Our Roots

Employees:

Kylea Smart – Chief Administration Officer 

She:kon, my name is Kylea Smart, and I am the Chief Administrative Officer at Ratinenhayén:thos: Kenhtè:ke Seed Sanctuary & Learning Centre (KSSLC), here in Kenhte:ke (Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory).

I feel grateful to be part of an organization that is doing such meaningful work to protect Indigenous seeds, strengthen food sovereignty, and reconnect our community with the land. In my role, I work behind the scenes to support the Sanctuary’s day-to-day operations, secure funding, build community partnerships, and help bring new ideas and opportunities to life.

What makes this work especially meaningful to me is knowing that we are doing more than growing and preserving seeds. We are protecting knowledge, honouring the generations who came before us, and helping ensure that the next seven generations have the opportunity to continue these relationships with the land. Guided by Haudenosaunee teachings and the principle of thinking seven generations ahead, I believe the work we do today can have a lasting impact on our community and those who come after us.

I am proud to support a community-led, Indigenous-led organization that creates space for learning, sharing, and growing together. I look forward to seeing KSSLC continue to grow, welcoming more community members into the garden, and helping carry this important work forward for generations to come.

Reegan Maracle – Garden Coordinator

Emma Brant-Edwards – Lead Gardener

Board of Directors:

Kahèhtok:tha – Janice Brant

Janice is from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario, Canada. She sits
with the Bear Clan and carries on her family heritage as an ecological farmer. She is a scholar,
educator, author, and artist inspired by learning and living Rotinonhsyon:ni language and culture.
She loves storytelling, history, gardening, foraging, and cooking. Essentially, Indigenous
cosmology, worldview, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Janice is devoted to
living in awareness and connection with all Creation for healing the past, present and future
generations.
An actionist for sacred-ecology and seed conservation, Janice helped to
found Ratinenhayenthos “they are farmers of the seed” and the Kenhte:ke Seed Sanctuary &
Learning Centre (KSSLC), host to a living seed collection of 300 Indigenous and heirloom
vegetables, herbs and flowers; our food and medicine. It is the first known Indigenous seed
sanctuary, non-profit, in Canada; preserving and protecting diversity through seed conservation,
seed saving education, and seed rematriations.
As part of her many roles, Janice has a 30 year career specializing in First Nation and Indigenous
Education with experiences across Turtle Island and abroad. Janice is a practitioner-trainer for
the International Indigenous Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Collective, who created a
portfolio process with students and colleagues, “Utilizing Portfolio Development in Adult Basic
Education”, for Haudenosaunee adults on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory several years ago.
She has made a significant contribution to the creation of the International Indigenous RPL
Practitioner Manual and the development of culturally- based RPL processes in Canada and
internationally. She has developed curriculum and facilitated learning with students and teachers
at all levels of education and government.

Related experience as a life-long horticulturalist of Haudenosaunee ancestry:
– Raised on a farm with traditional and modern agriculture (dairy and livestock, vegetable
gardens and foraging)
– Mohawk Agricultural Society member and Mohawk Agricultural Fair volunteer, Seed
Cleaning Building, vegetable, fruit and grain display and exhibition (life-long)
– 4-H Gardening Club, Tyendinaga
– 4-H Junior Leader, Tyendinaga
– Agriculture Educator, Indian Agriculture Program of Ontario
– Haudenosaunee/Mohawk Seed Society (2000 – 2026)
– Community Seed Network, advisory committee
– Indigenous Seedkeepers Network (US, Canada, Mexico – Turtle Island)
– Co-Chair and founder of Ratinenhayenthos 2017 and Kenhte:ke Seed Sanctuary &
Learning Centre 2018 (first Indigenous Seed Sanctuary in Canada) 2017 – 2026
– Ecological Farmers of Ontario past member, guest presenter, advisory committee 2020 –
2025
OCT, M.Ad.Ed., B.Ed., BAH Indigenous Studies, and International Indigenous RPL Practitioner