Event Description
Come and join Carolyn Roberts & Kelsey Mata Foote as they launch their new picture book Tess’s Red Dress. Together they will talk about the making of the book and all that came with the process. Tsitsàyxemaat from the Squamish Nation will be joining the panel to read parts of the story in the Squamish Language. The conversation will be moderated by Chloe Price.
Carolyn Roberts is a storyteller with a wealth of experience and expertise in Indigenous education and decolonization. She is St’at’imc and Sto:lo woman belonging to the Thevarge family from N’quatqua Nation and the Kelly Family from the Ch’iyáqtel Nation and a member of the Squamish Nation. Her first book Re-Storying Education is a national bestseller and has won the Nautilus Gold Award and the Whistler Writer’s Festival Book of the year.
Kelsey Mata Foote (Jaax̱snée) is a Tlingit and Filipina illustrator, writer, and producer from Ketchikan, Alaska. She prefers to work digitally with a drawing tablet but is no stranger to incorporating natural textures and watercolor elements in her pieces. Her inspiration is rooted in a Southeast Alaska childhood, one filled with family, putting up fish, exploring the Tongass with her older brothers, and celebrating her heritage.
Tess’s Red Dress is a beautiful heartfelt story that honours and celebrates the gifts and beauty of Indigenous women taken from their communities, it is an essential resource for healing and learning. Tess and her mom walk through stories of love, family, and connection as they get ready for Red Dress Day together to honour and support all MMIWG2S. The book was written for primary grades but is a gentle, loving way to introduce and talk about MMIWG2S and what Red Dress Day means to the Indigenous families that are missing loved ones.
Date
Sunday, April 19, 2026 | 1:00 – 3:00 PM
Location
UBC First Nations House of Learning
Sty-Wet-Tan Great Hall
1985 West Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6T 1Z2
Google Maps pin
Register
Please register here:
Questions
Please contact education.alumni@ubc.ca.
About the Author
Carolyn Roberts, BEd’14, MEd’18
Carolyn Roberts is a renowned educator, speaker, and storyteller with a wealth of experience and expertise in Indigenous education and decolonization. She is a St’át’imc and Stolo woman belonging to the Tzeachten Nation and a member of the Squamish Nation. Throughout her illustrious career as an educator and administrator for over 20 years, she has consistently demonstrated a passion for supporting Indigenous resurgence through education.
Currently, Carolyn holds the position as an Indigenous academic and Faculty Lecturer in the Teacher Education Department of the University of British Columbia. Her dedication to building teachers’ understandings in Indigenous history, education, and ancestral ways of knowing has not only garnered her recognition within the education community, but it has also had a positive impact on the decolonizing of the education system. Carolyn Roberts’ website: carolynroberts.net
About the Illustrator
Kelsey Mata Foote
Kelsey Mata Foote (Jax̱aasne) is a Tlingit and Filipina illustrator, writer, and producer from Ketchikan, Alaska. Her inspiration is rooted in a Southeast Alaska childhood, one filled with family, putting up fish, exploring the Tongass with her older brothers, and celebrating her heritage. She finds joy in creating art that preserves culture, honors Native traditions, and amplifies authentic representation of Native peoples in media.
Kelsey has a background in grassroots advocacy and culturally informed education. A notable work in this space includes the collaborative No More Stolen Sisters (2023) project with her brother Nick Alan Foote, featured as cover art in the June 2023 issue of Restoration on which appearing as embroidered shawls in a forthcoming CDC exhibition on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW2S+) crisis.
Kelsey has upcoming publications with Penguin Random House, Medicine Wheel Publishing, and Orca Book Publishers, while serving as the art producer for the film The Last Salmon.
