Guest Speakers
True North Aid
Guest Speaker Amanda Stolk
Amanda Stolk is the Outreach Manager for True North Aid which supports northern and remote Indigenous communities with practical humanitarian support. She is a graduate of the Honors Bachelor of Behavioural Psychology Program and has been working for True North Aid for almost 4 years.
Amanda has been living in Kingston as a guest on the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe Peoples for the past 8 years with her partner, Michael.
She is a Friend of Rotary for RC Cataraqui Kingston. She is a fan of Ru Paul's Drag Race, Star Wars and the outdoors.
In this video, Amanda talks about True North Aid, and what is being done through the community support program.
Challenges In Education For Indigenous People
Guest Speaker Mary Ann Lyons
We would like to introduce you to Mary Ann Lyons, born and raised in Kingston, Ontario. Her father gives her Indigenous roots; through his mother, they are Haudenosaunee (Mohawk) and through his father, they are Metis. Her mother's ancestry is Scottish, with some ancestors being UEL.
Mary Ann worked as a teacher for the Limestone School Board for 30 years and then at St. Lawrence College, where she was the Coordinator of Indigenous Services for ten years and part-time faculty. She took the pandemic year off to look after her grandchildren and oversee their online learning. Mary Ann will be returning to St. Lawrence in the fall, where she will be teaching two classes of a course on the history of Indigenous people in the country we now call Canada and also working in a program called Community Integration through College Education. Mary Ann sits on the Board of Directors of Tipi Moza (Indigenous Housing).
She and her husband have five grown children and five grandchildren.