Climate Leadership from New Centre Fellows

Yolanda Clatworthy 

Yolanda Clatworthy co-founded and directs the Mitigating Wildfire Initiative as a strategic leader and facilitator focused on advancing collaborative solutions to complex social and environmental challenges.  
  
Yolanda’s leadership of the Mitigating Wildfire Initiative at SFU’s Centre for Dialogue is helping to reshape common understandings of wildfire and collaboratively generate solutions. Rather than reinforcing narratives of wildfire as an inevitability or a seasonal emergency, she instead calls for prevention and building fire-adapted futures.  In her recent presentation at the Walrus Talks Wildfires, she asked, “what stories are we telling ourselves about wildfire? And what stories should we be telling instead?”. That question highlights the approach she has championed throughout the Mitigating Wildfire Initiative, moving the conversation beyond fear and crisis towards an understanding that fire can be natural and necessary, while championing collaborative approaches to prevention and building long-term resilience.  
  
Throughout her work, Yolanda has brought together researchers, policymakers, Indigenous leaders, communities, journalists, and diverse sectors to advance our understanding and approach to building wildfire-adapted futures together. With MWI she seeks to support healthy and resilient communities and landscapes; for example, addressing the impacts of colonial land management practices on wildfire by recentering and revitalizing the critical role of Indigenous Fire Stewardship.   
  
Speaking about her new role as a Fellow at the Centre Yolanda said: “In this time of social fractures and polarization, it’s an honour to be a part of a community working to bridge divides and build collaborative solutions.”  

Elodie Jacquet 

Elodie Jacquet is a doctoral candidate in SFU's political science department, and an engagement and facilitation practitioner with over 18 years of experience.

Her work keeps returning to a question that is often easy to dodge: not just who is in the room, but whether being in the room changes anything, and if not, how can we make sure that it does? She has brought that question into several consequential engagement processes in recent Canadian history including the National Reconciliation Gatherings, the Citizens' Dialogues on Canada's Energy Future, and the guided dialogues for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 

Her co-development of the Centre's award-winning guide Beyond Inclusion: Equity in Public Engagement extended that challenge into a practical framework for practitioners who want to move past representation as a checkbox. 

Recently, her full attention has turned to climate. She has been an observer at UNFCCC COP processes since 2015, working at the edges of climate diplomacy where environmental democracy is still being negotiated. 

She co-convenes Vancouver Climate Day with the Centre for Dialogue, and continues to consult with different levels of government on deliberative citizen engagement.

On becoming a Fellow, Jacquet commented: “The Centre for Dialogue’s commitment to innovative dialogue in addressing complex policy issues has long resonated with me. I am excited about the opportunity to contribute to their work through community-engaged research on climate futures, informed by rigorous and impactful policy development.”

Leanne Sawatzky

Leanne Sawatzky is Director of Renewable Cities, a special initiative of SFU's Centre for Dialogue, and has spent 20 years supporting communities to be sustainable, livable, and climate-resilient.

At Renewable Cities, she convenes governments, industry, and community organizations around the places where climate, housing, and transportation overlap. A skilled facilitator, she uses dialogue to bring diverse groups together to co-design solutions that are durable and equitable.

“Cities are facing huge and complex interconnected issues. Dialogue is a tool that helps us make sense of these challenges and navigate complexity. The path may not yet exist. But we can listen to each other deeply to create evidence-informed, durable paths forward that uphold our common humanity.”   

While applied research and dialogue are the tools, the orientation is practical: what do people actually need to be able to move forward to address these issues?

Before joining the Centre for Dialogue, she directed international programs at the HOPE International Development Agency, working with community partners across more than 20 countries on clean water, microfinance, health, and agriculture.

Her background is in conflict transformation, with a Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation and a BSc in Global Resource Systems.