As the environmental non-profit sector continues to welcome and affirm staff from equity-deserving communities, there is a strong need for spaces where people who share these identities can discuss their joys and challenges.
Identity-based groups provide ENGO and allied non-profit staff with the opportunity to gather with peers who share their workplace challenges to build community, share strategies, and benefit from brave, virtual spaces where people can share their experiences. For the safety and comfort of participants, meetings are not recorded.
Last year we launched For BIPOC Ears Only for racialized and/or Indigenous people (people with mixed ancestry that includes White/European are very welcome). Today we re-launch this offering and announce a new For Neurodivergent Ears Only stream.
Both groups feature Monthly Community Calls, shared Google Folders, and a Discord server to keep in touch 24/7 and are facilitated by Anna-Liza Badaloo. Feel free to reach out to her anna-liza@sustainabilitynetwork.ca with any questions.
Dates: Last Thursday of each month starting February, 3-5 PM ET (Zoom Meeting)
Cost: Free
In Fall 2025 the Sustainability Network launched For BIPOC Ears Only, an identity-based group for people who identify as racialized and/or Indigenous, and work in the environmental non-profit (ENGO) sector in Canada. We also welcome racialized and/or Indigenous people who work in other non-profit sectors, and those who live in the United States.
In Fall 2025 we held three virtual meetings to start building community and now, we're ready to welcome more folks to this growing group! Word is starting to spread, and we want to support as many racialized and/or Indigenous folks as we can.
Monthly meetings resume in February and take place on the last Thursday of each month from 3 PM to 5 PM ET via Zoom. Register here to gain access to our Google Folder and Discord server and receive invitations to our monthly convenings.
Dates: Third Thursday of each month starting February, 3-5 PM ET (Zoom Meeting)
Cost: Free
Today Sustainability Network is launching For Neurodivergent Ears Only, an identity-based group for people who identify as neurodivergent and work in the environmental non-profit (ENGO) sector in Canada. We also welcome neurodivergent people who work in other non-profit sectors, and those who live in the United States.
In Winter/Spring 2026 we will begin by convening monthly meetings to start building community and co-create our shared space, then look towards creating a Google Folder to share resources and launch a Discord server to support 24/7 virtual engagement and connection.
Monthly meetings start in February and take place on the 3rd Thursday of each month from 3 PM to 5 PM ET via Zoom. Register here to receive an invite to the first meeting on February 19, where we will get to know each other, and start co-creating what we want this space to be, to best support our neurodivergent needs.
Our Presenter
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Anna-Liza Badaloo (she/her) of Anemochory Consulting is a facilitator, un-learner, and inclusive communicator. Viewing JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) through the lens of empathy, her decolonized, intersectional approach helps organizations build capacity by implementing communities of practice, trainings, and empathy-driven frameworks designed to foster organizational justice. By centering equity-deserving communities, she helps organizations understand how colonial structures impact organizational health.
Sustainability Network is also proud to be hosting For Indigenous Ears Only which is facilitated by Jocelyn Cheechoo. The current offering (starting March 2) will be announced separately in early February. Find out more about that here.
Sustainability Network also plans to launch For Queer Ears Only in the Fall to welcome people from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
The DEFNP workshop series will offer tailored programming designed to match ENGOs on their decolonial (un)learning journeys. In Spring 2026 members of the ENGO sector will be able to choose one of three workshop tracks: Introduction to Decolonization in the ENGO Sector, Advanced Decolonial Theory and Application or For Indigenous Ears Only - A Space for Reflection and Action. Each series consists of four three-hour sessions.
Collectively, Decolonizing ENGO-First Nation Partnerships fosters:
Awareness of settler colonialism and the ways it potentially harnesses civil society;
Understanding about how Canadian law such as the Indian Act and the Income Tax Act has suppressed Indigenous governance systems;
Awareness that Indigenous peoples have unique inherent political and legal systems, with which ENGOs may want to form partnerships;
A better understanding about how to navigate partnerships with Indigenous communities that promote decolonial environmentalism;
A stronger sense about how to identify and explain individual and organization social locations (i.e. positionalities) as part of ethical partnership development;
Promoting the resurgence of Indigenous self-determination in the Canadian ENGO sector.
Cost: $100 (or register 4 staff from the same organization for one stream and get the 5th registration free)
70 participants max.
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
Session 1: Settler Colonialism 101
Introduce ENGO representatives to the fact that colonization is a structure and not an event. Identifies key ways that colonialism moves through individuals and organizations.
Session 2: Positionality
ENGO representatives learn how to articulate their social location within a settler colonial state, and in relation to potential Indigenous partners.
Session 3: Inherent Indigenous Governance 101
Introduce the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues. Examples provided.
Session 4: Building Better Relations
ENGO representatives will road test ways they can implement previous workshop key points to re-imagine partnerships with Indigenous nations.
Cost: $100 (or register 4 staff from the same organization for one stream and get the 5th registration free)
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
Session 1: Diagnosing Settler Colonialism in the Enviro Sector
Participants will be asked to share ways in which they have diagnosed and traced power in social justice movements and/or in the ENGO sector. This workshop will make space for discomfort as part of promoting decolonization.
Session 2: Inherent Indigenous Governance
A mix of advanced and introductory theory, this workshop delves into legal and political pluralism, naming the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues.
Session 3: The Nonprofit Industrial Complex
ENGO participants are introduced to theories and examples describing the Nonprofit Industrial Complex and the “Shadow State.” Purpose is to show how settler colonialism structures civil society.
Session 4: Decolonizing ENGO-First Nation Partnerships
This workshop delves deep into how ENGOs can partner with Indigenous nations beyond the Nonprofit Industrial Complex while promoting deference to inherent Indigenous political leaders.
Cost: Free
The Indigenous only space will be collaborative in nature but critical in approach. This track is a space for Indigenous folks within the ENGO sector to come together to discuss their experiences and work, with an eye to taking a position on what the sector might need to do in order to promote decolonization. Participants will use the first session to define our goals for the remaining three meetings. Therefore, session topics named here are proposals only.
Session 1: Naming the Cannibal: Settler Colonialism in the ENGO Sector
Session 2: Proposed topic: Reflections on working in the ENGO Sector
Session 3: Proposed topic: Centering Indigenous Thought in the ENGO Sector
Session 4: Proposed topic: Visioning a Decolonial Environmental Sector
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