The Climate Crisis and Indigenous Resiliency: A Fireside Chat with Patrick Michell, Former Chief of T'eqt''aqtn'mux (Kanaka Bar Band), followed by an Innovation Showcase

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Having experienced multiple and compounding events in the Lytton region, no one is more attune to the real-time climate crisis we are collectively facing, than the people of Kanaka Bar Band, T'eqt''aqtn'mux, or “crossing people ''. Patrick Michell, Former Chief of T'eqt''aqtn'mux (Kanaka Bar Band), has spent his career committed to the re-establishment of foundational sustainability for the air, water, food and shelter and the necessary systems critical to their support. 

Patrick will share his insights around how our dependence on globalization has only perpetuated the disparities between rural and urban communities; why many of the climate mitigation solutions that have been adopted are ineffective; and how the impact on oral traditions must be more deeply understood in any efforts towards Truth & Reconciliation. Patrick has many imminent calls-to-action that he hopes will be key take-aways from this conversation.

Following this Fireside Chat will be an Innovation Showcase featuring climate-focused ventures from entrepreneurship@UBC, and cutting edge faculty research projects. 

• Each presenter will have 5 minutes, followed by an audience Q&A to learn more about these solutions. Presenters will also have booths located around the venue.

This event is brought to you through the generous support of the Discovery Foundation. The Discovery Foundation has provided funding to UBC for the Pathway to Truth and Reconciliation for e@UBC Ventures.

Innovation Showcase

entrepreneurship@UBC Ventures presenting include:

MycoFoundry: Composting toilet enabling event organizers to meet sustainability goals

Orca Water: Orca Water focuses on usage monitoring, leak detection, consumption analysis, and water conservation.

Rohe Homes: Rohe Homes provides a low-cost prefabricated modular small home made easy to deliver

UVX, Inc: UVX helps senior homes automatically and continuously disinfect the air and surfaces, without disrupting operations.

Viridis Research: Viridis is a cleantech startup dedicated to tackling global water challenges by eliminating organic pollutants from water sources.

UBC Researcher being presented include: 

Campus as a Living Lab; showcasing the three projects funded by this year’s Campus Living Lab Grand Challenge competition that will accelerate UBC’s collective response to the climate emergency.

●        Presentation by Angelique Pilon, Director of Urban Innovation Research

RESEAU Centre for Mobilizing Innovation; dedicated to the design and implementation of innovative solutions for drinking water quality and community health in Indigenous and rural communities. 

• Presentation by Prof. Madjid Mohseni

Wildfire House; a partnership with the Yunesit’in community, part of the Tsilhqot’in National Government, focused on culturally-specific housing in the face of persistent wildfire activity.

• Presentation by Prof. John Bass

​Agenda:

2:00 - 2:30 pm Networking 

• Light refreshments and Innovation Booths
• Grounding Ceremony with Elder Roberta Price

2:30 - 3:30 pm Fireside Chat & Q&A

• Welcome remarks: Dr. James Olsen, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Dr. Sean Lumb, Associate Director, entrepreneurship@UBC

3:30 - 4:30 pm Innovation Showcase 

• 5-minute presentations featuring UBC founded-ventures and faculty research projects

4:30 - 5:00 pm Networking

About the Speakers:

Patrick Michell, Former Chief of T'eqt''aqtn'mux (Kanaka Bar Band) has an Administrative Management diploma from Douglas College (New Westminster) and a Bachelor of Law (UBC 1992). After working in Vancouver with DFO and INAC, Patrick articled with the Ministry of Attorney General (Victoria) and Richards Buell Sutton (Vancouver) before being called to the Bar in 1997. Patrick practiced law in the Fraser Canyon until 2005 after which he became a full-time worker for the Kwoiek Hydro Project in the role of Community Liaison. The Liaison role transitioned into the community Economic Development Officer after the Kwoiek hydro project was completed in January 2014. With the retirement of Chief James Frank in the Spring of 2015, Patrick became the Chief of Kanaka Bar in the community’s first election in over 30 years.

In 2018, Patrick was honored with a Clean Energy BC lifetime achievement award for his work in renewable energy project design, permitting, development and operations, and in 2021 was honored with a Clean50 Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on climate change awareness and action. Kanaka’s 2021 Community Resilience Plan was also recognized as the Clean50 2022 Top project. Today, Patrick is focused on his role as the Lytton Rebuilder Director.

Dr. Shannon Bard, Climate Venture Studio Lead, Entrepreneur in Residence with entrepreneurship@UBC, Dr. has over 30 years experience in innovation and R&D in climate solutions, environmental sustainability, ecosystem and human health. Shannon was previously the global Director of Innovation for the environmental consulting firm Hemmera and parent engineering company Ausenco. She developed and launched a global corporate Innovation Program for  more than 2000 staff to undertake industrial-academic-government R&D collaborations to develop and commercialize new science and engineering services to solve sustainability issues. She oversaw a board-directed innovation incubator to invest in applying new technologies and approaches, including AI, automation, data analytics, clean tech, VR/AR and digital solutions, biological and genomic tools to reduce the environmental footprint of industry activities. Formerly, Shannon was a professor of Environmental Science at Dalhousie University, Director of the Marine Ecotoxicology Laboratory and co-winner of the Senate Environmental Award.

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Where is it located? Ponderosa Ballroom, 6445 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC