Beaver Valley Association for Lifelong Learning
FALL SERIES: Part 2 Exploring the Arctic - Wildlife, Wilderness, Culture. Starts September 23, 2025, 10:00 a.m. at L.E. Shore Memorial Library, Thornbury
FALL SERIES: Part 2 Exploring the Arctic - Wildlife, Wilderness, Culture. Starts September 23, 2025, 10:00 a.m. at L.E. Shore Memorial Library, Thornbury
Series Dates: September 23, 30, and October 7, 2025
Join local adventure guides and hosts Marissa Dolotallas and Chris Scerri, and their Adventure Canada colleagues, for Part 2 of their series as they share with us their experiences with the wildlife, wilderness, and culture of the high north.
Our lectures take place at:
L.E. Shore Memorial Library, 173 Bruce St S, Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0
Tuesdays as scheduled 10:00am - 12:00 Noon
Speaker Bios:
Marissa Dolotallas, Guide/Host
Marissa is a coastal soul with a corporate edge, blending over 25 years of business savvy with a passion for wild places and mindful living.
Raised in the seaside town of White Rock, BC, Marissa's love affair with nature and the ocean began early - whether hiking forest trails, dragon boat racing, or catching the wind on a sailboard. She later pressed pause on outdoor adventures to earn a business degree and dive into the fast-paced world of tech during the dot-com boom.
But the pull of salt air and soul-centered purpose was too strong to ignore. Trading suits and heels for board shorts and flip flops, she launched a second act that’s all about adventure, empowerment, and connection. Now based in Meaford, Ontario, Marissa is a certified sea kayaking and standup paddleboard instructor, retreat host, and founder of her own adventure company.
From leading backcountry kayak expeditions along Canada’s rugged coasts to guiding in Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, and Antarctica, Marissa brings heart and expertise to every journey. She’s also a proud leader at the Women on Water (WOW) paddling festival and curates Paddle/Hike/Yoga retreats designed to spark joy and personal transformation.
At home, she stays deeply involved in community life - organizing beach cleanups, hosting Yoga in the Park, maintaining trails, and served as Chair of Meaford’s first-ever Parks Advisory Committee.
Whether she’s navigating polar waters or local trails, Marissa leads with joy, courage, and a deep respect for nature.
Chris Scerri, Guide/Host
Chris splits his time between his two passions, music, and the outdoors. Hailing from the artistic community of Meaford, Ontario, just steps from the shores of Georgian Bay, there is no shortage of inspiration.
Chris has spent the better part of the last decade performing, producing, and promoting local live music. He has created concert series and show productions that bring together exceptional local talent.
When heʼs not on stage, you can find Chris exploring new trails or paddling on the water. Chris feels right at home in a kayak, canoe, or a Zodiac, and is a Paddle Canada certified instructor. Locally grown produce and creating delicious food is something Chris also loves. Like music, food tells us so much about those who create it and is another way to bring people together.
Being part of the Adventure Canada team gives Chris an opportunity to share his love for music and nature while exploring some of the most beautiful places on the planet!
September 23, 2025
Sean Gallagher, Naturalist
Driven to understand the intersection of nature and humanity, Sean pursued studies in ecology and environmental toxicology. His academic path was diverse—tending pea plants in a botany lab, researching fish physiology, and examining fungal networks under microscopes—while also supporting refugee students through volunteer work. Whether altering plant genomes, analyzing sea lamprey metabolism, or helping newcomers navigate immigration paperwork, Sean brought curiosity and compassion to every task.
Answering the call of the Rockies, Sean began his career as a Parks Canada naturalist. He lit controlled fires to support whitebark pine regeneration, baited wolverines with beaver carcasses on frozen traplines, and guided wildflower hikes across the Montana border. He’s always favored the hands-on, adventurous side of conservation—living, as he says, “by chance among the lightning strikes.”
A musician at heart, Sean believes every moment deserves a song—and that every guitar holds one waiting. His love for storytelling extends to climbing mountains and paddling rivers in pursuit of the spirit of North America’s great adventurers.
Today, Sean serves as a registered nurse supporting vulnerable communities in Toronto. After years immersed in the wilderness of emergency medicine during the pandemic, he’s ready to don his naturalist hat again and hit the trail—eager to explore and share the wonders of the natural world with others.
September 30, 2025
John Houston, Inuit Art Specialist, Arctic Filmmaker.
Title: “Inuit Genius”
Returning north, he spent five years as Art Advisor for Pangnirtung’s printmaking project, producing four graphic collections and becoming fluent in Inuktitut. Alongside his mother, he co-founded Houston North Gallery and Nova Scotia’s Folk Harbour Festival. Since 1991, he has guided Arctic expeditions with Adventure Canada while building a distinguished filmmaking career, directing documentaries such as Songs in Stone, Diet of Souls, and Kiviuq, and adapting The White Archer from his father’s children’s book. His work has received national and international awards.
Committed to promoting Inuit culture, John co-authored inuitQ.ca and TRCtalk.ca and has lectured and screened his films at institutions like Yale, Berkeley, and the Smithsonian. As a founding president of Ajjiit Nunavut Media Association, he earned the 2005 Industry Recognition Award, and in 2012, the Directors Guild of Canada honored him with the Don Haldane Distinguished Service Award.
Recent projects include the environmental mural The Six of Bees and two 2019 films: L’NUK 101 and Atautsikut/Leaving None Behind. Recognized as part of The Explorers Club 50 in 2021 and a recipient of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal, John continues to champion northern stories. He shares his Halifax and Rose Bay homes with his wife, marine biologist Ree Brennin Houston, enjoying visits from daughter Becky Kilabuk and son Dorset.
October 7, 2025
Dr. Marc St-Onge, Geologist, Senior Emeritus Scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada.
Title: “HMS Erebus and its rock table: Constraining the 1845-48 Arctic expedition route”
Marc graduated in 1981 from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, with a PhD in Earth Sciences. For over thirty-seven years, he was Officer and Project Leader at the Geological Survey of Canada, leading field science expeditions to study unknown or little-known destinations and phenomena in remote parts of the world, from the Coppermine River area in the Canadian Arctic (where he and colleagues discovered the oldest rocks in the world) to Banks Island, the Keewatin, northern Quebec, essentially all of Baffin Island, western Greenland, northwest Scotland, the Himalaya of Pakistan, India and Nepal, and the Tibetan Plateau in China. His documented contributions to scientific exploration and geological field research are evidenced by the publication of over 135 peer-reviewed scientific papers in international journals, 120 geological maps (a record at the Geological Survey of Canada), and 150 conference abstracts.
He was appointed Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford in 2004, Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2010, Vice-President (North America) of the Commission for the Geological Map of the World in 2012, Visiting Senior Scholar at the University of Cambridge in 2019, and Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford in 2019.
The Royal Canadian Geographical Society recognized Marc as one of Canada’s Top 100 Modern-Day Explorers in 2015 and named him one of Canada’s 90 Greatest Explorers of All Time in 2020. He received the Geologic Mapping Award from the Geological Society of America and the Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2016. He most recently received the Stefansson medal from The Explorers Club in 2023 and the Dave Elliot Award for the best paper in Tectonics from the Canadian Tectonics Group in 2024.
Marc lives in Ottawa, Ontario, with his wife Dr. Janet King and is presently Senior Emeritus Scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada.
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