Jane Goodall Institute Collaboration

For more information on the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada, please visit www.janegoodall.ca, call 416-978-3711 or email: info@janegoodall.ca.

OCTOBER 2011 UPDATE

By Sara Hsiao

It has been a busy year at the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada (JGI), with events across the country, Roots & Shoots youth making an impact all around the world, and our partnership with the Centre for Environment continuing to strengthen.
      Dr. Jane Goodall made stops in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax this past year, with sold-out lectures, significant media coverage and several "first-ever" experiences. In October 2010, Dr. Goodall worked on her first guest-editing role with the Calgary Herald, and in April 2011 she made her first public appearance on Canada's East Coast, in Halifax. Also in April, JGI and the Centre for Environment (CFE) jointly presented the inaugural Jane Goodall Scholarship to Claire‐Helene Heese‐Boutin, an honours B.A. student at U of T majoring in Caribbean Studies and Environmental Studies. Claire-Helene was awarded the scholarship by CFE Interim Director Professor Donald Jackson and was personally recognized by Dr. Goodall at the ceremony for her contributions to conservation and development (see May 2011 news article).
      CFE played a key role in our spring events this past year. On the same evening as the scholarship presentation, an environment and development seminar was held, with U of T alumna Dr. Zinta Zommers, of the Wildlife Conservation Research Group at University of Oxford, delivering the keynote (see April 2011 news article).  After the lecture, Dr. Goodall joined Dr. Zommers on stage for discussions with the audience, bringing two generations of chimp researchers together to reflect on recent controversies and perspectives in conservation research.
      Roots & Shoots, JGI's global youth action program, celebrated the work of its dedicated members and champions at an event at U of T in April 2011. This year, our Roots & Shoots members have taken local action to benefit the people, animals, and environment all across Canada. They have also been involved in global efforts to make positive change, including working with communities in Uganda and serving as delegates to the COP10 Convention on Biological Diversity in Japan. 
      Our connection to the University is strengthening each year, with students and faculty getting involved with many of our programs. This year we recruited Dr. Viviane Labrie, Ph.D. alumna in Medical Sciences at U of T, to participate in our Teacher Workshop program in Uganda in July 2011. Viviane has fundraised a significant amount for our Africa programs and will help to facilitate environmental education workshops for Ugandan teachers. We have also recruited two work study students from the Centre for Environment, Jordana Cimicata (Hons B.Sc., Biology and Environment & Science) and Vivian Kim (Hons B.A., East Asian Studies and Environmental Ethics), who will be joining the team during the summer and fall semesters respectively.
     JGI continues to be actively involved with University initiatives, large and small. Our office, located in the Earth Sciences building, is participating in the Green Ambassadors program through the U of T Sustainability Office, doing our part to lower our footprint.  For the third year in a row, JGI has delivered a guest lecture for Anthropology students at the U of T Mississauga campus. This year, Program Coordinator Sara Hsiao presented a lecture on JGI's conservation and development work in Africa, through our model of community-centred conservation. We were also excited to invite JGI Uganda Field Program Manager Peter Appell to Toronto in September 2011, to take part in the CFE Environment Seminar Series to engage the U of T and Toronto community.  Finally, discussions are ongoing with U of T faculty to engage in conservation research with students from CFE and Faculty of Forestry's Master of Forest Conservation program. This is an area that JGI is excited to initiate, especially at our field site in Uganda, where we are currently undertaking a CIDA-funded, community-centred conservation project.
     We look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead and another great year with the Centre for Environment and U of T.

Sara Hsiao is JGI's Program Coordinator for Roots & Shoots and Africa Programs.