Session 1, 1:00pm: The Child Friendly Community Day
Dr. Richard Barwell
Professor Barwell began his career at the University of Bristol, in the United Kingdom, where he earned a PhD in education. In 2006, he joined the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa and is currently a full professor and Dean. He has served on a number of committees and held several positions within the Faculty, including Director of Graduate Studies (Anglophone Sector) from 2012 to 2016.
His research focuses on mathematics education, with particular interest in the role of language in teaching and learning mathematics. This interest first arose prior to his university career, when he taught mathematics in the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Recently, he has studied how math education can address climate change.
June Girvan
“Our future depends on our friendship to the earth and children”
My work is about the past we have collectively inherited, the present we own, our collective covenant to the future: Ottawa experienced as a safe, child friendly community for all children, honouring the sacred in all children and the intent of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
My own work in this began with a covenant and a bassinette. It expanded into the education system and community. In retirement from the Ministry of Education I started J’Nikira Dinqinesh Education Centre (Every Chid is Sacred) named for my children and honouring all children, with the salutation, “Ubuntu”
I was born, raised, and married in Jamaica. My maternal DNA is African. Paternally, it is European and Jewish, dating back to the Middle Passage, inter-generation plantation slavery, rebellions, emancipation, colonization, quest for human rights and self determination. My mind is schooled by this.
I came into adulthood and motherhood in Canada. Influential persons in the community did not have the savoir faire to honour my children whose ancestry is in slavery and the holocaust. I had to figure out how to manage the challenges to my children’s chance to self-actualize.
Kyrstin Dumont
Kyrstin is a passionate and caring young woman and proud band member of the Algonquins of Kitigan Zibi. She is an awardee for her dedication to the indigenous community, she has taken part in sacred walks to protect the water, spoken on Parliament Hill about climate justice and human rights, created cultural art tutorials during covid for indigenous youth to stay connected to their cultures as well as continuously raised money for the moose moratorium and low income families during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has worked with schools, organizations and churches such as OCDSB, CAS, the child welfare league, UNICEF Canada, the Kitchissippi church as well as the Woodroffe church and while she is currently completing her high school education at Urban Aboriginal she works as a strong role model for other students who have fallen through the cracks of mainstream colonial education systems. She is an advocate, an aspiring future social worker, and a mentor to her family and community alike.
Sylvia Smith
Sylvia is an educator with over three decades of classroom experience and 25 of them being in the Alternate High School Program within the OCDSB. In recognition of her educational approach focussing on social justice, she was awarded a Governor General’s Award for Teaching Excellence in History in 2011. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada inducted Sylvia as an Honorary Witness for her contribution to reconciliation efforts through Project of Heart, an Indian Residential School commemoration project. Sylvia makes her home in Ottawa, on unceded, unsurrendered Algonquin territory. She lives with her partner, two adult daughters, and one very special grandson.