Jaylene was born a descendant of uninvited settlers on the stolen and occupied lands of the Kainai, Piikani, Siksika and Tsuu T'ina; a territory known in the Blackfoot language as Moh-kins-tsis. She currently lives on the unceded and stolen lands of the skwxù7mesh and Shíshálh people, the ancestral stewards of this beautiful region..

She carries the lineage of her Slavic ancestors, descendants of lands now called Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Russia - honouring that borders are human constructs born of systems of power and control designed to separate and divide. Though access to ancestral knowledge has been disrupted by colonialism and migration, Jaylene roots herself in her own story of survival and resistance to oppression. This lineage lives in her blood and bones, sustaining her connection to humanity. 

With living experience navigating substance use and sobriety, trauma, poverty, child welfare and mental health systems, and over twenty years of solo parenting, Jaylene brings  both personal insight and systemic critique to her work. She has been engaged in community care, tending, and organizing since her teenage years, often working at the intersections of anti-poverty, local food systems, the Indigenous LANDBACK movement, community ritual, liberatory harm reduction, and grief and bereavement care. 

Deeply devoted to supporting her peers and frontline workers, Jaylene’s work honours resistance to oppressive systems while grounded in relational, collaborative, and emerging care strategies. Knowing that resistance alone is not justice, she is am committed to  nurturing people and communities by affirming dignity and growing ecosystems of care and justice-doing.

Services Offered: 

• Community liaison, partnership, and engagement 

• Development of peer-led strategies and community organizing 

• Program development and implementation 

• Grant writing