Laura S. Lynes, LLM

Laura threads connection into action. She brought together Indigenous communities, NGOs, academia, government, and industry to reach 100,000+ people on the front lines of climate impacts with innovative programming that weaves Indigenous ways of knowing with western sciences. Together with the Canadian Red Cross, she developed and launched Roots for Resilience – the first-of-its-kind multimillion-dollar program that brings good practices in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction to rural and Indigenous communities. Her “Stories of Resilience” program elevated diverse voices across Canada with one exhibition being viewed by 15 million+ visitors at Banff’s Cave and Basin National Historic Site. Laura also developed a new framework, “Reflecting on our Relations – Good Practices in Weaving Science and Indigenous Ways of Knowing”, reminding everyone that resilience is as much about listening as it is about doing, and is one of only 3 Canadians on a team of 78 global experts supporting the development of indicators towards the UN Global Goals on Adaptation and Climate Resilience.