ÉVÉNEMENTS
Visionaries Gathering a commencé comme un étudiant bénévole organisé une convergence interactive. Vous pourrez bientôt voir la programmation, les présentateurs et les artistes des événements précédents.
Aucun événement à venir pour le moment
JANUARY 2020

Senaqwila Wyss
Senaqwila Wyss is Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), Tsimshian, Sto:lo, Hawaiian and Swiss. She holds a Bachelors of the Arts Degree in the faculty of Communications, Arts and Technology, minor in First Nations Studies. She also holds a First Nations Languages Proficiency Certificate in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Sníchim. She is raising her 3 year old daughter to be a first language speaker, which has not been done in her family four generations after colonial impacts. She practices ethnobotany with traditionally trained mom Cease Wyss with indigenous plant medicines. She was raised learning these ancestral teachings and uses plants as teas, medicines, tinctures and ceremony.

Estiqw - Jaz Whitford
Jaz Whitford is a Secwepemc two spirit anti-professional, interdisciplinary artist with a focus on decolonization and Indigenous autonomy. They use their craft as a tool to explore land sovereignty, socio political issues, and culture.

Tereza Čajková
The Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective (decolonialfutures.net) serves as a
working space where researchers, artists, educators, students, social justice and environmental activists and ancestral/Indigenous knowledge keepers collaborate to create and engage research, artistic, pedagogical and visual mapping experiments in education. The work of the collective brings together concerns related to racism, colonialism, unsustainability, biodiversity loss, climate change, economic instability, mental health crises, and intensifications of social and ecological violence. GTDF proposes analyses and pedagogies that aim to enable healthier possibilities of (co)existence that are viable, but are unthinkable/unimaginable within our dominant cognitive, affective and relational modern- colonial frames of reference.
Tereza Čajková is currently working toward her PhD at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Educational Studies. Since 2011 she has been working for CSOs in the field of education for sustainable development, delivering workshops in the EU countries focusing on questions related to what kind of learning and skills we need to face unprecedented global challenges together. For the last two years, she has been designing a Transformative Learning Journey, a cycle of training inviting educators to “dig deeper” (to connect dots in one´s analyses of the bigger picture) and to “relate wider” (to expand one´s
capacity for accountable response-ability). She is part of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial
Futures collective.
working space where researchers, artists, educators, students, social justice and environmental activists and ancestral/Indigenous knowledge keepers collaborate to create and engage research, artistic, pedagogical and visual mapping experiments in education. The work of the collective brings together concerns related to racism, colonialism, unsustainability, biodiversity loss, climate change, economic instability, mental health crises, and intensifications of social and ecological violence. GTDF proposes analyses and pedagogies that aim to enable healthier possibilities of (co)existence that are viable, but are unthinkable/unimaginable within our dominant cognitive, affective and relational modern- colonial frames of reference.
Tereza Čajková is currently working toward her PhD at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Educational Studies. Since 2011 she has been working for CSOs in the field of education for sustainable development, delivering workshops in the EU countries focusing on questions related to what kind of learning and skills we need to face unprecedented global challenges together. For the last two years, she has been designing a Transformative Learning Journey, a cycle of training inviting educators to “dig deeper” (to connect dots in one´s analyses of the bigger picture) and to “relate wider” (to expand one´s
capacity for accountable response-ability). She is part of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial
Futures collective.

Resurfacing History Project
Resurfacing History: Land and Lives in Mount Pleasant
An Indigenous-led project focused on developing a community process for promoting understanding of the land around us and in our communities. We work together to build capacity for Indigenous communities to learn and practice land-based teachings.
All community members, including non-Indigenous neighbours, are welcome to join in. Together we explore knowledge to integrate actionable steps that can influence change in the social ecosystems and infrastructure to work for urban Indigenous families and community members.
An Indigenous-led project focused on developing a community process for promoting understanding of the land around us and in our communities. We work together to build capacity for Indigenous communities to learn and practice land-based teachings.
All community members, including non-Indigenous neighbours, are welcome to join in. Together we explore knowledge to integrate actionable steps that can influence change in the social ecosystems and infrastructure to work for urban Indigenous families and community members.

Robyn Young
At 30 years Young Robyn is a mother of 1, stepmother of 1, trained ancestral diviner, Bwiti initiate/provider of Iboga and co-founder of IbogaSoul Shamanic Healing. In 2018 her retreat company was the focus of an award winning documentary called 'Dosed' which follows the struggles of a young female Vancouverite in the depths of drug addiction and suicidal ideations. Robyn's work resides in building community by reminding everyone of their innate potential, purpose and the myriad of support in both the physical and spiritual worlds that surround us all.
She is a wayshower to those that are ready and willing to seek truth in their lives.
She is a wayshower to those that are ready and willing to seek truth in their lives.

Contact Dance Workshop with Olivia Shaffer
This workshop is intended for people new to Contact Improvisation (CI), but more experienced dancers are also welcome to join. Together we will have fun exploring foundational concepts in CI such as rolling point of contact, sloughing (sliding), meeting pressure (continuity of connection), weight sharing, and the tracking of weight flow. We will also investigate functional movement patterning to assist us with dancing in and out of the floor with ease and efficiency.
Olivia takes a sincere approach to safety and communication; she strives to facilitate fun, invigorating, and physically empathetic dancing. You are welcome to come and participate as much or as little as you feel comfortable.
No need to bring a partner. Wear comfortable clothing - long sleeves & knee pads are recommended.
Teaching Bio:
Olivia has trained daily in CI since 2011 as a dedicated student of Peter Bingham, and has been performing with his company EDAM Dance since 2014. She has also trained extensively with Helen Walkley, as well as with international CI teachers Alicia Grayson, Karen Nelson, Sara Shelton Mann, Andrew Harwood, Ray Chung, Chris Aiken, Frey Faust, Leilani Weis, John Faichney, Martin Keogh, and Angelika Doniy. Olivia has taught CI at EDAM for two years and has taught at Douglas College, Simon Fraser University, Modus Operandi, Polymer Dance, Leviathan Studios, as well as internationally in Berkeley, California, and at the University of the Philippines in Manila.
Olivia takes a sincere approach to safety and communication; she strives to facilitate fun, invigorating, and physically empathetic dancing. You are welcome to come and participate as much or as little as you feel comfortable.
No need to bring a partner. Wear comfortable clothing - long sleeves & knee pads are recommended.
Teaching Bio:
Olivia has trained daily in CI since 2011 as a dedicated student of Peter Bingham, and has been performing with his company EDAM Dance since 2014. She has also trained extensively with Helen Walkley, as well as with international CI teachers Alicia Grayson, Karen Nelson, Sara Shelton Mann, Andrew Harwood, Ray Chung, Chris Aiken, Frey Faust, Leilani Weis, John Faichney, Martin Keogh, and Angelika Doniy. Olivia has taught CI at EDAM for two years and has taught at Douglas College, Simon Fraser University, Modus Operandi, Polymer Dance, Leviathan Studios, as well as internationally in Berkeley, California, and at the University of the Philippines in Manila.

Lidija Martinović Rekert
I am born in Montenegro, small tribal country leading into Adriatic see. My family tribe is Baice.
I immigrated to Canada in a midst of a civil war (ex Yugoslavia) with a three year old daughter in 1995, after graduating in Special Education and receiving extensive training in Counselling Psychology and Gestalt Therapy.
In 2001 became a full-time Yoga & Meditation teacher and Councellor in private practice.
As a part of my private practice, and work ethics of non-exclusion, I am willing and capable of meeting one in any states of consciousness, including those after their intake of psychedelic, entheogen or other psychoactive substances, with an intention of reducing harm and creating conditions for psychosomatic and spiritual integration and embodiment.
Besides Yoga, Bodywork and Counselling, I hold ceremonial space for: legal Wedding ceremonies, Rights of Passage (crossing into age, name and gender), and ceremonies related to Death and Dying processes. The last includes deaths in a family, death of animal friends, or preparation for our own departing, often crowned by the long lost wake ceremony.
As a Yoga teacher trainer, I offer on-going somatic education and training for individuals and professionals who seek to integrate body and mind as a whole.
Im a member of the Vancouver Mindfulness Network, a network of professionals dedicated to practicing and applying mindfulness in all sectors of society.
I immigrated to Canada in a midst of a civil war (ex Yugoslavia) with a three year old daughter in 1995, after graduating in Special Education and receiving extensive training in Counselling Psychology and Gestalt Therapy.
In 2001 became a full-time Yoga & Meditation teacher and Councellor in private practice.
As a part of my private practice, and work ethics of non-exclusion, I am willing and capable of meeting one in any states of consciousness, including those after their intake of psychedelic, entheogen or other psychoactive substances, with an intention of reducing harm and creating conditions for psychosomatic and spiritual integration and embodiment.
Besides Yoga, Bodywork and Counselling, I hold ceremonial space for: legal Wedding ceremonies, Rights of Passage (crossing into age, name and gender), and ceremonies related to Death and Dying processes. The last includes deaths in a family, death of animal friends, or preparation for our own departing, often crowned by the long lost wake ceremony.
As a Yoga teacher trainer, I offer on-going somatic education and training for individuals and professionals who seek to integrate body and mind as a whole.
Im a member of the Vancouver Mindfulness Network, a network of professionals dedicated to practicing and applying mindfulness in all sectors of society.

JANUARY 2019

Jolene Andrew
Jolene Andrew is an Aboriginal Community Developer working in the Aboriginal Community in
Vancouver for over 15 years. She specializes in building resilient communities with indigenizing
strategies, cultural practices/approaches to health and land based healing, education, and
justice sectors of community and through practicing participatory decision making in Aboriginal
community engagement, outreach, programs, project creations, development, and strategic
planning “The project “Resurfacing History: Land and Lives in Mount Pleasant” focuses on
developing a community process for promoting understanding between cultural value systems,
and to build capacity for Aboriginal people to be part of a mechanism that preserves culture,
explores knowledge and integrates actionable steps that can make social ecosystems and
infrastructure work for the urban Aboriginal families and community members.”
Vancouver for over 15 years. She specializes in building resilient communities with indigenizing
strategies, cultural practices/approaches to health and land based healing, education, and
justice sectors of community and through practicing participatory decision making in Aboriginal
community engagement, outreach, programs, project creations, development, and strategic
planning “The project “Resurfacing History: Land and Lives in Mount Pleasant” focuses on
developing a community process for promoting understanding between cultural value systems,
and to build capacity for Aboriginal people to be part of a mechanism that preserves culture,
explores knowledge and integrates actionable steps that can make social ecosystems and
infrastructure work for the urban Aboriginal families and community members.”

T’uy’t’tanat - Cease Wyss
T'uy't'tanat - Cease Wyss Skwxwu7mesh/Sto:Lo/Irish Metis/Hawaiian/Swiss T'uy't'tanat - Cease is
an interdisciplinary artist who works with new media, performance and interdisciplinary arts and
is a community engaged and public artist. Her works range over 25 years and have always
focussed on sustainability, Coast Salish Cultural elements and have included themes of
ethnobotany and digital media technology. Cease is an emerging weaver in textiles, her art
practice is focussed in Coast Salish weaving techniques with wool and cedar. She is exploring
how Polynesian weaving and interactive art and design can be brought together in her
interdisciplinary art practice. She helped to build and has stewarded an indigenous community
garden and food forest in the village of Xemelchts’n [also known as the Capilano Reserve in
North Vancouver BC]: the Harmony Garden. Recent publications include an app that recently
launched through the new Polygon Gallery entitled "Cultural Crossings" between her community
and the non-indigenous communities that co-exist in North & West Vancouver; an herbaria
publication through the Contemporary Art Gallery, with grade 7 students, focussing on
indigenous plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast; a short story [on her early life with her family
looking at fish camp stories] through a publication on food sustenance with local writers and a
collaborative project commissioned by grunt gallery with German artist, Hans Winkler. Cease
researched and wrote an essay that shows the Hawaiian migrations starting in the early 1700's
through to the early 20th century by focussing on her family history and herstory, based in her
mother's lifelong research. This compliments Winkler's research on the island of Kaho'olawe,
whose shared stories of migration and cultural interruption intersect. Her next writing project is a
collaboration with her mother, Kultsia- Barbara Wyss, and is a more in-depth research project
about Hawaiian migrations to the Pacific Northwest Coast, focussing on Kanakas and the
Nahanee family. Cease is a member of the Aboriginal Writers Collective West Coast, as well as
the Ya-Howt Indigenous Women’s Permaculture Cohort and lives in East Vancouver. She is a
beekeeper and community engaged gardener, decolonizing through indigenous women and
permaculture.
an interdisciplinary artist who works with new media, performance and interdisciplinary arts and
is a community engaged and public artist. Her works range over 25 years and have always
focussed on sustainability, Coast Salish Cultural elements and have included themes of
ethnobotany and digital media technology. Cease is an emerging weaver in textiles, her art
practice is focussed in Coast Salish weaving techniques with wool and cedar. She is exploring
how Polynesian weaving and interactive art and design can be brought together in her
interdisciplinary art practice. She helped to build and has stewarded an indigenous community
garden and food forest in the village of Xemelchts’n [also known as the Capilano Reserve in
North Vancouver BC]: the Harmony Garden. Recent publications include an app that recently
launched through the new Polygon Gallery entitled "Cultural Crossings" between her community
and the non-indigenous communities that co-exist in North & West Vancouver; an herbaria
publication through the Contemporary Art Gallery, with grade 7 students, focussing on
indigenous plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast; a short story [on her early life with her family
looking at fish camp stories] through a publication on food sustenance with local writers and a
collaborative project commissioned by grunt gallery with German artist, Hans Winkler. Cease
researched and wrote an essay that shows the Hawaiian migrations starting in the early 1700's
through to the early 20th century by focussing on her family history and herstory, based in her
mother's lifelong research. This compliments Winkler's research on the island of Kaho'olawe,
whose shared stories of migration and cultural interruption intersect. Her next writing project is a
collaboration with her mother, Kultsia- Barbara Wyss, and is a more in-depth research project
about Hawaiian migrations to the Pacific Northwest Coast, focussing on Kanakas and the
Nahanee family. Cease is a member of the Aboriginal Writers Collective West Coast, as well as
the Ya-Howt Indigenous Women’s Permaculture Cohort and lives in East Vancouver. She is a
beekeeper and community engaged gardener, decolonizing through indigenous women and
permaculture.

Margo Running
Margo Running, originally from San Francisco, raised playing in the neighbouring hills until dark
told her it was time to come home to dinner. Her family went camping in the Sierras every
summer and her parents were photographers of nature. Margo was a Waldorf School teacher
for several years and owned her own Waldorf philosophy inspired childcare called Lifeways in
North Vanouver for which she worked as the director. She has life-long experience in an
educational revolution of the Waldorf Education in which children are not formed to be part of a
producer/consumer scheme but mostly as a full being. You can see the website at
https://lifewayschildcaresociety.wordpress.com/ She is a dreamer, a lover of fire, earth, air and
waters. She is an European American and Settler Canadian, with my relations coming some
150 years ago, so no cultural memories carried on. Her teachers have been the earth, my family
and what each moment brings. Children bring us the gift of here and now, while we keep trying
to teach them about tomorrow and yesterday. They will learn soon enough. Our past has had
struggles, especially childhood memories that have set up our habits. How to create anew so
the children today can be honored for who they are. How many adults were really there for you
when you were young? Hopefully a few. The work is to meet each other without judgment or
expectations and honor that beauty before us. First, we may need to access that child within
and tell her/him what we needed to hear long ago. You are loved.
told her it was time to come home to dinner. Her family went camping in the Sierras every
summer and her parents were photographers of nature. Margo was a Waldorf School teacher
for several years and owned her own Waldorf philosophy inspired childcare called Lifeways in
North Vanouver for which she worked as the director. She has life-long experience in an
educational revolution of the Waldorf Education in which children are not formed to be part of a
producer/consumer scheme but mostly as a full being. You can see the website at
https://lifewayschildcaresociety.wordpress.com/ She is a dreamer, a lover of fire, earth, air and
waters. She is an European American and Settler Canadian, with my relations coming some
150 years ago, so no cultural memories carried on. Her teachers have been the earth, my family
and what each moment brings. Children bring us the gift of here and now, while we keep trying
to teach them about tomorrow and yesterday. They will learn soon enough. Our past has had
struggles, especially childhood memories that have set up our habits. How to create anew so
the children today can be honored for who they are. How many adults were really there for you
when you were young? Hopefully a few. The work is to meet each other without judgment or
expectations and honor that beauty before us. First, we may need to access that child within
and tell her/him what we needed to hear long ago. You are loved.

Darrell Bob and Theresa Fenton-Bob
From a long line of ancestors Darrell and Theresa are born from the united nations known as
St’at’imc Nation in LIllooet, BC; Darrel is part of a membership called Xaxli’p (Fountain) and
Theresa’s the Ts’kwayl’awx (Pavilion). This union has offered their land to host and coordinate 8
gatherings for the International Indigenous Leadership Gathering which held speakers and
ceremony over a 4 day period every year in June. Through the years other sacred and almost
forgotten ceremonies have been held on this land where the Xaxli’p people have walked long
before the settlers arrived in the 1800’s. In a vision many years ago, Darrel had announced that
he would one day become Chief for his people. Years later, he has sat as Chief for 2 terms and
council for one term. These respected Elders have sat with their Grandmothers and
Grandfathers before them learning the traditional way of life; since then has been slowly
becoming a teaching that is sought out by many to recreate themselves asking the question of
‘who am I’. When one ponder this questions in its existence can bring many offerings that is
derived from the mind but truly are you just Man, are you Earth? Or are you Spirit? What if this
question is not meant to be answered?
St’at’imc Nation in LIllooet, BC; Darrel is part of a membership called Xaxli’p (Fountain) and
Theresa’s the Ts’kwayl’awx (Pavilion). This union has offered their land to host and coordinate 8
gatherings for the International Indigenous Leadership Gathering which held speakers and
ceremony over a 4 day period every year in June. Through the years other sacred and almost
forgotten ceremonies have been held on this land where the Xaxli’p people have walked long
before the settlers arrived in the 1800’s. In a vision many years ago, Darrel had announced that
he would one day become Chief for his people. Years later, he has sat as Chief for 2 terms and
council for one term. These respected Elders have sat with their Grandmothers and
Grandfathers before them learning the traditional way of life; since then has been slowly
becoming a teaching that is sought out by many to recreate themselves asking the question of
‘who am I’. When one ponder this questions in its existence can bring many offerings that is
derived from the mind but truly are you just Man, are you Earth? Or are you Spirit? What if this
question is not meant to be answered?

Mya Wollf
Mya Wollf, traditionally Pàirteach Mòirneas, is an initiated traditional healer, spirit worker and
Animist minister with the northern european tradition of Sagh’ic Tire Dhream. She is also a
herbalist, priestess, ceremonialist, sacred singer and Outreach worker residing in Vancouver,
BC, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded Indigenous territories of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm
(Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. Here
she walks as light of a path as she can as a white settler, and participates as deeply as she can
in decolonization and anti-colonial work through the reclamation and sharing of ancestral
knowledge and traditional forms of healing. She also works tirelessly in service to her LGBTQIA
community to provide safe, accessible spaces for all genders and identities to find healing. She
is an active supporter of anti-oppression work, including Indigenous resistance against resource
extraction, anti-racist campaigns, wildlife conservation, forest/jungle preservation, migrant and
workers rights and animal liberation.
Animist minister with the northern european tradition of Sagh’ic Tire Dhream. She is also a
herbalist, priestess, ceremonialist, sacred singer and Outreach worker residing in Vancouver,
BC, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded Indigenous territories of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm
(Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. Here
she walks as light of a path as she can as a white settler, and participates as deeply as she can
in decolonization and anti-colonial work through the reclamation and sharing of ancestral
knowledge and traditional forms of healing. She also works tirelessly in service to her LGBTQIA
community to provide safe, accessible spaces for all genders and identities to find healing. She
is an active supporter of anti-oppression work, including Indigenous resistance against resource
extraction, anti-racist campaigns, wildlife conservation, forest/jungle preservation, migrant and
workers rights and animal liberation.

Trevor MIllar
Trevor Millar is a social-entrepreneur and owner of Liberty Root Therapy Ltd., serving those
called to experience the healing properties of African plant medicine Tabernanthe Iboga and its
derivatives. Iboga is a powerful psychedelic, an exceptional addiction interrupter, and recent
discoveries show it's also got potential for treating Parkinson's Disease and other neurological
disorders. Trevor currently serves as Board Chair for MAPS Canada and is a former Executive
Director of the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance.
called to experience the healing properties of African plant medicine Tabernanthe Iboga and its
derivatives. Iboga is a powerful psychedelic, an exceptional addiction interrupter, and recent
discoveries show it's also got potential for treating Parkinson's Disease and other neurological
disorders. Trevor currently serves as Board Chair for MAPS Canada and is a former Executive
Director of the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance.

Yaima
YAIMA is a Cascadian Elemental & Alchemical Electronic Music Duo based in Seattle WA.
2014-present Creating a deeply captivating and finely tuned container for their audiences-
YAIMA (Mas Higasa and Pepper Proud) allow the listener the opportunity to Journey through
Sonic Soundscapes traversing sensually stimulating and heart centered compositions deeply
inspiring each listener to return to their truth. Their music is reminiscent of well known music
groups such as Purity Ring, Massive Attack, Bjork, Portishead, Wildlight, Emancipator and
Lulacruza. YAIMA’s music is interwoven with intention and acknowledgment for the elementals.
As the earth transmutes through fire, the winds move the water, the water falls and replenishes
the earth- the cycles of gratitude and reciprocity is what weaves these harmonies and deeply
pulsing rhythms into a unique and balanced sensational journey. The name YAIMA emerges
from two sources one from the Mapudungun language meaning "that which water runs through”
and the other from the gorgeous Island District of Okinawa Japan- Over the last 4 years
YAIMA’s music has been touching people all over the earth, from the US, Canada, UK, France,
Spain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Australia, New Zeland, Israel, Malaysia, South &
Central America, Guatemala, South East Asia and Russia.
2014-present Creating a deeply captivating and finely tuned container for their audiences-
YAIMA (Mas Higasa and Pepper Proud) allow the listener the opportunity to Journey through
Sonic Soundscapes traversing sensually stimulating and heart centered compositions deeply
inspiring each listener to return to their truth. Their music is reminiscent of well known music
groups such as Purity Ring, Massive Attack, Bjork, Portishead, Wildlight, Emancipator and
Lulacruza. YAIMA’s music is interwoven with intention and acknowledgment for the elementals.
As the earth transmutes through fire, the winds move the water, the water falls and replenishes
the earth- the cycles of gratitude and reciprocity is what weaves these harmonies and deeply
pulsing rhythms into a unique and balanced sensational journey. The name YAIMA emerges
from two sources one from the Mapudungun language meaning "that which water runs through”
and the other from the gorgeous Island District of Okinawa Japan- Over the last 4 years
YAIMA’s music has been touching people all over the earth, from the US, Canada, UK, France,
Spain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Australia, New Zeland, Israel, Malaysia, South &
Central America, Guatemala, South East Asia and Russia.

GENEROUSLY FUNDED BY


QUEST UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION

