Sheila Boudreau, Principal
Principal Landscape Architect + Planner, OALA, APALA, CSLA, RPP/OPPI, MCIP
Sheila is the Founder and Principal Landscape Architect + Planner at SpruceLab Inc., a transdisciplinary planning and landscape architecture firm, based in Toronto and Edmonton. She has over 3 decades of experience following degrees in Landscape Architecture, Fine Art, and a Master of Arts in Planning. In 2020, she established SpruceLab to be collaborative and nature-based with a community focus, and the intention to prioritize Indigenous voices to honour her Mi’kmaq ancestors in this work.
Professional experience includes: Senior Landscape Architect at Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Urban Designer at City of Toronto (working across Divisions on projects she initiated and co-led, including Indigenous placekeeping, and Toronto Green Streets), Landscape Architect at DTAH, (projects included Waterfront Toronto Water's Edge Promenade, Evergreen Brick Works, numerous university, institutional, commercial, and public art projects), and Parks Services Landscape Designer at the City of Waterloo (including co-leading public participation in high profile projects). A sessional instructor, she has taught at Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Waterloo, and University of Toronto.
Sheila was a member of the 20023/24 Task Force on Housing and Climate (supported by PLACE Centre at Smart Prosperity Institute), and a co-lead for a Climate Risk Institute’s net-zero training module on governance for Engineers Canada. She was on the jury for the 2022 Niagara Biennial Design Awards, and sits on the Board of Directors for the Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation, and the Board of Advisors for Toronto Metropolitan University Urban Water Research Centre. She initiated and co-founded two paid training programs to introduce Indigenous Peoples to opportunities in the green infrastructure sector: Earth Tending (with funding from Miziwe Biik), and previously, Nikibii Dawadinna Giigwag (high school youth). In her local community, she was on the Technical Team of the Friends of Small’s Creek, focused on ecological restoration for a rare urban wetland (The Friends received a 2022 OALA award for Community Service to the Environment). In 2019, she received the G. Raymond Chang Outstanding Volunteer Award for her service to the Toronto Metropolitan University community. Currently, she is writing a children’s book on the importance of nature / green infrastructure in cities, for ages 8-12 (OwlKids Books). Sheila leads all work at the firm, and oversees all projects.
Select Talks, Podcasts, Films
Ontario Urban Forest Council, 2021 Ontario Urban Forest Summit, Essential Nature, Reimagining the Urban Forest in a Post-Covid World. ‘Forests, First Peoples, and Future Cities’. A talk about climate change, and the need to look both back and forwards in planning for resilient communities. (Nov. 2021).
Ontario Professional Planners Institute 2021 Conference. ‘Worldview Bridging: Improving Indigenous Engagement’. Sheila created a panel (Gary Pritchard, Lisa Prime, and Nadia Dowhaniuk) to discuss the skills, knowledge, and relationships needed to better bridge worldviews with Indigenous Treaty Rights holders and Peoples.
Sustainability Stories podcast conversation series by Sage Sustainable Solutions, featuring the stories behind the people and projects who are working to make our world a more sustainable, equitable and healthy place to live. (Conversation with Sheila posted Feb. 16, 2021).
Canadian Society of Landscape Architects 2021 Conference, ‘Virtual Site Tour’: ‘A walk and a chat with Landscape Architect Sheila Boudreau and Sian David’. A short film made to raise awareness of the importance of natural spaces in urban environments, and as the inaugural film for the Small’s Creek Love YouTube channel Sheila initiated.
Sheila co-hosted Canadian Council for Urbanism webinar series ‘Bold Ideas for Resilient City Design’, ‘Access to Nature’ panel regarding the importance of planning and designing for these critical connections for all (Sept. 2020)
Ontario Professional Planners Institute 2020 Conference, ‘Finding A Place in Evolving Communities’ Panel discussion created by Sheila, with Dr. Angela Mashford Pringle (University of Toronto), Amber Quail (educator, Wandering Spirit School), and Dr. Janice Berry (University of Waterloo), on the subject of planning decolonization: Including Indigenous voices in planning, Indigenous ways of being and knowing, and what this means to the planning profession (Oct. 2020).
‘A Living Practice: Landscape Adaptations’ lecture, Daniels Faculty Lectures, Fall 2020, on Sheila’s experiences and thoughts about her career path as a landscape architect and planner.
‘Planting New Seeds: A Conversation about Indigenous Healing Gardens’, hosted by Sheila, the 3rd event of the ‘Indigenous Initiatives’ Knowledge Keeper Speaker Series, Summer, 2020, led by Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University (renaming underway), with Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger and Dr. Wendy Makoons Geniusz, who discuss the language surrounding plants and the shared Indigenous knowledge of their healing effects.
DesignLIFES, Design of Living Infrastructure for Ecosystem Services, is an interdisciplinary, cross-university research series led by four universities (U. of Toronto, Ryerson U, St.Mary’s U., and U. of Saskatchewan) focused on the advancing education in green infrastructure. Sheila was on the opening panel to share her career path and insights (June, 2020).
Sheila’s green infrastructure work at the City of Toronto was profiled (with an interview with her), in the documentary film Urban Resilience Toronto , 04/Rethinking our Vision of Urbanism. Director: Chrystelle Maechler (2019). See information about the film here.
Open During Construction podcast - ‘We’re All Settlers’ (2018). Sheila was interviewed about her work, as part of conversation about the intersection of planning and engineering.
‘Rain, Roads and Runoff: Implementing Green Streets in the Urban Landscape’. RAIN Community Solutions (of Green Communities Canada) invited Sheila Boudreau and her Toronto Water Senior Engineer colleague, Patrick Cheung, to present at a expert workshop on: Toronto Green Streets: Building a Resilient City Through Green Infrastructure (March, 2016).
2015 - 2019, Grey to Green Conference, Toronto. Sheila was a repeat speaker at the annual conference held to promote dialogue and advance innovation and knowledge sharing in the green infrastructure sector.
2015 Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainable Communities Conference. ‘Green Stormwater Infrastructure: Save Money, reduce flood risk, and protect our water’. (Feb. 2015). Sheila spoke on a panel about integrating green infrastructure into the urban fabric such as opportunities in the right-of-way with Complete Streets.
Publications:
“The Toronto Green Infrastructure Youth Hackathon” (upcoming, 2023). With: Kate Nelischer, Patrick Cheung, and Angela Murphy. In: Partners in Planning: University-Community Partnerships in Planning Education, Section 3: Tying it all Together in Practice, Case Studies. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Round Table: ‘Decolonizing Landscape Architecture’, Ground, Vol. 57, Spring 2022. With: Terence Radford, Trophic Design.
‘Conservation Through Indigenous Treaty Revival: Duffin’s Creek, Williams Treaties Area’. (upcoming, 2022). With: Gary Pritchard. In: A Landscape Approach, From Local Communities to Territorial Systems. International Landscape Collaborative.
‘Preparing Students for Interdisciplinary Work: Green Infrastructure Curricula at Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada’. ). With: Gary Pritchard, Nina-Marie Lister, and Gareth Gransaull. In: Smart Cities Policies and Financing Handbook, Amsterdam: Elsivier Inc.
‘Water is Life’, Ground, Vol.55, Fall, 2021.
‘Failing All Our Relations. Ontario Planning Process Shirks Indigenous Engagement’. In: The Pointer. April 11, 2021. With: Nina-Marie Lister, Lorraine Johnson, and Andrea Kirkwood.
‘Green Infrastructure: The Right Way for the Right-of-Way’, Municipal World, Nov. 2017. With: Patrick Cheung and Kate Nelischer.
‘Kayanase, Restoring Mother Earth’, Ground, Vol. 39, Fall 2017. With Dr. Bonnie McElhinny
‘Stormwater Fee Refresh: Roof Tax or a Tool for Social Transformation?’. In: Water Canada, Nov. 2017.
‘Harvesting What We Sow': The Pickering Airport Lands’, Ground, Vol. 36, Winter 2016. With Dr. Bonnie McElhinny.
‘Round Table: Furtherscape, Are you Ready for the Future?’ Ground, Vol. 36, Winter 2016. Moderated by Christopher Charlesworth.
Select Projects:
Caldwell First Nation Rapid Housing Initiative & Reserve Masterplan, Kitchener Indoor Recreation Complex, Biindigen Well-being Centre, Sacajawea Non-profit Housing, BrantforQueen’s University Indigenous Space, Oakville New Central Library, and Kitchener Public Library Southwest Community Library.
Services:
Landscape Architecture, Planning, Indigenous Engagement and Design, Community / Stakeholder Engagement, Project Management, Training and Program Development
Education:
University of Waterloo, Masters Degree of Arts in Planning
University of Guelph, Bachelor’s Degree Landscape Architecture and Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art
Qualifications:
The Fundamentals of OCAP®, First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC)
International Green Infrastructure Certification
Toronto Master Gardeners (certified, on leave)