Hey there faithful and brave conscient listeners, 

Welcome to the second conscient roundtable conversation. This one was recorded on Sunday, March 16, 2025 in Vancouver. In a minute you’ll hear an acknowledgement about the original stewards of these lands followed by a minute of silent contemplation.

Normally, conscient roundtables feature a group of artists and cultural workers talking about their passions, fears and dreams and, in fact, we did do this, but this was a special episode of the conscient podcast : e216 in memoriam tracey friesen. Tracey left us on January 6, 2025 at age 58.

Who was Tracey Friesen, you ask? It’s a good question. Many of you have not had the pleasure. 

Tracey was many things, including a media producer and media strategist, most recently Managing Vice President of the BC Branch of the Canadian Media Producers Association but I knew her as climate champion with the SCALE-LeSAUT and as a trusted friend. I had a conversation in 2021 on this podcast, e85, where she said:

• What's starting to interest me is stories of resilience for a post-carbon world. What are we going to need for our emotional well-being? It's going to be a different world, not long from now. If we do this, and we must do this, this transition has to happen and there's going to be a sense of loss and sacrifice and challenge, not just with what's happening externally from a climate point of view, but in how we're going to have to make changes to our lives and reorient our energies in terms of our advocacy. I feel like there's an opportunity for artists - I'm more connected to the film and television sector and the documentary community - but throughout the system, to be able to provide realistic and yet reassuring narratives about what the upside of all this might be.

You can also check out an amazing celebration of life that took place on February 22nd, 2025 in Vancouver, see Livestream of Tracey Friesen Celebration of Life - Live at 12:45pm Feb 22nd, 2025.

So I turned to my friend Jai Djwa help me bring together some of Tracey’s closest friends in Vancouver friends and we talked for 70-minutes about everything. You’ll hear Jai, of course, also Amir Niroumand, Liz Shorten, Sue Biely and Lucia Dekleer. Sadly a few others were not able to attend but I think there will be other opportunities. 

You’ll hear us talk about how Tracey was an exceptional person and how she influenced our lives: anecdotes, stories, funny moments, sad moments. Tracey really believed in storytelling, as witnessed by her book: Story Money Impact. 

So I think kind of public mourning and celebration is a topic of interest to us all: how do we deal the untimely loss of a friend or family member? How do honour the memory of a loved one? How can we carry their work forward? 

I want to thank this group of friends for their generosity, courage and wisdom. 

If you want to comment on what you hear please go to conscient.ca and use any of the conscient podcast social media to share your thoughts.

If you like what you hear then I invite you to share it within your networks and-or give conscient podcast a review on Apple podcasts. All of this helps to get these conversations to circulate. My email is [email protected]

So, I invite you to sit back, relax – maybe grab a drink - and enjoy e216 roundtable - in memoriam tracey friesen.

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020. It’s my way to give back.

This Indigenous Land Acknowledgement statement was developed by members of the Algonquin community for my former employer the Canada Council for the Arts. I have adapted slightly to make it my own.

• I acknowledge that my studio, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.
• I recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries. I honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.
• Further, I offer my respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and honour commitments to self-determination and sovereignty that have been made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.
• I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believe the Arts contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share together

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on January 9, 2026