Vanessa Gray

Divestment Campaign Coordinator

Vanessa Gray is a queer Anishinaabe Kwe from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. She is a water protector, environmental researcher, and community organizer for the Great Lakes region. Vanessa is a respected land defender emphasizing Indigenous peoples inherent and legal rights and sovereignty within climate justice. She continues to take part in a diversity of strategies, including calls on Concordia University to divest from fossil fuels, co-hosting Toxic Tours, and direct actions in solidarity with land defenders on Wet'suwet'en territory who continue to oppose the Coastal Gas Pipeline. 

As a researcher, Vanessa is well known for her environmental justice work on pollution in Ontario’s Chemical Valley – a petrochemical hub on her territory and surrounding her community of Aamjiwnaang First Nation. She is the co-founder of Aamjiwnaang and Sarnia Against Pipelines (ASAP), Porcupine Warriors, and co-lead of the Environmental Data Justice (EDJ) Lab, which produces tools to visualize the relationship between colonialism, data, and pollution such as the Pollution Reporter App. Aamjiwnaang community member’s constant exposure to harmful emissions results in some of the highest mortality rates for cancers and respiratory diseases in Ontario. Vanessa has dedicated her life to challenging colonial violence and its impacts on environmental health.