Panel discussion with Canadian Senators on environmental leadership and solutions
About this event
Join us for a FREE panel discussion with Canadian Senators examining climate leadership within the Senate.
For those looking to Parliament for action on climate and other environmental priorities, the Senate is often overlooked. But Senators have more tools at their disposal to influence environmental progress in Canada than most people realize. A new Senators for Climate Solutions group has brought together Senators wanting to lead on this issue.
And Senators are taking a more active legislative role, including current bills proposing the first major changes to Canada’s Environmental Protection Act in more than 20 years (S-5) and measures to align Canada’s financial systems and flows with our climate commitments (S-243). It’s a good time to take a deeper look at the role of the Senate and how members of the Upper Chamber can help deliver environmental solutions.
-
Join us over Zoom from 1:00 pm-2:00 pm EDT on June 15th in conversation with :
Senator Mary Coyle - Independent - Nova Scotia
Senator Stan Kutcher - Independent - Nova Scotia
Senator Rosa Galvez - Independent - Bedford, Quebec
The Honourable Grant Mitchell (Former Senator) - Independent - Alberta
Moderated by Coco Wang, GreenPAC Intern to the Senate.
Live French translation will be provided on Zoom.
This event is brought to you by GreenPAC, a non-partisan, non-profit focused on building environmental leadership in politics, across parties.
Panelist Bios
Moderator: Coco Wang
Coco Wang grew up in a coal-mining community in northern China and immigrated to Canada 10 years ago where she settled in London, Ontario. After earning a Bachelors in Environmental Sciences from McGill University in Montreal, she joined Green Corps as a campaign organizer in Colorado, then worked for GreenPAC to coordinate its various initiatives. She is currently a PIE intern in Senator Mary Coyle's office and assisting with the Senators for Climate Solutions group. After the internship, she is pursuing a Juris Doctor at Lincoln Alexander School of Law in Toronto.
Senator Mary Coyle
A long-time champion for women’s leadership, gender equality, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Mary Coyle has forged a distinguished career in the post-secondary education and non-profit sectors, with a focus on international and local development.
She holds a diploma in French Language from the Université de Besançon in France and a Bachelor of Arts in Languages and Literature with a major in French and a minor in Spanish from the University of Guelph. After working for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as a Cuso International cooperant in Botswana, she earned a Master of Arts in Rural Planning and Development at the University of Guelph. She subsequently worked as a rural development advisor in Indonesia and later to support two State Islamic Universities develop their community engagement strategies.
For the next decade as Executive Director of Calmeadow, Ms. Coyle helped the organization pioneer the creation of the world’s first commercial micro finance bank, BancoSol, in Bolivia and establish the First Peoples Fund to provide micro loans to First Nations and Métis communities in Canada.
In 1997, she joined St. Francis Xavier University, serving as Vice President and Director of the school’s Coady International Institute, a world-renowned centre of excellence in community-based development and leadership education. During her tenure, the Coady International Institute grew significantly, enhancing its global education and innovation agenda and expanding programming for women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples.
Since 2014, Ms. Coyle has worked as the Executive Director of the Frank McKenna Centre for Leadership at St. Francis Xavier University, a centre devoted to developing student leadership. She also continues to work as an advisor and facilitator for various organizations, including the Haitian Centre for Leadership and Excellence and the Friends United Indigenous Arts and Culture Initiative. Mary Coyle played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, and the Indian School of Microfinance for Women.
She has 3 daughters, Emilie, Lauren, and Lindelwa, and 7 grandchildren.
Senator Rosa Galvez
The Honourable Rosa Galvez is an environmental engineer, an independent Canadian Senator for the province of Quebec, and President of the ParlAmericas’ Parliamentary Network on Climate Change. She recently retired as a professor at Université Laval in Québec, having taught engineering for over 25 years, and she was Chair of the Civil and Water Engineering department from 2011 to 2017.
She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2016 where she brings her expertise on water and wastewater treatment, watershed management, sustainable development, municipal and hazardous waste, site remediation, impact assessment, and climate risk to infrastructure. She was sponsor in the Senate of the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act which was adopted in June 2021, and was the recipient of the 2021 Clean50 award for her parliamentary work on environmental policy. She recently published a white paper on Aligning Canadian Finance with Climate Commitments and introduced the Climate-Aligned Finance Act, a legislative framework to help the Canadian financial sector align with Canada’s climate commitments.
Senator Stan Kutcher
Senator Stan Kutcher is an internationally renowned psychiatrist in adolescent mental health. He is a leader in mental health research, education, advocacy, policy and services innovation. He previously worked at the University of Toronto and Dalhousie University where he was the Department Head of Psychiatry, the Associate Dean of International Health and the Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health.
Senator Kutcher’s work has been recognized through numerous awards and honors including: the Order of Nova Scotia, the John Ruedy Award in Medical Education, the Dr. John Savage Award in Global Health and was twice named a Mental Health Champion (Research and Innovation) in Canada. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, a Distinguished Alumni of McMaster University, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the former Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Mental Health Policy and Training.
Senator Kutcher and his team at Dalhousie University led the development of a national child and youth mental health framework for Canada (Evergreen). He has conducted award-winning research into the neurobiology and treatments of mental disorders in young people and has developed and deployed innovative systems of mental health care nationally and internationally. Recently his focus was on primary care mental health interventions, mental health literacy development in school systems and in postsecondary institutions. Ensuring that the best available evidence is used to advance mental health and enable rapid access to effective mental health care is essential to all of Senator Kutcher’s initiatives.
The Honourable Grant Mitchell
Grant Mitchell worked throughout his career in the Alberta public service, business and politics. He was an Alberta Liberal MLA from 1986 to 1998, and Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and of the Official Opposition from 1994 to 1998. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada by Prime Minister Martin in 2005. In 2016, he was appointed by Prime Minister Trudeau to the position of Government Liaison in the newly formed, 3- Senator, Government Representative Office (GRO) where he remained until his retirement from the Senate in 2020. The GRO was created specifically to reflect the demands of the reforming Senate in which the government no longer had an affiliated Senate caucus to manage government legislation.
In his time in politics, Mr. Mitchell was engaged in a broad range of public policy issues, with a particular focus on women's and other equality issues and the environment.
He is now fully retired and lives with his wife, Teresa, in the Okanagan Valley, BC.