ABOUT DESIREE
Desiree Theriault is an award-winning Red River Métis landscape designer and Indigenous planner from Treaty #1 Territory. She has over 10 years of consulting experience, including project visioning, project storytelling, visual communications, relationship building, stakeholder engagement, design research and place-making. Her passions lie in reconciling the relationship between land and people and how landscape architecture, city building, and architecture can activate inclusive, restorative, and regenerative spaces.
As an Indigenous woman, Desiree grounds her work in understanding how architecture and design can leave the earth a better place than when we found it. To respect and honor the ancient systems of mother earth and include a holistic systems lens to create resilient and equitable spaces that integrate the needs of society with the integrity of nature. Desiree utilizes storywork as a way to uncover these regenerative and inclusive systems in the way in which we design.
Desiree’s biggest hope is to inspire the next generation of Indigenous youth and designers to find their voice, to uncover the stories of the land to bring sustainability and resiliency to the places we live in.
PUBLICATIONS
Voices of the Land. Reanna Merasty, Naomi Ratte, Danielle Desjarlais, Desiree Theriault. [Book] 2021
Canadian Urban Strategies. Dr. Richard Perron, Desiree Theriault, Zoe Goldman, Nicole Brekelmans, and Samantha Miller. [Book] 2021
Trauma-Informed Planning Handbook.Narratives Inc. [Book] Ongoing
Red River Women: A memorial for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG2S) alongside Winnipeg's Red River. [Thesis] 2020.
Designing out Crime: Landscape Architecture for Crime Prevention. [online]. 2019
AWARDS
National Award for Planning Excellence in Reconciliation | Narratives Inc | Highway 17 Twinning Project Canadian Institution of Planners| 2021
Tri-Agency Award in Indigenous Research + SSHRC +NSERC + CIHR Fellowship Government of Canada | 2019-2020
United Nations SDG Goals Awareness Certificate | Issued | Oct 2019
EDUCATION
University of Manitoba, Masters of Landscape Architecture, 2018 - 2020 - Graduated
Thesis Prize Winner | Tri-Council Agency Research Award
University of Manitoba, Undergrad in Environmental Design, 2015-2018 - Graduated
University of Winnipeg, Computer Sciences, 2011-2013
AREAS OF
INTEREST
Landscape Architecture; Planning; Trauma-Informed Design; Social Planning; Indigenous Planning; Indigenous Planning; Land Management; Urban Strategies; Urban Design; Policy; Design; City Planning; Marketing; Graphic Design; Residential Design; Landscape Design;