Stephen Svenson

Background

About Stephen Svenson

I am a settler academic and community organizer on the Haldimand Tract in Kitchener-Waterloo active on issues of climate change, food justice, and reconciliation. I grew up the traditional territory of the Splatsin (Spla-jeen) people in the North Okanagan where as a child I was raised fishing, farming, and foraging gaining a deep appreciation for the land and the people that have cared for the land. I split my teaching and research duties between Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College where I teach, among other subjects, sociology of education, sociology of youth, environmental sociology and research methods at Wilfrid Laurier University and Environmental Science at Conestoga College. An intellectual project that occupies some of my time is working on the impossible problem of decolonizing education in an institutional setting some of which I take up in my recent chapter "The Imaginary of Okanagan Redneck Whiteness in the 2021 book,"White Space: Race, Privilege, and Cultural Economies of the Okanagan Valley" from UBC Press. I have also written, directed and produced two documentary films, Disaster Tours and Contract Faculty: Injustice in the University, the latter with colleague Dr. Garry Potter. Students in my courses sometimes join me on research trips and solidarity journeys to Louisiana where Indigenous and non-Indigenous students and professors/knowledge keepers journey together to work with folks affected by environmental racism. The solidarity journey explores a way of doing reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island that emphasizes the sharing and exchange of Indigenous knowledge, the presence and emphasis on the wisdom of elders and knowledge keepers, and the importance of transmitting this knowledge to youth. The forum through which this reconciliation happens is journeying together, as we collectively explore cases of environmental racism against Black, Indigenous and racialized folks on Turtle Island. In addition to my teaching and research, I have developed GIS applications for the analysis of Statistics Canada’s Canadian Travel Survey and have consulted for the Mi’gmawei Mawiomi Secretariat in the production of maps and software for depicting cultural histories. I often lend my energies and expertise to assist organizations in accessing funding and implementing local projects that enhance the health of the local community such as community gardens and community sports programs. Most recently I have been active in supporting the Land Back movement.