“Denise was recommended to our team by a faculty member at SFU as someone with the unique ability to move seamlessly between two worlds – academia and local indigenous community. We worked with Denise to create a new program for faculty and graduate teaching assistants to strengthen and deepen their understanding of Reconciliation and decolonial teaching practices.

Denise lead our team through a structured consultative process which foregrounded listening to community, Knowledge Holders and Elders while developing authentic relationships based on trust. Denise helped to support this developmental process with empathy and understanding, mindful of our system constrains. Denise held the program strands so beautifully, allowing our participants to experience transformative learning opportunities which they each have brought back to their own classrooms and students. Denise’s ability to respond to change, collaborate with integrity and produce impactful programming for diverse audiences is unmatched in my experience. Helping groups move through change, weaving together meaningful experiences, walking a path in two worlds, is a significant and complex undertaking. Drawing on layers of western theory, scholarship and though, matched by intricate, situated indigenous ways of knowing, Denise does this work with deep care, courage, and compassion – a rare combination in the academy. Her work with us has had profound, transformative impact on participants and our team.”