Meet the Pye Centre staff, researchers, and community partners!
Staff
Founding & Interim Dean
School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies & the Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Program Coordinator, Community Connections and Education
The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Knowledge Mobilization Manager
School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies & the Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Social Enterprise Associate
The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Project Coordinator (Research Support and Advancement)
School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies & The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Previous Team Members
Student Research Affiliate (Summer 2021)
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada & The Pye Centre
Communications Assistant (Summer 2021)
The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Student Research Affiliate (Summer 2021)
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada & The Pye Centre
Researchers
Coming soon
Community Partners
Coming soon
Staff
Ashlee Cunsolo
Founding & Interim Dean | School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies & The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Ashlee Cunsolo, PhD (Settler, She/Her), ), is the founding Dean of the School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies of the Labrador Campus, the newest academic unit of Memorial University, and the first academic unit in Labrador. She is recognized nationally for her institution-building work in Northern higher education, and led the development and establishment of the Labrador Campus, including expanded infrastructure, educational program offerings at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels, and increased research support.
She is also working with local farmers and organizations to establish the Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems as a leading-edge, community-driven research, education, and experimental farm focused on enhancing and expanding Northern food security and food sovereignty in Labrador, and growing the agricultural industry.
Ashlee is a leading voice nationally and internationally on climate change and mental health, ecological grief, and intangible losses and damages that arise from climate change, and works more broadly at the intersection of place, culture, health, and environment. She contributes regularly to move science into policy spheres nationally and internationally, and is a regular media contributor. Before coming to Memorial University, Ashlee held a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) at Cape Breton University. She is a member emeritus of the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.
Learn more about Ashlee’s work: www.ashleecunsolo.ca
Contact Ashlee: ashlee.cunsolo@mun.ca
Jamie Jackman
Program Coordinator, Community Connections and Education | The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Jamie Jackman is a Nunatsiavut Beneficiary who grew up between the communities of Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Hopedale, Labrador. He studied Anthropology at the University of Prince Edward Island and graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts. He then went on to work mainly with Indigenous organizations in areas related to community-based research, youth programming, food security, and more, including the Native Council of Prince Edward Island, Sivunivut Inuit Community Corporation, and the Labrador Friendship Centre.
Jamie’s interests lie mainly in food sovereignty, northern-based agriculture, and community engagement and development. In his current capacity as Program Coordinator for the Labrador Campus of Memorial University, he is working on the development of the Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems, focusing mainly on community engagement and outreach.
Jamie is also a board member at Food First NL and was the coordinator for the Labrador Friendship Centre Community Food Bank for three years prior to joining the Labrador Campus.
Jamie is also a musician and recording artist active in the Province’s music scene with his folk-rock group, Silver Wolf Band, and is a current board member of the Eastern Labrador Arts Alliance.
Contact Jamie: jamie.jackman@mun.ca
Alex Sawatzky
Knowledge Mobilization Manager & Adjunct Professor | School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies & The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Alex Sawatzky, PhD (Settler, She/Her), is an interdisciplinary researcher and artist who collaborates with communities, researchers, and organizations to co-create and mobilize knowledge. She engages visual methods and tools that are driven by relational approaches to research, centering community voices and knowledge to ensure research, and research communication works with and for the people it serves to benefit.
For the past six years, Alex has been working in partnership with Inuit in Labrador on community-led climate change adaptation projects. During her PhD, she worked with the community of Rigolet to develop the foundation for a place-based, Inuit-led environment and health monitoring system that works with and for Inuit.
In her current capacity as Special Projects Manager for the Labrador Campus, Alex is working with key partners and leaders in Labrador and Memorial to manage the strategic development of the Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems. She is also leading and supporting projects and activities related to the Labrador Campus development and transition, including the strategic growth and development of educational programming, research initiatives, and infrastructural developments.
Alex also owns and operates her own freelance design practice, specializing in mobilizing science and research into visual forms, and enhancing science communication.
Learn more about Alex’s work: www.alex-sawatzky.com
Contact Alex: asawatzky@mun.ca
Lemuel Seaward
Resident Farmer | The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Lemuel Seaward was born and raised in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and is the Resident Farmer at the Pye Centre. He has many years of farming experience including the operation of his own potato farm, Daybreak Farm, which included at one time a 5000-bird commercial egg operation. Lem is quite familiar with the land having worked closely with Frank and Joyce Pye on various projects in the past. In addition he is a journeyman carpenter with a wealth of knowledge in construction, maintenance, and farm operations.
Caroline McDonald
Social Enterprise Associate | The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Caroline McDonald, MBA, is passionate about community and sustainable social enterprise development and the potential to grow the social enterprise sector as positive change agents in Newfoundland and Labrador. Born and raised in St. John’s, Caroline believes that an authentic understanding of community is crucial for harnessing successful and sustainable social businesses.
Caroline is a graduate of Memorial University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Neuroscience as well as a Master’s in Business Administration with a focus in Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. Caroline was the recipient of two Science Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA) that focused on evaluating and improving best-practice pediatric protocols for at-risk patients. In 2016, Caroline gave a TEDx talk in St. John’s, an invaluable experience to learn from a diverse group of community champions.
Caroline’s interest in social enterprise was fostered through her involvement with Stella’s Circle. As the pianist for the organizations Inclusion Choir, Caroline experienced first-hand the possibility and power of impactful social business. Additionally, Caroline worked with Taskforce NL where she was responsible for supporting projects including the Surplus Food Rescue Program and local manufacturing of PPE. Caroline is currently involved with Home Again Furniture Bank as a member of their social enterprise committee.
Caroline recently completed an internship with the Pye Centre, where she supported the development of a social enterprise portfolio. She is continuing to move this work forward in her role as Social Enterprise Associate.
Contact Caroline: ccm675@mun.ca
Rachel Snelgrove
Farm Associate | The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Rachel Snelgrove is an Indigenous undergraduate student at Memorial University studying a Bachelor of Biology with a concentration in Applied Ecology and Conservation. Taking a break from Memorial to study at Academy Canada’s Greenhouse Production program piqued Rachel’s interest to continue her studies at Memorial focusing on food security.
Being born in Happy Valley-Goose Bay has enhanced Rachel’s passion in the deliverance of Northern food security and sustainability for her home region. She understands the climate and the challenges of importing nutritional food to the North and has embarked on a path to make changes so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of eating healthy. Growing up in Labrador, Rachel has been blessed to love the simplicity of life that nature has to offer. She has had the opportunity to canoe the Churchill River on several occasions and was inspired by the stories and knowledge she learned of the “traditional trapper’s way of life.”
At a young age she had the opportunity to travel to Tanzania, Africa as a student volunteer and had the opportunity to climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Here, she witnessed firsthand how food sustainability impacted the tribal communities, where children walked to school kilometres away not just to be educated, but to be fed. This planted the seed to her future studies and career path. Rachel has a desire and ambition to advocate and educate everyone on the importance of food waste and the role we all play in securing our planet’s health for future generations to thrive and enjoy. She aims to promote living in symbiosis with nature by embracing traditional ecological knowledge and mindsets.
Rachel also brings knowledge and understanding of plant growth and greenhouse production from her time working at Lester’s Farm Greenhouse and Market in St. John’s. When she’s not studying, she enjoys exploring the Province’s beautiful wilderness with her two dogs, Marley and Ren.
Contact Rachel: rmnsnelgrove@mun.ca
Chelsee Arbour
Project Coordinator (Research Support & Advancement) | School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies & the Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Chelsee Arbour, PhD candidate (Settler, she/her), is an archaeologist and cultural heritage researcher who focuses on narrative construction, researcher positionality, and most importantly collaborative knowledge mobilization. She utilizes relational approaches to research to better understand how differing narrative practices story, engage with, and understand Indigenous histories of the ‘deep past’, centering community voices within the larger discourse of how the past is brought into being in the present.
For the past 10 years, Chelsee has primarily worked in partnership with the Innu Nation and the communities of Sheshatshit and Natuashish on community oriented heritage and archaeological projects that problematize settler narratives of Innu histories and the deep past in the Quebec/Labrador peninsula. Additionally, she has worked on a number of heritage related projects with various Labrador stakeholders including the Innu Nation, Nunatsiavut, and NunatuKavut. Her larger research goals and interests include collaborative and relational research practices, repatriation, the decolonization of archaeology, museums, and academia, and the development of Indigenous led curricula and tools utilizing digital approaches to education and learning.
In her role as Project Coordinator (Research Support & Advancement) for the School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies, Chelsee is working closely with leaders and community members in Labrador, at Memorial, and with fellow SASS researchers and staff to support Northern- and Indigenous-led research. Specifically, she supports faculty and staff on research planning and development, assists with research grants and funding applications to support the strategic growth, curriculum development, and on-going research and operations of SASS, works closely with project partners and researchers to identify new opportunities for collaborative research, growth and development, and helps support the on-going management of the Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems.
Chelsee is thrilled to have recently relocated to North West River, Labrador, where her partner and their venerable 18 year old cat will be joining her shortly.
Contact Chelsee: c.arbour@mun.ca
Previous Team Members
Danica Brockwell
Student Research Affiliate | Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada / The Pye Centre (Summer 2021)
Danica Brockwell is in her last year of studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland for her B.Sc. in Biology (Co-op, Hon.). She has an avid interest in networking to facilitate community driven holistic local solutions towards solving global issues, with a focus on Climate Justice, local food security, and ecological resilience. She worked with both Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Pye Centre from May-August 2021 as a Student Research Affiliate, researching strategies to support local food production in Labrador.
She previously worked as a Research Assistant for both the Agnes Marion Ayre Herbarium and the Wildlife Evolutionary Ecology Laboratory, and as an Aquatic Science Technician for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans with the Marine Mammals division, researching Seal diets. In her free time she tries to volunteer as much as she can, especially with Community Science initiatives through organisations such as the Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up, Birds Canada, and NatureNL.
She is the Environmental Representative of the MUN Biology Society (BIOS), providing an environmentally conscious perspective to meetings and events, as well as organizing clean-ups and connecting students to personal Climate Justice solutions. She also volunteers with the Social Justice Co-operative of Newfoundland and Labrador, providing support to their social and environmental initiatives, notably the Green New Deal NL team. While in Goose Bay for the summer of 2021, she also volunteered at the SPCA.
Contact Danica: dbrockwell@mun.ca
Saydee Jones
Communications Assistant (Summer 2021) | The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
I was born on the lower north shore of Quebec and moved to Goose Bay in 2012. I graduated in 2020 from Mealy Mountain Collegiate in the French immersion program with honours. I have been actively involved in the community through Air Cadets, student council, Gay Straight Alliance, as well as a number of environmental projects.
I am moving to Vancouver in the fall of 2021 to begin my undergraduate degree at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and pursue a career in animation. I am also interested in traveling, meeting new people, and really enjoyed my time as the Communications Assistant at the Pye Centre!
Contact Saydee: saydee.jones9@gmail.com
Ewan McNeill
Farm Assistant (Summer 2021 and 2022) | The Pye Centre, Labrador Campus of Memorial University
I was born in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and have been living here my whole life. I’m a level 2 student at Mealy Mountain Collegiate in the French immersion program.
I enjoy spending my time outside in nature. I like hunting, fishing, camping, riding my snowmobile, and travelling the province. I learned a lot this past summer at the Pye Centre!
Contact Ewan: yerman4289@gmail.com
Tara Ryan
Student Research Affiliate | Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada / The Pye Centre (Summer 2021)
Tara Ryan is an Indigenous undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, working on her Bachelor of Environmental Studies in the school of Environment, Resources and Sustainability. Born and raised in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, she has developed a keen interest in food security in Labrador and sustainable community development. With plans to graduate with her BES in 2025, Tara aims to be equipped with the skills to support her community, whether it be from afar or at home, wanting to further understand the complex problems that Labradorians are faced with when it comes to food security, ecological restoration, and management.
During her high school years, Tara worked on an extracurricular hydroponics project with close friends, which fostered her interest in food security and food systems. She then worked as a Natural Resources Assistant at NunatuKavut Community Council in 2019, before joining Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada in 2020, as she was finishing her last year of high school. As an employee of AAFC with a strong connection to the Pye Centre during the summer of 2021, Tara enjoyed learning about not only the science surrounding crops grown in Labrador, but also the rich stories and history that accompany them.
Contact Tara: tara1ryan2@gmail.com
Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems 