j wallace skelton, M.Ed, Ph.D

bio coming soon

S. Bear Bergman, BFA, M.Ed

S. Bear Bergman is a writer, educator, consultant, and longtime organizer. Author of eight books, founder of Flamingo Rampant press, and frequent consultant in equity and inclusion to business and government, Bear began his work in equity at the age of 15, as a founding member of the first ever Gay/Straight Alliance and has continued to help organizations and institutions move further along the pathways to justice ever since. Bear’s work in equity education has brought him to sporting arenas, field offices in actual fields, code-named government buildings in unplottable locations, and many unremarkable boardrooms in which great and lasting change has happened. A gifted, award-winning storyteller and performer, Bear excels in crafting educational experiences that are engaging and entertaining far beyond the ordinary.

Tania D. Mitchell, Ed.D

Tania D. Mitchell is an associate professor of higher education in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. Her teaching and research focus on service-learning as a critical pedagogy to explore civic identity, social justice, student learning and development, race and racism, and community practice. Dr. Mitchell is a recipient of the Early Career Research Award and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award from the International Association for Research in Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) as well as the American Fellowship from the American Association of University Women. Her scholarship has been published in numerous books and journals and she is the editor (with Krista Soria) of Educating for Citizenship and Social Justice: Practices for Community Engagement at Research Universities (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) and Civic Engagement and Community Service at Research Universities: Engaging Undergraduates for Social Justice, Social Change, and Responsible Citizenship (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). She is also the editor (with Corey Dolgon and Tim Eatman) of the Cambridge Handbook of Service Learning and Community Engagement (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and (with Stephanie Y. Evans and Andrea D. Domingue) Black Women and Social Justice Education: Legacies and Lessons (SUNY Press, 2019).

Robert Durocher, M.A.,OCT

Robert Durocher (Métis/French, he/him, Queer) is currently an Instructional Leader of Indigenous Education at the Urban Indigenous Education Centre TDSB. Previous to this he worked as a K-12 Learning Coach support schools in developing their school improvement goals and facilitating staff, student and parent/caregiver learning in equity and anti-oppression around race, SES, gender, sexuality, ability, etc.  Robert has also developed and facilitated workshops on including 2SLGBTQI+ identities in classrooms and schools.  He is an arts-based educator and loves flowers and birds.

Sherry Saevil

Sherry Saevil is a Cree woman from Treaty 6 with a degree in Native Studies and Criminology from the University of Saskatchewan. Her passion for Indigenous issues comes through personal experience and professional life. Sherry’s mother and all of her Aunts and Uncles were survivors of the Residential school system.  She is the first generation to raise her children without government interference. 

Sherry has always worked for Indigenous organizations starting with Treaty and Aboriginal Rights Researcher Centre in Manitoba, where she was the lead researcher in archival research. She spent 5 years at Six Nations of the Grand River Territory as the Assistant Director focusing on Land claims, legal, technical and analytical research in preparation for submissions to the Federal Government. 

Sherry is a passionate advocate for Indigenous issues. She has participated in key national events such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, the National Indigenous Educational Roundtable with the National Centre of Truth and Reconciliation, the International Indigenous Education Conference, Treaty discussions with the Treaty Commission of Saskatchewan and the National Centre for Assessment and Evaluation through the University of Illinois.  Sherry is a recipient of the Sesquicentennial award for her contribution in supporting reconciliation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians in Halton, the YMCA Peace Medal nomination and was most recently recognized by the Canadian Federation of University Women for outstanding achievement for 100 Years / 100 Women. 

Amita Handa, Ph.D

Dr. Handa brings a combination of theory, research and practice in the area of equity and anti-racism. She has worked as an equity officer  in the Toronto District School Board for the past 13 years.

She has over 15 years of experience in anti-racism work in various capacities as a researcher, educator and facilitator and her commitment to anti-racism work was fueled by my own experiences growing up as a woman of colour in 1970s Toronto. She has a passionate commitment to social justice and anti-racism work in all its intersectionalities.    
In her role as Student Equity Advisor to TDSB, she has worked in over 70 schools across the system and has responded to a wide range of equity related issues, such as islamophobia, anti-black racism, sexual harassment, religious based-bullying, homophobia and transphobia. She has developed dozens of equity/human rights based trainings for both staff/educators and students, and facilitated hundreds of workshops on controversial and sensitive equity related issues. Through this work, she has witnessed first-hand the challenges and pitfalls of equity work and the desperate need for systemic change to address the needs of marginalized populations. As a skilled facilitator, she has learned to challenge and provoke critical analysis and reflection through courageous conversations in an environment that promotes respectful dialogue.

Previous to this, Dr. Handa worked with Planned Parenthood Toronto in Health Promotion and also HIV-AIDS prevention work. Amita is also an author, of "Of Silk Saris and Mini Skirts" which addresses the experiences of second generation South Asian young women in Canada, through the lens of race and gender. In her "off" time, she is also a cultural producer who produced Besharam, one of Canada's largest Bollywood parties for over a decade. And previously, worked previously for 20 years as a radio host and producer of Masala Mixx and was the music columnist for Toronto Star's Desi Life Magazine. She is committed to issues of social justice and very passionate about her work. 

Abigail Salole, PhD (c)

Abigail Salole is a professor of sociology, and a community-based researcher who brings a passionate yet critical approach to equity and social justice to her classroom and community.  Her mixed race, third culture identity has been formative in her understanding of helping work, social justice movements and critical theory.

As someone who believes academic research should be informed by critical thought and lived experience, Abigail has spent over 15 years in various capacities including Counselor, Social Planner and community organizer. Her community-based research experience includes examinations of the school to prison pipeline, youth volunteers and social inclusion for young people and poor people. Always eager to contribute to community building, she has served as an Assessor for the Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation, a member of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence (Toronto) and an organizer of 81 Reasons, a grassroots campaign against the construction of a youth super jail. 

Abigail’s youth justice research on the criminal justice voluntary sector and penal practices has been published in the Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, the Canadian Review of Social Policy and The British Journal of Criminology. 

A through line for her academic and community work is a strong intersectional approach that honors lived experiences of marginalized voices and enhances access to supportive and affirming programs and services for all with an emphasis on young people, criminalized groups, LGBTQA+ communities and racialized people.

She is the recipient of the Griffith International Postgraduate Scholarship, the Sheridan Creative Research Award and the Teaching Excellence Award, National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD).