SWITCH
Skateboarding With Intent To CHange
WITH PANELISTS
Jonah Bayley
When Jonah Bayley started skateboarding in January 2019, he noticed something was missing in Vancouver’s skate scene. Although traditional skate park environments were intimidating (especially for a visibly queer beginner), almost every Vancouver skateboarding event was geared towards binary gender identities. Jonah started Vancouver Queer Skate with the intention of building a safe space for people of all orientations and gender identities to learn to skateboard, and to build a network of allies to ensure that queer people felt included in the Vancouver skateboarding scene. He has since hosted several meetups and partnered with other community groups to introduce countless new people to the new and exciting world of inclusive skateboarding.
Joe Buffalo
A direct descendent of Pitikwahanpiwiyin (Poundmaker) Joe Buffalo is from Maskwacis, Alberta (Samson Cree Nation). He has been skateboarding most of his life and is not slowing down anytime soon. Joe is a residential school survivor having attended one of Canada’s last standing Residential Schools for five years. Residential Schools are now known for genocide. Joe survived this destructive institution, and a lot of Indigenous children didn’t. His first memory of skateboarding was seeing his older cousins building launch ramps and watching them skate. Skateboarding has helped Joe overcome adversity throughout his life by helping him focus on a positive activity that not only kept him busy but also challenged him to grow. Now pro for Colonialism Skateboards, Joe is using his story and abilities to inspire a new generation of First Nations skateboarder. www.colonialism.ca
Kristin Ebeling
Kristin Ebeling holds an undergraduate degree in history from University of Washington and is a lifelong skateboarder. She currently serves as Executive Director of Skate Like a Girl, a non-profit organization that reaches over 7,000 skaters in Seattle, Portland, and SF Bay each year. Her experience as a youth mentor, skater, and activist, informs her unique approach to improving equity in access in skateboarding, inspiring nontraditional skaters globally. Kristin founded the Wheels of Fortune event weekend, co-founded The Skate Witches zine, and also contributes regularly to the Vent City Podcast and various skateboarding media outlets.
Joel Pippus
Joel is a certified Child and Youth Care Counselor who has been working at Hull Services since 2010. He has extensive experience working with children who have experienced trauma and abuse, exhibit severe behaviors, and struggle with mental health challenges. Joel founded the Push To Heal project in 2015, connecting skateboarding and neuroscience as a treatment alternative for high needs young people. He released a film under the same name in 2018 as a tool for advocacy and to aid organizations in using skateboarding intentionally and skillfully in the work they are doing. Joel's goal is to continue to build the Push To Heal project, eventually establishing a skate-based treatment and education center.
John Rattray
John is a former professional skateboarder from Aberdeen, Scotland. In his early twenties John rode for the legendary Blueprint Skateboards, before moving to California where he joined the handrail chomping, gap slaying crew over at Jamie Thomas’, Zero Skateboards. A decade passed, filled with video parts, tours, signings, photos and interviews, before John’s sister tragically took her own life. This event prompted him to quit being a pro skater. In 2017, 6-years after his sister passed — when the searing, gut-wrenching pain of losing someone that close to you had finally settled a little — Rattray embarked on an annual fundraising quest for mental health in memory of his sister, Katrina.
CURATED BY
Rose Archie
Rose Archie is 37 and hails from Tsq’escemcl (Canim Lake BC). She started skateboarding in 1992 and found it to be the best medicine for the soul. Having been born and raised on a reserve in the interior of BC, she spent her teen years hitchhiking 1-2 hours to skateboard at the nearest skatepark. Through this experience she made a connection with the skateboard community that would last the rest of her life. She is the founder of an All Womxn skateboard contest called “Stop, Drop and Roll” and created the annual event to inspire and encourage a positive environment for all womxn. When she is not skateboarding she is spending time with her family and making an effort to carry on her culture and traditions as to pass them down to the next generation.
-8_edited.jpg)
Everett Tetz
Everett Tetz is the Manager of Community Outreach for New Line Skateparks and is a former junior high Vice Principal with the Red Deer Public School District. In 2015, he founded Academy Skateboard Collective, an organization that connects marginalized populations to their communities by providing mentorship, training, and support, through school-based skateboard programming and outreach. He has a breadth of experience working with high risk youth and currently sits on the provincial Diversity, Equity and Human Rights committee. Everett has a passion for re-thinking the way we connect with youth and believes that their involvement in education and community needs to be meaningful and authentic. In 2013, Everett created Skate Class - a school based skateboarding education program that is the first of its kind in North America with it’s own locally approved curriculum. Everett continues to work hard at promoting Skate Class on a international scale partnering with schools and/or community groups interested in developing their own program.
