Meet RC’s New Team Members!
Jul 30, 2020In the midst of COVID-19, we have welcomed four interns and volunteers across North America to our RC team. We are incredibly excited to see the value they provide to our work in Canada and beyond this summer.
Shay L. Downey
Systems Change and Social Innovation Associate
Ancestry: Cherokee Nation of Tahlequah, Oklahoma
What does reconciliation mean to you?
Reconciliation includes an acknowledgment of past injustices to move forward toward a future with shared prosperity for all.
What is your favourite part about working at RC right now?
I love the opportunity for engaged scholarship while I apply my interest in Systems Change to the work of economic reconciliation for Indigenous Peoples of Canada. As I am living in Florida, USA, I am incredibly grateful for current technology and the ability to work with RC while being so far away.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
I am an opera-singing rugby player!
What is your current favourite quote?
“Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Katelynne Herchak
Community Engagement Coordinator
Ancestry: Inuk from Kuujjuaq, QC with ties to Nunavut & Nunatsiavut
What does reconciliation mean to you?
Reconciliation means love to me, to love yourself and to love people wherever they are in their path.
What is your favourite part about working at RC right now?
What I enjoy about working at RC is like it feels like I’m working with family and it’s a great feeling.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
I have two fun facts, one is that I was Miss Vancouver Island 2015 and the second is that Nelson Mandela and I are birthday twins!
What is your current favourite quote?
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” – Nelson Mandela
Adrienne Ahn
Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Ancestry: Korean-Canadian
What does reconciliation mean to you?
Reconciliation involves a process of unlearning and relearning the truth. It is about using your mind, body, and heart to find peace within yourself and others around you.
What is your favourite part about working at RC right now?
I love getting to know the people in this team and sharing dialogue, stories, and mutual respect for each other.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
I presented on SDG 5 and intergenerational equity during last year’s UN HLPF in New York!
What is your current favourite quote?
“Water teaches four important lessons: what you see is often your projection, what is soft can also be powerful, persistence can break barriers, change is always happening.” – Yung Pueblo
Jim P
Marketing and Communications Volunteer
Ancestry: Caucasian/Asian (Chinese)
What does reconciliation mean to you?
To me, reconciliation is foremost a process and a commitment to that process. It’s rooted in compassion, respect, and humanity and is marked by truth, justice, forgiveness, healing, and love.
What is your favourite part about working at RC right now?
I’m incredibly grateful for the values-based approach that RC utilizes in its actions and purpose. It’s centred on bringing people together and working towards shared prosperity, which has helped me in processing and understanding our society’s dialogues on social and racial injustices.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
I was born and raised in the Texas Hill Country!
What is your current favourite quote?
“Reconciliation, really, at the heart of it all is this idea of love – of loving yourself and loving others.” – Chief Joseph