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Métis-Jamaican activist Larissa Crawford has taken anti-racism and climate justice work to new heights through Future Ancestors Services, the organization she founded that offers resources to support people and the planet through a decolonized lens.
As someone unafraid to call out ableism, racism, and more, Crawford is leading the way in removing systemic barriers to create a better future... In the next 20 years, Crawford’s work will only continue to be urgent, necessary, and impactful, as she continues to raise awareness, educate, and inspire.
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From policy halls to mountain trails, Larissa Crawford (she/elle) has spent over 16 years forging pathways with her expertise in restorative circle keeping, and climate justice, anti-racism, and Indigenous research and policy advising. She is daughter of matriarch Solange Lalonde, and Larissa proudly passes on Métis and Jamaican ancestries to her daughters, Zyra and Ātea.
Larissa's lived experience as a queer Indigenous and Black woman; a survivor of sexual violence and poverty; a person living with chronic pain disabilities and brain damage; having lived in both rural and urban settings; and as a young mother positions her to carry out her responsibilities as a future ancestor with unique insight and consideration.
Larissa has been committed to this work for over half her life.
Meet
our Founder,
Larissa
Crawford.
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International and experiential education has helped
position Larissa's local impact in a global context.
Larissa graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Arts in International Development and Communication Studies in June 2018, Summa Cum Laude, with 2-year-old Zyra on her hip and the university’s most prestigious leadership awards on her degree.
After starting a library in Accra, Ghana, studying international law and volunteering in Istanbul, Turkey, and representing her university at several global United Nations events, Larissa redirected her efforts to home. Larissa worked with the Government of Ontario as an Indigenous Policy Advisor with the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development, and Mines; as an Advisor at the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate, Ministry of the Solicitor General; as a community mediator and restorative circle keeper with several organizations; and more.
These experiences contributed to and informed Larissa’s expertise in climate policy and research, energy systems and policy, race-based data collection, restorative practice and conflict resolution, and decolonization and Indigenization in the workplace. Through programs such as the CohortX Climate Justice Fellowship, the Action Canada Fellowship, and the Youth Climate Lab FutureXChange Fellowship, the Raven Trust Capital Fireweed Fellowship, and the Students on Ice Arctic Policy Fellowship, Larissa continues developing her capacities to contextualize and learn from Northern Indigenous climate knowledge.
With a seasonal work cycle, Larissa slows down in Summer and Winter for land-based connection.
Currently, Larissa is the Founder of Future Ancestors Services, a next-generation speakers bureau. Future Ancestors Services specializes in community impact, sustainability, Indigenization, disability, and more, connecting and amplifying diverse entrepreneurs who bring proven solutions to address our most pressing systemic challenges. Her work has been recognized with accolades including the York University One to Watch Alumni Award, Women of Influence’s Top 25, Corporate Knight’s Top 30 Under 30 in Sustainability, York University’s Top 30 Under 30 Changemakers, and the Pollution Probe Equity in Sustainability Award.
Beyond her role as a labourer, Larissa is an avid rock climber, award-winning ribbon skirt artist, and native plant enthusiast deeply connected to Kananaskis Country, on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprising Siksika, Piikani and Kainai First Nations), the Tsuut'ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda First Nation.
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