Rosemary Ignacio

Instructor

Biography

Rosemary Ignacio (she/her) is a Black settler of Caribbean descent who lives and works in Treaty 6 & 7 Territories. She started her professional career as a frontline social worker providing support and care to youth in Supported Independent Living programs and in-home support to families.

Rosemary gained her Master in Social Work from the University of Calgary, while continuing her work as a frontline support worker and living in rural Alberta. She has experience conducting in-home assessments and facilitating workshops on parenting, anger management and life skills. She also has experience with addressing barriers to education, housing and employment for people with varying degrees of disabilities. In 2009, Rosemary joined the Social Work Diploma faculty at RDP where she held the role as chair and brought improvements to the program like introducing racial equity in social work and initiating the institution-wide Black History Month celebrations.

Growing up in a colonized country gives Rosemary a unique perspective regarding the multi-generational impacts that colonization has had both in Canada and abroad. Having experienced the impacts colonization has had on people of the Caribbean, she has also witnessed and heard first-hand accounts of the impacts that Indigenous peoples and newcomers to Canada have experienced. The strategies colonizers used to separate nations have global implications.

Rosemary is passionate about social justice issues, especially working alongside equity, deserving populations to provide support and help them elevate their voices. She is an active advocate for equity-deserving opportunities. In her spare time, Rosemary dabbles in writing a collection of unpublished poetry.

Education

M.SW., University of Calgary