Payton Mitchell, External Relations Assistant
Bachelors of Arts in Political Science, Indigenous Studies and Sustainability
Payton grew up in the shadow of the Haldimand Tract Dispute; surrounded by the coal, oil, steel, gas and mining industries that powered her community. Seeing first hand the challenges faced by workers and their families as Ontario phased out coal, Payton moved to Montreal to pursue a degree in Canadian and Indigenous politics with a focus on sustainability with a desire to advocate for community and worker control over the green energy transition. Here, Payton was quickly swept into the budding climate strike movement where she collaborated with young people across the country to organize syndicated student protests building up to the General Strike for Climate in September 2019 .
Since then, Payton has spent her time building capacity for the student movement as a union executive while focusing her studies on understanding how to leverage narratives to motivate her home community and communities like it to demand leadership over the green energy transition that leaves no one behind.
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Iron & Earth is committed to partnering with Indigenous workers to empower their communities to become self-sufficient in training programs, clean energy transition projects, and employment opportunities to combat environmental racism.
It falls to all of us to continue the work of healing and reconciliation in our communities and our organizations. Our relationship with the land and the people who live here shapes who we are. It is in the spirit of reconciliation and honouring the past that we recognize treaties and agreements wherever they are and wherever we work.
We also acknowledge all peoples who live, work, and play on this land, and who honour and celebrate this territory.
As individuals and teams we may make mistakes along the way, but we are dedicated to growth, openness, compassion, and forgiveness. These principles in our work are essential to building successful and healthy relationships with individuals, communities, organizations, and governments.
We look forward to building a path to lead us to a better relationship with Indigenous nations and the environment around us based on peace, friendship, and respect.
