2020 ROOPH Awards: Recipient Profiles

JILL KELLAND

Shortly before COVID-19 began to have such a profound impact on everyone in our community, Homeward Trust Edmonton hosted the annual ROOPH Awards, recognizing outstanding individuals, organizations and businesses that are working to address affordable housing and homelessness initiatives in Edmonton.

The Larry Shaben Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Housing Sector is presented to an individual that has exemplified true leadership and affected change at a community and systemic level. The winner of this award is someone who has had a long-term impact on affordable housing or homelessness in the Edmonton region by demonstrating and encouraging collaboration with other organizations and sectors. This is an individual with a reputation for making a genuine difference to housing and enhancing lives.

This year’s Larry Shaben Award recipient is Jill Kelland of Alberta Health Services.

Jill Kelland is an accomplished leader, change agent and community builder who has worked with Alberta Health Services for over 34 years. Jill is known for her advocacy of system transformation and has worked tirelessly to create a spectrum of housing options and supports for people struggling with homelessness, addictions, mental health challenges and complex medical issues. Over the past 10 years, Jill has focused on creating a low barrier spectrum of culturally sensitive, permanent and transitional housing options for individuals facing homelessness, experiencing homeless or living in substandard accommodations. Throughout her career, Jill has demonstrated the ability to work in multi-partnered, complex environments and envision new ways of providing better housing options or options where none existed previously.

Susan McGee, CEO, Homeward Trust, and Jill Kelland, Director, Alberta Heath Services and 2020 Larry Shaben Award Recipient.

Check our the rest of the 2020 ROOPH Award winners here!

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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We recognize we are gathered, in collaboration and with joint purpose, on Treaty 6 territory. This territory is the home and gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples. The Cree, Blackfoot, Dene, Iroquois, Anishinaabe/Saulteaux /Ojibwa, Nakota Sioux, Inuit, and Métis, among many others. We know the importance of the Treaty and our responsibility to these communities and that only in partnership can we create the social change necessary to end homelessness. It is vital we meaningfully engage and partner with Indigenous people and communities in this work while recognizing and addressing the conditions brought forth by colonialism. Displacement from traditional homelands, systemic racism, residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and the ongoing overrepresentation of Indigenous people in child welfare, correctional systems, and homelessness are responsibilities we all share. We acknowledge ourselves as visitors living and working in this Territory.