field of early childhood education and care, with a particular focus on nature interactions. In 2022, Sheila was sashed with the honour by Métis Nation BC as a Métis Early Learning and Child Care Award winner.

Enid Elliot is an early childhood educator who has been continually surprised, intrigued, and delighted by the babies, children, families, and early childhood educators with whom she has worked, played, and journeyed. She is currently on faculty at Camosun College and is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria. Enid’s current questions concern the pedagogies that emerge as educators and children explore/engage deeply with all the layers of the natural/material landscape found outside school walls, as well as learning from Indigenous worldviews and narratives that honour our connections with the natural world. 

Susan Herrington is a professor in the Landscape Architecture program in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) at the University of British Columbia, where she teaches histories of landscape architecture, theories in landscape architecture, and vertical studios. In 2021, she led the Rewilding Play Design Build Intervention studio.

Susan is a landscape architect in Canada and licensed landscape architect in the United States and consults professionally in Canada and the US. Her research concerns design theories of contemporary landscape architecture, including theories regarding children’s landscapes.

She has received multiple awards, including the UBC Killam Faculty Research Prize; Anne de Fort-Menares Award for her article, “Restoring a Modern Landscape in the Anthropocene: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander,” on the Friedman Residence; and John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize for her book, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Making the Modern Landscape. Susan has conducted research with funding from the Graham Foundation, Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, in Germany with support from the German Academic Exchange, and in Cambridge as a visiting researcher at Harvard University. Among her accomplishments, Susan received a UBC Killam Faculty Fellowship and was chair of SALA’s Landscape Architecture program.

Emily Mlieczko is the Executive Director for the Early Childhood Educators of BC, where she leads the association to support advancement of the early childhood educators profession. Before starting in this role, Emily worked in rural BC in a variety of early years programs in both 100 Mile House and Prince Rupert. After many rich experiences, including exposure to advocacy for the families she served, Emily decided to focus her attentions on the need to be a strong voice for the early childhood educators sector. Her education, passion, understanding, and commitment to make things better for children, families, and educators continue to guide her in work today.

Kirsten Bevelander is the manager of the BC Aboriginal Child Care Society’s Aboriginal Child Care and Referral Program (ACCRR). Kirsten is part of the ACCRR advisors team which supports Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators and child care providers around the province through training, advocacy, and sharing of resources. Additionally, she is an instructor in the Early Childhood Education Program at Burnaby Community and Continuing Education. Kirsten has worked with children and families for more than 30 years, specializing in toddler care, children with additional needs, literacy learning and Aboriginal early child development and care.