Teika Newton, colleague, Climate Action Network - Réseau action climat Canada
I am writing on behalf of our team here at Climate Action Network Canada to pass along my deepest sympathies to you all on receiving the news just now of Pegi's passing.
I had the great pleasure of first meeting Pegi when we invited her to present at our inaugural ClimaCon conference in 2016. That year, we sparked this gathering of Canada’s climate ’superheroes’, drawn from the CAN-Rac membership and across the wider climate community. Pegi presented alongside Tzeporah Berman in an excellent session on how to work with funders and foundations. In an informal, conversational session, Pegi and Tzep riffed off one another, providing lots of very useful tips to new climate organizers for how to build relationships of trust with funders. I had been tasked with facilitating the session, but for all who know Pegi and Tzeporah, no one needs to facilitate them—both powerhouses of knowledge and strategic brilliance!
More recently, I think the last time I saw Pegi was shortly before she left CEGN. We were both at a meeting in Ottawa, and I had a rare moment alone with her early that morning before anyone else arrived. We sat together in the lobby of the Bank of Canada/International Joint Commission building talking about life, the wonders of nature, the struggles of humanity in coming to terms with the existential enormity of the climate crisis. We’d not known each other well to that point, having only encountered each other infrequently in joint funder—ENGO meetings, but I think we were both quietly delighted to find in one another kindred souls in terms of our gratitude for the gifts we’d been entrusted in this lifetime. It was a very memorable shared moment that I have continued to cherish for years and will continue to hold in my heart.
Our work allows us to meet and get to know so many truly inspiring people who do their work out of heartfelt passion and such powerful love and generosity. In that regard, Pegi was one of the brightest lights in our landscape and I am deeply sorry that she is gone too soon.