SOGI UBC 2SLGBTQ+ Teacher Candidate Mentorship Program

Myriam Dumont

Myriam Dumont is a Queer elementary school teacher librarian in North Vancouver. She has been teaching since 2008 and graduated from UBC with her masters in Society, culture and politics in Education in 2010. She is also a sexual health educator and did her training with options for sexual health. She was born and raised in Vancouver and currently lives in east Vancouver with her two incredible kiddos ages 5 and 8.

Vanessa Marie

Vanessa Marie is a queer, cisgender, settler of Ukranian and Irish ancestry living and working on the traditional and unceded territories of the skwxwú7mesh and shíshálh peoples on BC’s Sunshine Coast. She is an elementary teacher-counsellor in SD46 and a clinical counsellor in private practice. She has experience teaching in a variety of roles from K-12, as well as in rural and Indigenous contexts in Northern BC and Québec. She is the SD46 SOGI district lead, and is a passionate advocate in all areas of social justice. In her personal time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, being in nature, keeping active, and exploring her creativity.

Chanelle Tye

Chanelle Tye (she/her) is an out queer intermediate English teacher on the unceded, rightful territory of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam peoples. She is an immigrant and settler, reader and writer of poetry, serial plant killer, and certified kitchen dancer. Chanelle is currently finishing her Masters in Equity Studies at SFU while on leave from SD 93 (Le Conseil scolaire francophone).

Trevana Spilchen

Trevana Spilchen is Trans feminine settler educator, parent, musician and spoken word artist of Ukrainian and Irish decent. They are the SOGI coordinator for the Delta School District and teach Social Justice 12 and Music at Delview secondary. Trevana has a Masters in Social Justice Leadership in Education from UBC and has been facilitating workshops on gender all over the province for the last 5 years and co-chairs the Committee For Action on Social Justice of the BCTF. As Spillious they won the 2017 Grand Slam Championship of the Vancouver Poetry slam and finished 6^th at the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Finals.

Glen Hansman

Glen Hansman (he/him/his) is currently an elementary resource teacher at a public school in Vancouver. He is a past president of the BC Teachers’ Federation, and has collaborated with representatives of other K-12 provincial organizations, government, and various unions to attain improvements in the rights and experiences of 2SLGBTQ+ youth and adults in schools and workplaces. He was the chair of BC’s K-12 Aboriginal Education Partners, and was directly involved in BC’s recent curriculum redesign. Glen also helped develop and implement the Vancouver School Board’s first SOGI policy, and was the district’s first anti-homophobia consultant. Glen has a M.A. from UBC.  

Jesse Halton

Oki tsanitapii! My name is Jesse Halton. My mum is Piikani and my father is British and Scandinavian. I have worked in Aboriginal Education since I convocated from the University of Alberta, Faculté Saint Jean with a Baccalauréat en Éducation in 2004.  I have some traditional transferred ceremonial rights and have gained knowledge throughout the years from elders, family, local knowledge keepers, mentors, and youth. I love making art, traditional hand-work, and gardening.! I work in School District 8 Kootenay Lake as an Aboriginal Academic Success Teacher and as a District Indigenization Coordinators. Our work aims to deliver Indigenous content across the curriculum from K-12, and to support Indigenous heritage students to be successful.

Shanee Prasad

Shanee Prasad is a South Asian settler woman, living on the unceded territory of Musqueam, Coast Salish and Tsleil- Waututh peoples. Her parents are immigrants from the Fiji Islands, arriving on these unceded territories in the early 70s. Shanee is a Burnaby teacher, having taught Secondary Social Studies and Alternate Education. Currently she is serving her first term as 2nd Vice President of the Burnaby Teachers’ Association, a local of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation. She has bachelor’s degree in Political Science, a diploma in Special Education and Master of Education in Equity Studies from Simon Fraser University, with a focus on Anti-Racist curriculum and policy. 

As an active member of the British Columbia’s Teachers’ Federation, Shanee has led necessary union discussions on anti-racist policy and process to strengthen the workplace rights of BIPOC educators. Shanee continues her anti-racism advocacy as the president of the Anti-Oppression Educators Collective, a provincial specialist association of the BCTF.  She has been recently elected as the BCFederation of Labour Worker of Colour Representaive, for a third term, where she continues her advocacy for improved working conditions for BIPOC folx.

Allan Lee

I am a School Counsellor working in the Richmond School District.  I completed my graduate training at Qmunity and HIM and my post graduate diploma in Complex Trauma & Child Abuse at JIBC.  Currently I’m a member of the District SOGI Advisory Committee. 

I maintain a private practice as a RCC and work within a trauma informed framework using body centred and art therapy modalities.  I work extensively with adolescents who have substance use and abuse histories.  In addition, I work with members of the LGBTQ2S+ community on a range of issues including relationships, transitioning, and trauma using an anti-oppressive approach. I live in Steveston with my husband, 2 year old daughter, and adopted pug.

Tanya Boteju

Tanya (she/her) is a teacher and writer living on the stolen territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. She completed her BA and BEd at UBC, a Masters in Educational Leadership through Columbia University’s Teachers College, and a Creative Writing diploma through Simon Fraser University’s Writer’s Studio. Part-time, she teaches English to clever and sassy young people and is the SOGI Lead at York House School. She was also thrilled to recently work with UBC teacher candidates on exploring SOGI through an intersectional and anti-racist lens. With the rest of her time, Tanya writes. Her novel, Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens, was named a Top Ten Indie Next Pick by the American Booksellers Association. Her newest YA novel, Bruised, has been selected as a Gold Standard book by the Junior Library Guild and a 2022 Rainbow List Book by the American Library Association. In both teaching and writing, she is committed to complex, diverse representation.