Our Team
Learn more about the team behind the Oak Bay Community Green Map!
Jessica Joseph
Jessica Joseph is a Songhees Nation community member and is the community liaison and graphic design lead for the Oak Bay Community Green Map Project. Jessica is currently the Arts and Community Engagement Coordinator with the Living Lab Project and liaison with School District#61 Indigenous Education. She is immersed in regional youth and schools programming, cultural restoration and art, and inspired by plants and traditional stories. Jessica recently completed an outdoor mural and classroom project with Margaret Jenkins and has created visualizations, archaeological and artistic rendering of her lək̓ʷəŋən / Songhees peoples heritage where Oak Bay is situated.
Graphic Design Lead
Sam Mason
Lead Mapping Consultant
Community mapper with a background in accessibility & GIS systems. Passionate about mapping as a tool for social and environmental change. Past projects include BC Community Asset Map (CLBC) and the Complete Communities project (CSPC), situating me nicely to assist with the OBCGM.
MA Student @ UVic, Department of Geography.
Chris Poirier-Skelton
Liaison between the Board and the Green Mapping Project. Member and Chair of the Board of the Gordon Head Community Association for 11 years. Previous Director of Community Development for United Way Victoria. Long experience in spearheading Community Mapping Projects across Victoria.
Maeve Lydon
co-chairing the current OBCGM Steering Ctte; she coordinated the first the Oak Bay Community Green Map project 20 years ago and other neighborhood /regional planning-mapping projects including the City of Victoria Greenways Plan and the Shelbourne Valley Visions (Corridor Project) which involved extensive multi-sector public engagement and low-high tech /GIS mapping. She is currently the Program Director for the Living Lab Project between UVic/Camosun, schools and the community which supports eco-cultural restoration, land-based learning/healing and Indigenous resurgence. (www.livinglabproject.ca)
Dr. Shelley Cook
Executive Director of Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria (CSPC), a trusted and respected charitable and non-profit organization serving the region for 90 years. CSPC promotes the use of different forms of mapping to better understand and address important social, health, and environmental issues impacting the region. Examples of this work include the UBCM funded 'Complete Communities' project with Oak Bay and four other local municipalities, the development of an online Community Mapping Atlas as a repository of community mapping data, and our work convening community mapping groups including the Common Ground Mapping Project dating back to the 1990’s.
Wendy E. Brawer
Founding director of Green Map System, a locally-led community sustainability mapping movement that has impacted 65 countries. The Oak Bay Green Map is a favorite and often included in her talks. Now open source, the Green Map Platform, iconography and engagement resources are freely available via GreenMap.org. Based in NYC, Wendy’s honors include being a TED Resident and the Designer in Residence at Smithsonian National Design Museum. Wendy is on the Trust for Governors Island board, and she is involved in climate design, energy and infrastructure reuse projects, as seen at WendyBrawer.com
Ian Graeme
Ian Graeme, BSF, retired forester and a former director in the Province’s water stewardship program. Founder and current co-chair of Friends of Bowker Creek Society. Small business owner and adventurer.
Tom Croft
BA Sociology UVIC, Business and Marketing BCIT, former Bank Manager, retired Realtor, founding President of Community Association of Oak Bay, former Councillor District of Oak Bay.
Crystal Tremblay
Associate Professor/Co-chair of the Map Shop in the Department of Geography and Director of CIFAL Victoria, a United Nations accredited research and training centre hosted at the University of Victoria. She is also the academic lead of the Salish Sea Hub, an initiative of the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research Knowledge 4 Change global consortium, building leadership and capacity in community-driven research addressing the UN SDGs and the UN DRIP. Crystal has led community mapping courses and projects for over a decade.
Carol Hartwig
MSc., retired Wildlife biologist, commercial beekeeper, environmental advocate having worked and volunteered on various projects in southern Alberta and southeastern British Columbia and Vancouver Island.
Charlotte Bowman
Charlotte Bowman was born and raised in Oak Bay and spends her time volunteering with various ecological restoration projects around the CRD and current secretary of Friends of Uplands Park. She has her MSc in Earth and Ocean Science from UVic.
John Lutz
Professor of History at the University of Victoria with a particular interest in local history, including the Douglas Treaties, and historical mapping. He is currently working with the Songhees, Esquimalt and Tsawout communities as part of their land title/treaty negotiations. John has supported many community mapping projects and campus- community partnerships for many years including serving as the UVic liaison for the first Oak Bay Community Green Map.
Rachael Scarth
Rachael Scarth PhD; retired from research administration at UVic, formerly professor in plant science at Univ of Manitoba; long time supporter of environmental education, current co-chair of Friends of Bowker Creek Society.