Keynote Speakers & Plenary Sessions
Thursday
Christopher Googoo: Building Community Wealth the Indigenous Way
Thursday August 6 7PM-7:30PM @ The North Shore Recreation centre Rink
Indigenous communities have long understood that economic prosperity and community wellbeing are inseparable. Drawing on Ulnooweg’s 40-year journey, this keynote will explore how social enterprise, local ownership, and Indigenous self-determination create resilient communities and keep wealth rooted where it belongs—in the community.
Christopher Googoo is a proud member of We’koqma’q First Nation, who lives on the unceded territory of Mi’kma’ki in Millbrook First Nation.
Since 2000, Chris has dedicated his career to supporting and building the Indigenous-led and governed non-profit organization, Ulnooweg. He has focused on supporting the success of Indigenous entrepreneurs, businesses, and communities across Atlantic Canada and establishing three charitable arms under the Ulnooweg umbrella. As a result of his accomplishments, he now serves as Ulnooweg’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of The Ulnooweg Indigenous Communities Foundation. Since 2017, he has been working to enhance the relationship between the philanthropic sector and Indigenous communities. As a founding member of the Indigenous Peoples Resilience Fund, Chris is the current co-chair.
He also sits on the Investment Committee of Boann Capital, recipient of an initial $154 million contribution from the Government of Canada’s Social Finance Fund to accelerate the growth of the social finance market in Canada. He recently just accepted a board position on Nova Scotia’s Research Council.
Committed to supporting the next generation of Indigenous leaders and professionals, he established the Ulnooweg Education Centre, which now fosters the development and delivery of science-based programs for youth in science, forestry, and agriculture. Additionally, he led the recent acquisition of a multi- generational forest, Asitu’lɨsk, covering 200 acres. This endeavor aims to revitalize language and culture, reconnect Indigenous communities and individuals to the land, and provide a place for healing and balance. A graduate of St. Francis Xavier University, Chris holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. In addition to being a well-respected member of the Mi’kmaw community, Christopher Googoo is committed to Ulnooweg serving the Indigenous communities of Atlantic Canada.
Friday
The Coady Institute: The Antigonish Movement Then and Now: Listen, Learn, Discuss and Act
Friday August 7 8:30AM-9:30AM @ The North Shore Recreation Centre Rink
Come hear the story of a renowned people’s movement that began in Northeastern Nova Scotia in the early decades of the 20 th century in response to the growing hardships and disenfranchisement of Canada’s Maritime communities. The Antigonish Movement—the self-empowerment of individuals and the mobilization of local communities through adult education and collective action, saw people identifying and using their assets to improve their social and economic lives while working to create a better future. Examples will be shared of how the Antigonish Movement continues to inform community development today as well as its relevance in our current global context.
Moderator:
Pauline MacIntosh
Pauline MacIntosh, Moderator, a skillful adult educator and facilitator, is passionate about working with groups engaged in strategic thinking, planning and doing, asset-based community development, capacity strengthening and education, and leadership for learning and change. She has extensive experience supporting the success and growth of a variety of local, provincial, and regional entities. She has worked in multiple sectors throughout her career, focusing most recently on community housing.
Panelists:
Digafie Debalke
Digafie Debalke is a trained dialogue facilitator and third-party neutral mediator. He worked as Program Manager for the University for Peace, a United Nations General Assembly mandated University in Toronto, San Jose Costa Rica, and New York. He also worked as a Deep-Rooted Identity-Based Conflict Resolution Trainer in Ottawa and Toronto, International Relations Officer at the University of Prince Edward Island, Peace Education Curriculum Development, Community-Based Research Design, and Advisor to the Minister, Federal Department of Ministry of Peace, Ethiopia, in the areas of peacebuilding and communications.
Paula Brophy
Paula Brophy is Manager of Local Engagement at Coady Institute, where she
collaborates with communities, businesses, organizations, and students to build
partnerships that strengthen communities and support sustainable growth. During her more than 20 years at StFX, Paula has focused on economic and community development by creating opportunities that connect people, ideas, and resources to address local needs. Paula manages DiscoverBox, one of the Province of Nova Scotia’s Regional Innovation Sandboxes, helping communities and entrepreneurs work alongside students to develop practical solutions to local challenges.
Catherine Irving
Catherine Irving is responsible for the operations of Coady Institute’s Marie Michael Library, where she has worked since 1992. She has published research on libraries and adult education, women’s learning, and the Antigonish Movement. She is involved in education and research activities in Coady’s community development work, including the recent multiyear program, Engage: Women’s Empowerment and Active Citizenship and Build Together: Strengthening the Community Housing Sector in Nova Scotia.
Martha Fanjoy
Martha Fanjoy has more than 15 years of experience in applied research, teaching, and program development, in both Canada and internationally. She brings perspective from the non-profit and post-secondary worlds to her work at Coady Institute, with experience in program design and delivery, research and policy, and leadership roles in both settings. Her research interests include the use of ethnographic, participatory, and co-creative methods to explore belonging, community building and place making, with a particular interest in forced migration. Her teaching interests include research methods, anthropological history and theory, human rights, and community development.
Helena Norberg-Hodge (Virtual): The Local Revolution
Friday August 7 1PM-2PM @ The North Shore Recreation Centre Rink
Our global economic system – built on separation, extraction, and the control of life – is responsible for the polycrisis and hinders the emergence of a just and peaceful society.
In this talk, Helena Norberg-Hodge will argue that we need to become “big picture activists”. This means promoting eco-literacy – accompanying our deepening ecological literacy with greater economic literacy. We need to more consciously transcend left and right politics, environmental and social divides in order to support a “global to local” systemic path.
Localisation brings us back to the complex, interdependent web of life that is not only the real economy, but a perpetual source of wonder and fulfilment. It is the key to solving our seemingly endless ecological crises. The antidote to consumer capitalism. A guiding principle to take us back home: to community, to the natural world, and to prosperous, place-based economies. A shift in direction with the potential to change the world.
HELENA NORBERG-HODGE, director of Local Futures, is a linguist, author and filmmaker. With decades of experience in indigenous cultures, she has been promoting re-indigenisation or localisation while raising awareness about the disastrous impact of the global consumer culture.
Helena is author of the inspirational classic Ancient Futures which, together with a film of the same title, has been translated into more than 40 languages, and sold half a million copies. Other books include Local is Our Future: Steps to an Economics of Happiness, Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness andFrom the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture, as well as a Local Food Toolkit, which won a prestigious UK award for investigative journalism.
Helena is the producer of the award-winning documentaryThe Economics of Happiness, which has been described by the media-activism site Films for Action as “truly one of the most important and useful films for inspiring change that has been made in a generation”. Her other films include Closer to Home: Hope in a time of crisis, and Planet Local: A Quiet Revolution.
She is the founder of the International Alliance for Localisation, and a cofounder of the International Forum on Globalization and the Global Ecovillage Network.
Helena’s 50 years of activism has gained her the Alternative Nobel prize, the Arthur Morgan Award and the Goi Peace Prize for contributing to “the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide.”
More: https://www.localfutures.org/about-local-futures/who-we-are/helena-norberg-hodge/
Saturday
Change Makers: Indigenous Entrepreneurs Building Community Prosperity
Saturday August 8 8:30AM-9:30AM @ Creamery Square Grace Arts Theatre
Meet three Indigenous entrepreneurs who are creating new pathways to prosperity through clean energy, community investment, tourism, and cultural revitalization. Moderated by Chris Googoo of Ulnooweg, the discussion will feature Drew Bernard of Awtij, Michael Peters of Glooscap Ventures, and Aspen Bear of Wolastoq Adventures. The panelists will share their experiences of taking risks, overcoming challenges, and building businesses rooted in community values. They will also explore how Indigenous leadership and innovation are creating employment, strengthening culture, and advancing more sustainable and inclusive approaches to economic development.
Moderator:
Chris Googoo
Indigenous communities have long understood that economic prosperity and community wellbeing are inseparable. Drawing on Ulnooweg’s 40-year journey, Christopher Googoo will explore how social enterprise, local ownership, and Indigenous self-determination create resilient communities and keep wealth rooted where it belongs—in the community. A proud member of We’koqma’q First Nation, Christopher is the Chief Operating Officer of Ulnooweg and Executive Director of The Ulnooweg Indigenous Communities Foundation. For more than 25 years, he has championed Indigenous entrepreneurship, community development, and social finance across Atlantic Canada, while advancing initiatives that reconnect Indigenous communities with their lands, culture, and future generations.
Panelists:
Drew Bernard – Founder, Awtij
https://awtij.com/
Drew is the founder of Awtij, an Indigenous-led company focused on clean energy solutions, innovation, and creating pathways for Indigenous participation in the emerging green economy. In addition to his entrepreneurial leadership, Drew is active on many fronts supporting economic development, sustainability, and community initiatives with his home community of Lennox Island First Nation.
Michael Peters – CEO, Glooscap Ventures
https://glooscapventures.com/
Michael leads Glooscap Ventures, the economic development organization of Glooscap First Nation. Their work focuses on building successful businesses, partnerships, and investments that support long-term community prosperity, employment, and Indigenous participation in the broader economy.
Aspen Bear – Founder, Wolastoq Adventures
https://wolastoqadventures.ca/
Aspen is the founder of Wolastoq Adventures, an Indigenous tourism business that creates authentic experiences connected to Wolastoqey culture, history, storytelling, and relationships with the land and river. Her work demonstrates the important connection between culture, entrepreneurship, and building sustainable community opportunities.
Sarah Longlands: Community Wealth Building – Get Ready to Own your Economy
Saturday August 8 1PM-2PM @ The North Shore Recreation Centre Hall
Dr Sarah Longlands is the Chief Executive of UK-based organization the Centre for Local Economies (CLES).
CLES is a think and do tank dedicated to the development of local economies and is the lead organisation in the UK for community wealth building. Sarah is an expert in regional and local economies with a PhD in Urban Studies from the University of Glasgow. She is an advocate for economic and social justice and the creation of places that enable people to live good lives. Her work is deeply influenced by her experience of growing up in Northern Ireland. Before joining CLES she worked for the Institute of Public Policy Research in the North of England (IPPR North). She began her career working in local government in the North of England.
Sarah will talk about the potential of community wealth building and its role in supporting real prosperity for communities. Prosperity that helps enable people to live good lives in the places that they call come. Community wealth building is about increasing the flow, circulation and ownership of wealth and through this lens, Sarah will explore what we can all do practically to deliver community wealth building and draw from examples in the Uk and beyond of how its potential can be realised in a way which addresses the key challenges we face in 2026.
Sunday
Many Places, Many Pathways: Community Wealth Building in Practice
Sunday August 9 9:30AM-10:30AM @ The North Shore Recreation Centre Rink
Community wealth building looks different in every place. It is shaped by local history, relationships, institutions, assets, struggles, and opportunities. This panel will bring together leaders working in diverse community contexts to explore what community wealth building means in practice — not as a theory, but as lived work. Featuring leaders from the Centre for Local Economies, Ulnooweg Development Group, the African Nova Scotian Road to Economic Prosperity, and the North Shore Community Development Association, the discussion will explore how different organizations understand their communities, what they are doing to build local wealth and power, what results they are seeing, and what challenges they continue to face. Panelists will share practical lessons, hard-won insights, and reflections on what it takes to build more democratic, resilient, and locally rooted economies.
The North Shore Community Development Association (NSCDA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening the communities of Nova Scotia’s North Shore. Since 1994, the NSCDA has worked with local businesses, organizations, and residents to support economic development, encourage collaboration, and enhance community vitality. Today, the organization continues to manage the Tatamagouche Business Centre while leading initiatives that help build a thriving, resilient, and prosperous North Shore.
Moderator:
Robert Cervelli
Robert has been a life science tech start-up entrepreneur for over 25 years, and understands the issues related to new business creation and the health of resilient local economies. He has founded, or co-founded, biotechnology companies developing diagnostics, cancer therapy, vaccine enhancement technologies, neurological drug discovery and consumer health products. He has become particularly knowledgeable in the commercial develop of botanical extracts and natural active compounds.
Robert has been an active volunteer in community building for over 35 years. He is a co-founder and Chair of Transition Bay St. Margarets Bay, one of the first Transition Initiatives in the Maritimes. He is advising other rural Maritime communities on the process of building Transition Initiatives in order to draw out the skills, processes and projects inherent in local cultures to build resilience and adaptability to global change.
Robert has corresponded widely and tracked the international development of new tools and initiatives bringing a solid ‘projects-first’ perspective to revitalization. He has been a member of the E.F. Schumacher Society for over 25 years, has corresponded internationally and attended key international events on alternative economics. A particular area of interest is in projects implementing innovative new tools for rebuilding economic resilience at the local and regional levels. His local currency projects include the ‘Bluenotes’ (1993, coupon note issued by 10 Halifax businesses), the “Maritime Hour’ (1994-98, local currency accepted by over 300 businesses), and the ‘Carat’ (2012-present, redeemable currency issued by local Nova Scotia farmers). Robert also sits on the Board of the St Margarets Bay Stewardship Association and several green technology companies.
As an experienced botanist and horticulturalist, Robert manages a one-acre vegetable farm at his home in St. Margarets Bay. He holds a B.Sc. degree (Forestry) from Purdue University and a M.Sc. (Botany) from the University of Wisconsin.
Panelists:
Sherry Martel
Sherry Martell is an accomplished business executive, journalist and entrepreneur with extensive experience in advocacy, governance and financial management. During her career, she has built a reputation for operational excellence, solid communication and innovative project planning and management, as well as bolstering program support through increasing grant assistance and fundraising. Sherry brings more than 17 years experience in senior leadership roles, spearheading major projects in multi-media journalism, economic development, workforce skills development and tourism while being a passionate voice for business and community at all orders of government. She has built strong relationships with local, provincial and national policy leaders as well as connections
with a wide range of organizations supporting business and non-profit sectors. Currently, she is serving as the Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Road Builders Association, owns a niche women’s lingerie boutique in Truro, NS, and also serves her community as a Municipal Councillor
for District 7 of Colchester County. Previously she spent nine years serving as the Executive Director of the Truro and Colchester Chamber of Commerce, putting forward policy recommendations to all orders
of government to support business growth. Prior to joining the Chamber team, Sherry spent 14 years in the newspaper industry moving through the ranks as a reporter, editor and Managing Editor. She has received numerous awards including a Newspaper Atlantic Award, national Executive of them Year Award by the Chamber of Commerce Executives of Canada and was named one of the Top 25 Women CEO’s in Atlantic Canada by Atlantic Business Magazine (2025) and Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee recognition for Community Service. Along with sitting on several appointed boards fulling Municipal duties, she also serves as a director on a number of community boards, such as the North Shore Community Development Association, Neighbours Helping Neighbours, Sunny Brae Cemetery Society and the North Shore Bavarian Society.
She has a passion for rural communities and history. Her ties to the Tatamagouche area go back 11 generations when her family’s ancestors were the first Montbéliard settlers there and is proud to continue to call the area her home.
Chris Googoo
Indigenous communities have long understood that economic prosperity and community wellbeing are inseparable. Drawing on Ulnooweg’s 40-year journey, Christopher Googoo will explore how social enterprise, local ownership, and Indigenous self-determination create resilient communities and keep wealth rooted where it belongs—in the community. A proud member of We’koqma’q First Nation, Christopher is the Chief Operating Officer of Ulnooweg and Executive Director of The Ulnooweg Indigenous Communities Foundation. For more than 25 years, he has championed Indigenous entrepreneurship, community development, and social finance across Atlantic Canada, while advancing initiatives that reconnect Indigenous communities with their lands, culture, and future generations.
Sarah Longlands
Dr. Sarah Longlands is the Chief Executive of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), the UK’s leading organization for community wealth building. An expert in regional and local economies with a PhD in Urban Studies from the University of Glasgow, Sarah is a passionate advocate for economic and social justice. In her keynote, she will explore how community wealth building can create more resilient local economies, increase local ownership of wealth, and help communities thrive, drawing on practical examples from the UK and beyond.