Niigaan Sinclair
Niigaan Sinclair is Anishinaabe (St. Peter’s/Little Peguis) and a professor at the University of Manitoba, where he holds the Faculty of Arts Professorship in Indigenous Knowledge and Aesthetics in the Department of Indigenous Studies. Niigaan is also an award-winning writer, editor and activist who was recently named to the “Power List” by Maclean’s magazine as one of the most influential individuals in Canada. In 2018, he won Canadian columnist of the year at the National Newspaper Awards for his bi-weekly columns in The Winnipeg Free Press and is a featured member of the Friday "Power Panel" on CBC's Power & Politics. A former secondary school teacher, he won the 2019 Peace Educator of the Year from the Peace and Justice Studies Association based at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
Rasmus Astrup
Rasmus Astrup is Partner and Design Principal at renowned Danish landscape studio SLA, where he spearheads the studio’s largest and most complex international projects. Rasmus is a leading specialist in city nature, sustainable landscape architecture, and integrated climate adaptation and has led SLA’s most forward-looking and award-winning projects all over the world. His perpetual emphasis on creating the best possible places for life – all life – is continuously manifested through inspiring and green urban spaces with living ecosystems that help create robust cities, better living environments for humans as well as biodiversity, and a higher quality of life. Rasmus is the recipient of several major international honors, amongst them the 2021 World Landscape of the Year Award.
Kofi Boone, FASLA
Kofi Boone, FASLA is a Joseph D. Moore Distinguished Professor and University Faculty Scholar at NC State University. Kofi is a Detroit native and a graduate of the University of Michigan. His work is in the overlap between landscape architecture and environmental justice with specializations in democratic design and interpreting cultural landscapes. He leads the Just Communities Lab; a community collaborative approach to providing design and planning technical support to address environmental justice and social equity challenges. He is the winner of student and professional ASLA awards including the Jot D. Carpenter Teaching Medal. He is a Past President of the Landscape Architecture Foundation, an advisor to Partnership for Southern Equity-Just Communities. and serves on the board of the Land Loss Prevention Project. Along with M. Elen Deming, Kofi is co-editor of Empty Pedestals: Countering Confederate Narratives Through Public Design, forthcoming from LSU Press.
Paul Huschilt
Paul Huschilt is an award winning speaker who is passionate about helping people be mentally healthy during stressful times. He inspires people to be the best that they can be. From the big stage or from the small screen of any device, he delivers important messages in fun and funny ways.
Paul holds degrees in Management and Acting, a diploma in Career Counselling, training in Adult Education, and has sung with the Canadian Opera Company. This varied background and more than 20 years of professional speaking experience give Paul a one-of-a-kind style. He has the ability to promote learning and excite audiences whether together in a conference centre or apart in their dining room table home offices. Paul is an inductee into the Canadian Speaking Hall of Fame.