Lindsay Harris, PhD
I’m an anthropologist interested in agriculture and food systems, affordable housing, community economic development, rural and small city resilience, and grassroots community decision making. I love being involved in complex projects all the way from conceptualization to implementation. I’m interested in practical, pragmatic tools that help community organizations get initiatives off the ground as well as the deep thinking and imagining work we need to become people who are able to respond to the fundamental challenges of the times we’re living in.
I see the world through an ethnographic lens. Ethnography is a qualitative, immersive research method. It’s a way of making embedded observations about our own lives and the lives of people around us, understanding the world through a holistic perspective that respects how we’re all embedded in complex, interconnected systems. Ethnography is poetic in the sense that it enables us to be really attuned to both the ordinary and the unexpected things around us. It requires us to be willing to be transformed by what we’re learning, or as Octavia Butler says: “All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you.”
In addition to my work at Tapestry, I do community-based research and community development work as the Food Policy Implementation Lead for the Kamloops Food Policy Council. I am also the co-founder and President of the Propolis Cooperative Housing Society, a non-profit cooperative with a vision to build affordable, sustainable housing in the Kamloops region. I hold a PhD from the University of British Columbia Okanagan (2021), where I am an adjunct professor in the Community, Culture and Global Studies department and teach courses in anthropology. As an instructor, I focus on care-based, critical pedagogy practices that emphasize student self-assessment, meta-cognition, and experiential learning – practices that I also apply in my own life as a parent and as a neurodiverse person.
Robyn McLean, MSc
I am a change weaver and thought leader, doing on the ground work through facilitation, community-based research, and deep reflection. I see myself at the intersection of the world that we want to move toward, and the world that we currently live in. My mission is to research and practice new ways of living and working, while not losing sight of what we have learned and mastered as humans. My vision is to build systems for belonging, with deeper connections ourselves, other humans, the web of life, and the land.
I have been working in the field of evaluation, applied research and strategy for two decades, most of them as an independent consultant. I have led dozens of evaluation and applied research projects, with a particular focus on collaboration and systems-level change. In addition to being a founding member and worker owner of Tapestry Collective Co-op, I host courses, a podcast and other capacity building through our sister organization Weaving the Future. Past roles include working as an applied research coordinator at the University of Alberta, an internal evaluator with Alberta Health Services, and as part of a team building research capacity of the National Council of Educational Research and Training in India. I have a Master of Science in Health Promotion from the University of Alberta.
I am striving for a life that feels more connected, compassionate, meaningful and sacred, and am actively living the questions of how we can live and work in radically different ways. I have been involved in several grassroots communal living projects, and organize Belonging Gatherings in my home in the Cowichan Valley. also a musician, a mother, a dancer and a lover of tarot. I have attended and created festivals since I was very young, and feel we can learn a lot from them about how to bring celebration and collaboration into our lives
Bonnie Klohn, MA
I am grateful to be a settler in Secwepemcúl’ecw, and share a deep sense of roots and responsibilities, as a member of a family that has lived on this land for six generations. As part of my learning journey about what it means to be a co-conspirator in decolonization, in 2020 I completed a Masters of Art Education from Concordia University with a research specialization in the expression of Indigenous Food Sovereignty through socially-engaged art. I have been involved in the food movement in Kamloops and beyond since 2007, and have had the opportunity to participate in community based projects and collaborative exploratory governance models through this work.
My professional background is in community planning and development, systems level change initiatives, housing, clean energy, and community economic development. In my work with Tapestry, I have had the pleasure of continuing my engagement in food systems work as well as gender equity research, arts based community engagement, anti-oppressive research, community facilitation, and evaluation.
I am also the steward of Rabbitbrush Urban Farm and Tannery, which is my backyard garden urban micro livestock operation, including chickens, rabbits and bees. I am a natural hide tanner and I delight in pursuing my ancestral Scottish and English hide tanning practices, working mostly with local sheep, rabbit and fish skins to create textiles, rugs and leather.
Krista Macaulay, MCP
I am an urban planner with a focus on social advocacy, food security, and sustainability. With my strong technical foundation and passion for community, I seek to bridge quantitative and qualitative analysis for systems level change. Knowing that a map only shows sidewalks and not its bumps and cracks - I approach projects with the hope of amplifying the underrepresented users and voices of our cities. My goal is to co-create more liveable and connected spaces for all.
I have a Master’s of City Planning from the University of Manitoba. For over a decade, my planning experience has brought me to engage with community, Indigenous, and regional planning, research, and policy projects in the public, private, and non-profit sectors in Manitoba and British Columbia. I am skilled in technical and plain language communication for public audiences and have a strong graphic design skill set and aptitude for data visualization. I believe that good communication leads to better understanding, leaving a way for us to build a just and happy city together. As Jane Jacobs writes, “cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
The passion, joy, and intensity I bring to my work stems from my family. Children are doorways to community and guide us to deeper connections with ourselves and our neighbours. They are a constant reminder of the importance of my work and offer me endless motivation to strive for better. Outside of my work I am deeply involved as a volunteer with my children’s school and extracurricular activities. If not at school, the community centre, or work, you can find me in a kitchen. A true food enthusiast, I am either creating, sharing, or indulging in new recipes with my family, friends, and neighbours.