CANCELLED: Earth Day Circle Practice: The Climate Emergency and Our Love of the Land

Trainer: Irene “Strong Oak” Lefebvre, MSSA, is the Executive Director and co‐founder of the Visioning B.E.A.R. Circle Intertribal Coalition INC. She is of Mi’Kmaq and Maliseet descent. In 2017, Ms Lefebvre received the Visionary Voice Award from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, representing the state of Massachusetts in recognition of her work to end sexual violence. Ms. Lefebvre served on the Advisory Council for the National Sexual Resource Center from 2010‐2016. She is currently a Peer Cohort, representing VBCIC, with the Just  Beginnings Collaborative, a funding organization that seeks to build a movement to end childhood sexual assault nationwide. Ms Lefebvre is a member of the Governor’s statutory Restorative Justice Advisory Committee in Massachusetts and is currently serving a six‐year term that began in November 2018. She is also a member of the Raliance Policy Group working on a three‐year study on mandated reporting and its impact on survivors from marginalized communities.

Class Description: Indigenous Circle Practice is a way to listen deeply, share openly, hold silence, and transform communities. We will gather in a circle on Earth Day, holding our feelings about the violation of our planet – we will feel our grief, express our hope, share our work, and be strengthened to face the road ahead. Under the sensitive guidance of Strong Oak and her many years of experience with Circle Practice, the group will honor the reverence of the space and the gathered group while sharing what lays on our hearts. You are invited to bring all your feelings – including weariness and despair. You will be fortified so that you can continue the work to confront this climate emergency – work that must be done by all of us. Everyone warmly welcome, join us.