MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2025

UBC Reads Sustainability with Rueben George
In-Person Event  |  5:00pm to 6:30pm   | REGISTER HERE
BC Hydro Theatre, CIRS |  2260 West Mall

How can we take action to prioritize Indigenous law and jurisdiction to address socio-ecological crises worldwide?

Join us in-person or online for the opening event of UBC’s Sustainable Development Goals Month - a conversation with Sundance Chief and author Rueben George about his bestselling book, It Stops Here: Standing Up For Our Lands, Our Waters and Our People, moderated by UBC Associate Professor Dr. Shannon Leddy. The conversation will be followed by a book signing from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.

For over a decade, Rueben George has been a leading voice against the development of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, a fossil fuel megaproject, in Tsleil-Waututh Nation territories. His memoir relates his uncompromising stand against Canadian systems of prioritizing control, profit and resources over responsibility to lands, waters and people.

Through his book, Rueben showcases how Indigenous law and jurisdiction are essential for sustainability and wellbeing. As seen in the many ways Rueben’s actions advance Sustainable Development Goals (including goals 3 and 10-16), Indigenous law and jurisdiction are also deeply important to the interconnected approach we need to fulfil these goals and to address socio-ecological crises worldwide.

About the Author
Sundance Chief Rueben George is a member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) and a Family Counsellor who has 30 years of experience in the healing field. Rueben has many years of experience working internationally throughout the US and Canada with First Nations/Tribes in wellness, Correctional Centres, Addiction Treatment Centres, School Districts, Social Services, and Colleges/Universities Rueben Continues to volunteer at a men’s Treatment Centre and Correctional Centres.

After serving his Nation as Director of Community Development, he shifted his focus in 2010 to be Manager of Sacred Trust TWN’s initiative to protect the Burrard Inlet, the traditional Tsleil-Waututh territory, from the proposed Kinder-Morgan/TMX pipeline. Rueben has travelled the world, creating allies with Indigenous people who stand for water, land, and human rights. Rueben has become one of the best-known voices in the media locally and internationally in the conversation about the proposed Kinder/Morgan TMX pipeline and other related issues.

For over 10 years, Rueben has been a consultant to multiple businesses and is the co-founder/President of Salish Elements, creating green hydrogen energy. Rueben George is a spiritual leader who was adopted and made a Sundance Chief by 2 Lakota families. Rueben is involved in his Coast Salish culture and ceremonies. In all aspects of Rueben’s life and work, he incorporates his cultural and spiritual teachings.

About the Moderator
Dr. Shannon Leddy (Métis) is a Vancouver-based teacher and writer whose practice focuses on decolonizing education and Indigenous education within teacher education. She holds degrees in Art History and Anthropology from the University of Saskatchewan (1994), an MA in Art History (1997), and a BEd (2005) from the University of British Columbia. Her PhD research at Simon Fraser University focused on inviting pre-service teachers into dialogue with contemporary Indigenous art as a mechanism of decolonizing education and in order to help them become adept at delivering Indigenous education without reproducing colonial stereotypes.

During her time as a public-school teacher with the Vancouver School Board, Dr. Leddy worked at several high schools as a teacher of Art, Social Studies and English. After a two-year secondment to work as a Faculty Associate in SFU’s Professional Development Program in teacher education, she returned to the VSB to undertake the coordination of an arts-based mini-school. She has also worked as an Instructor in SFU’s Faculty of Education teaching courses in pedagogical foundations and Aboriginal education. In 2013 she was awarded SFU’s Aboriginal Graduate Entrance Scholarship and a SSHRC Bombardier Scholarship in 2015. Dr. Leddy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy at the UBC Faculty of Education.

Snacks and refreshments will be provided. Space is limited. Please register by February 28, 2025.

SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2025

Kids' Story Time | Spring Break - For Kids!
In-Person Event  |  1:30pm-3:00pm PST  |  FREE TO ATTEND
UBC Bookstore  |  6200 University Blvd

Join us in March for our children's story time to kick off spring break!

About the Event
Say hello to spring with a good book and surrounded by friends at the UBC Bookstore! Let your little one listen in to a great story while you browse around and enjoy a coffee or hot chocolate from the Corner Store on us. There will also be an activity table with some coloring pages and arts and crafts for the kids when stories wind down, and the bookstore has plenty for you to explore, especially with 20% off all children's section titles!

This is an in-person event and free to attend. Stay tuned for more details!
 

SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2025

Book Launch | Perseverance: Life and Death in the Subarctic by Stephan Kesting
In-Person Event  |  1:00pm PST  |  FREE TO ATTEND
UBC Bookstore  |  6200 University Blvd

Join us in March for the Book Launch of Stephan’s new book, Perseverance: Life and Death in the Subartic

About the Author
My name is Stephan Kesting, and I'm a firefighter and an adventurer. I have spent much of my life learning how to perform in high-pressure and high-risk situations. In this book, I also share how to be more effective in high-stress situations, hold onto hope in the darkest moments, and overcome any obstacle.

About the Book
An adventurer, firefighter, and jiu-jitsu practitioner embarks on a journey of a lifetime—a 1,000 mile voyage through the Canadian sub-arctic—after recovering from a life-threatening illness.

The Canadian North is a vast and lonely land where bears roam free, fires rage unchecked, and storms blast every living thing on the tundra. When Stephan Kesting, already no stranger to pushing his own physical limits, was faced with a rare illness, he knew the only way for him to recover in both body and mind was to dig even deeper. Despite the dangers inherent in the sub-arctic, Kesting sets out on an unimaginably difficult journey. Completely alone in the wilderness for six weeks, where a single mistake could cost his life, Kesting followed in the footsteps of the native peoples and earliest explorers. In this deepest solitude and wracked with self-doubt, he found the strength to endure.

Perseverance is the moving and nail-biting account of his journey from near-death to a raw embrace of adventure and life. Inspirational, vulnerable and honest, Kesting shares the lessons he learned in the wilderness that will help us hold onto hope in our darkest moments and show how we can find the strength to overcome any obstacle.

This is an in-person event and free to attend.