Melanie Goodchild, moose clan, is a member of Biigtigong Nishnaabeg First Nation in Northern Ontario. She is the founder of the Turtle Island Institute, an Indigenous social innovation think & do tank (a teaching lodge). In her work, she weaves together her unique perspectives of Anishinaabe gikendaasowin (knowledge) with systems thinking/complexity theory and social innovation to address our society’s most intractable problems. Melanie believes in the teaching methods of her ancestors, in “coming to know” on the land, and so she supports initiatives that seek to connect people to ceremony, story, art, language and the land.

Melanie shared her work with our community of co-creators during the Session 7 Lab, titled Relational Systems Thinking in April 2021.