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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Elle Jingjing Xu

Speaker: Elle Jingjing Xu, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland

Presentation: "Conservation Criminology and First Insights from Wildlife Crime Prevention in Vietnam"

Bio: Elle is a first-year Ph.D. student in Geographical Sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is also a research assistant at Prof. Meredith Gore’s Conservation. Criminology Lab. In 2020, Elle obtained her master’s degree in Environmental Policy from Duke University with research focused on the conservation of giant pandas, animal behaviour studies, and wildlife protection laws and policies. In 2022, Elle joined Wildlife Conservation. Society (WCS China) Countering Wildlife Trafficking program as an international enforcement cooperation specialist, working on liaising with governmental agencies, NGOs, and other stakeholders to collaborate on transboundary wildlife trafficking cases. Her current research interests are understanding place-network in wildlife trafficking, environmental crimes and one health, and human-wildlife co-existence.