• The Beginning : I was born an only child in 1976, in the city of New Westminister to parents of South American origin. My childhood and adolescent years were spent in Coquitlam where I had my formal education in the public school system.

• My “Adult” Education begins: attended Simon Fraser University from 1994-2002 studying Anthropology/Sociology and Latin American Studies. It would take me 8 years to finish my degree as an academic crisis of representation, combined with my desire to become involved in real change as a youth, forced me to pause my studies between 1997 and 2000.

• Fatherhood: In 2001 I became a father for the first time and then again in 2004 for the second. Dedicating part my life to raising my amazing children, my spouse and I spent much time sacrificing our own personal freedoms and time to ensure our children were not raised alone. I gave up many things including my desire to launch a professional music career and play amateur Rugby but felt this was the best decision for our children.

• The Re-birth: In 2007, after working many years in the tour industry with my father, I returned to school finishing a Diploma in Family and Community Counselling at the Native Education College. This would lead to me 12 years of work in Social services as a support worker, youth worker and community developer. In this time, I discovered the great failures of the social service system and the unfortunate cracks that often lead people into loneliness and despair. In 2020 with the COVID era in full effect, I decided it was time to move on and find something new.

• Rebirth 2 and Today In 2008 I had became actively involved in growing food at Colony Farms Community Gardens (now ƛ̓éxətəm (tla-hut-um) and started a Youth Gardening program at Spirit of the Children Society that lasted for 2 seasons. My spouse, being the daughter of indigenous farmers in Chile and having practiced sheep herding and gardening herself, joined me and my children in producing our own supply of amazing food which we do to this day. This experience lead me to my journey now in looking for a way to impart this knowledge onto the future. It is the reason that I have decided to embark on my PIDP journey.