Peter Schiefke-National Manager

In February of 2009, Montreal native and proud TCP presenter Peter Schiefke joined The Climate Project Canada with a broad background in grassroots mobilization in the field of sustainable development. As the previous Executive Director of Concordia Volunteer Abroad Program, a non-profit volunteer organization he co-founded in 2004, Peter worked extensively with hundreds of volunteers in Northern Uganda developing and supervising reconstruction and community re-engagement activities using only sustainable methods to ensure harmony with the people and the ecosystem.

He returned to Canada and co-founded Youth Action Montreal, an organization aimed at mobilizing students to take greater action to combat climate change in their communities. The crowning achievement of Youth Action Montreal was a summit on climate change held in the spring of 2007 entitled “Less Talk, More Action”. The conference drew over 5,000 participants from eastern Canada and featured for the first time together, keynote speakers Nobel Laureate Al Gore and Dr. David Suzuki.

In the spring of 2008 Peter was selected as a trainee of Al Gore to present a live version of the slide show featured in the movie An Inconvenient Truth. Six months following the training Peter took this call for action across Canada as the Director of the Students For Sustainability Tour, a joint collaboration between various labour unions, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Sierra Youth Coalition, and the David Suzuki Foundation. This unprecedented Tour stopped at 21 universities and attracted tens of thousands of students in just over 30 days. Peter’s work has garnered him various public service commendations and awards including the Forces Avenir Award for Peace, Justice, and Humanitarian Aid in 2008. Peter has a BA in Political Science from Concordia University & is pursuing an MSc in Renewable Resource Management, Specialization Environmental Impact Assessment, from McGill University.

Andrea Foster-Outreach Manager

Andrea is the newest addition to the TCPC staff, having come on board in April 2009 as Outreach Manager. Her core focus leading up the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver is managing David Suzuki’s Play It Cool program, which involves elite summer and winter athletes and Olympians reducing their carbon footprint and also going carbon neutral with Gold Standard offsets. This program recently shifted from the David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) to TCPC, where Andrea will expand its mandate within the broad outreach potential of TCPC. While with DSF, Andrea also researched and authored a Community Action Climate Change Toolkit, which will be published soon and available for download from www.davidsuzuki.org.

Prior to her work with DSF, Andrea oversaw strategic planning, outreach, facilitation, research and publication authoring for The Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario in Toronto. She also worked in Edinburgh for Friends of the Earth Scotland on campaign development, research, report authoring, and lobbying the EU Parliament on REACH – the successful campaign for more stringent EU-wide chemicals registration and authorization. Andrea has a BA in History & Political Science from the University of New Brunswick and a MA in Communication and Culture from York University.

Audrey Dépault- Presentation & Presenter Support Coordinator

Audrey is currently completing her undergraduate degree with a major in Political Science, at Concordia University. After volunteering in Uganda with the Concordia Volunteer Abroad Program in 2006, she got involved in various student groups at Concordia University, including the Political Science Student Association and Amnesty International Concordia. She is currently the Vice-President of Finance for the Arts and Science Federation of Associations. As an intern at the Climate Project Canada, Audrey coordinates presentations and provides support to Canadian presenters. She intends to pursue her studies with a Master’s degree in climate change and development.

Daniel Lavigueur-Intern

Daniel is the newest member of the TCPC Montreal team and brings much passion and energy to the table. He currently holds a BA in Human Environment and intends to pursue a Master’s degree in International Development Studies. After volunteering in Uganda with the Concordia Volunteers Abroad Program, Daniel co-founded a non-profit organization called The Mercy Project which provides health care to many disadvantaged children in east Africa. Daniel currently serves as chair of The Mercy Project and aspires to one day be a world leader in sustainable community development.

Presenter Regional Mentors:

The Climate Project's volunteer leadership consists of Regional mentors who serve the staff in an advisory capacity, and District Managers, who supervise and coordinate presenters in their area.

• Judy Fainstein, Lead Mentor, (British Columbia) judy@yesbc.ca
• Victoria Serda, Lead Mentor, (Ontario) victoria@climateprojectcanada.org
• Peter Corbyn, Lead Mentor, (Maritimes) peter@climateprojectcanada.org