Rebeccah Kennedy
I am pursuing a Master of Arts in Geography with a Specialization in Climate Change at Carleton University under the supervision of Dr. Nguyen. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education and Bachelor of Education in 2018 I attended a Natural Resource Studies Semester through the Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society and the University of British Columbia in 2019. I taught in schools across Ontario and worked on a flower farm and ski resort before deciding to pursue my masters. I feel very fortunate to have found a program where I can combine my love of nature with my passion for social and ecological justice. As a settler on this land, I am passionate about working to build better relationships with Indigenous Nations that have lived here for time immemorial and working together to find solutions to climate change.
My research is part of the Transformative Risk Assessment and Forest Resilience Using Genomic Tools for the Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak project taking place in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. I am very grateful to Sucker Creek First Nation and the Métis Nation of Alberta who have worked with us as collaborators throughout this project. I am working to understand knowledge exchange processes within forestry decision-making between Indigenous and non-Indigenous actors. I am seeking to understand the barriers Indigenous communities face in forest stewardship and working to find new and innovative solutions in and out of existing structures to improve knowledge exchange.