Philippe Leclerc. Planner.
Experience in construction, marketing, real estate and food production has allowed Philippe to travel and work in many different environments. He came to realize that what the world relies on most, i.e. water, food and energy, is dangerously managed and that we are threatening the very resources we need to live.“I know now that we absolutely need to transition to new ways of doing things with sustainability and diversity at the center of our decisions.”
His personal goal is to plan and work towards creating a complete life, where home, work, and play coalesce: where growing food, raising animals and managing forest resources are all a part of a joyful, healthy and sustainable everyday life. His role as planner is to work closely with a diverse group of dynamic people and help them channel their passions for building sustainable low-energy homes, developing their ideas as eco-entrepreneurs, and most importantly, re-connecting with Nature.
elan neumark. Excavation & Construction Management
Elan Neumark, born and raised in Montreal, spent a lot of his childhood both in the Laurentian Mountains and Eastern Townships which sparked his love of the countryside. Having always had a passion for creative building as well as an interest in business, home renovation was an obvious starting point for Elan. He quickly gained a wide range of construction skills and sought a DEP in Electricity, giving him the abilities to expand his work from small home renovations to a wide range of residential and commercial jobs. In 2006, Elan became a fully-licensed general and specialized contractor in Quebec, and after many years of working, for the most part, in downtown Montreal, he was ready for a change of scenery and life style, hence his in-depth involvement with Terra Perma and a full time move to Harrington Quebec.
Jonah Neumark. permaculture DESIGNER.
DEC, Visual Arts, Dawson College, QC
Permaculture Design Certification, Burlington Permaculture, VT
Permaculture Design Certification, Whole Systems Design, VT
Jonah has been working in the field of permaculture since 2009. He designs and implements edible landscapes and does land planning through his company Neumark Design. Jonah is currently establishing a nursery at Terra Perma through which he sells plants for edible landscaping. He has worked with Action communiterre, on organic CSA farms, with plant nurseries, and in construction.He is also involved with a number of gardening and orchard projects around Quebec including school gardens, forest gardens, and a personal garden at Terra Perma in which he manages his own varietal collection of fruit, nut, and other yielding perennial crops. A natural forager, Jonah enjoys wandering through the forest, observing living beings and collecting wild foods and natural medicines. Most of all, he enjoys sharing his knowledge with others through workshops, many of which he will be hosting at Terra Perma.
Katherine Garoufalis. Controller.
Ms. Garoufalis oversees the operation and coordination of various Terra Perma projects. She is also the point of contact between the Terra Perma’s various partners and collaborators. In her free time, Ms. Garoufalis contributes significantly to community activities such as the development of the parks, gardens and natural areas of Terra Perma and helps in the maintenance and care of the animals.
Joshua Bobrove. Real Estate PROMOTER
Joshua Bobrove, born in Chicago and raised in Montreal, is a social entrepreneur with experience in management, marketing, distribution, and real estate. Beginning his first entrepreneurial venture in 2003, Joshua has always had a creative perspective towards marketing and management allowing him to explore multiple business opportunities. His passion for sustainable business and development began in 2008 with the launch of a private marketing agency focused on creating socially positive and conscious campaigns. His ongoing interests in real estate development, along with his love of sustainable business fueled his desire to earn his acquired rights and certifications with the OACIQ in 2010. He has since been involved with various property and management firms. Joshua has followed Terra Perma from the very beginning and is looking forward to sharing the project with the world as well as developing sustainable real estate systems for generations to come.
Ali Hammoud. designer.
Ali Hammoud was born and raised in Lebanon. He graduated in 2001 from the Institute of Fine Arts, a Lebanese University, with a Master’s degree in Architecture. At 38 years of age, Ali has an impressive collection of projects he has worked on as an architect, project manager as well as a building and planning consultant. Most notably, Ali worked on the palace of Prince Nayef, member of the Royal Family in Saudi Arabia in 2004, and with Dar Consultants in 2006.
In 2011, Ali and his wife Diana moved to Montreal, Canada with their oldest son. They now have three children between the ages of one and six. In 2013, Ali was admitted to “The Canadian Architectural Certification Board” after completing his master’s equivalence at McGill University. Ali is also a member of “Order of Engineers and Architects in Lebanon” and “Saudi Council of Engineers”.
Today, Ali is the main architect at Terra Perma Development. He favours a holistic approach by adopting some of the latest eco-friendly technology in his architectural designs: solar photo-voltaic electricity production, geo-thermal heating and ventilation, rain-water harvesting and radiant, “barrier & insulation” construction techniques, to name but a few.
Yoann Gonzalez, school manager and eco-construction enthusiast.
Yoann was born and raised in the Southeast region of France. Despite promising results, he left high school to learn the trade of carpentry. For seven years, he traveled around France with Les Compagnons du Devoir, an organization renowned for the quality of it’s teaching and, more importantly, for the human values it stands for. Yoann arrived in Québec in July 2012, and began to explore deeply the subjects of eco-building and the sustainability concerns we’re facing as a society. After volunteering and partnering with numerous actors of the transition movement in Québec (Solution Era, Valhalla, Benoit Deschamps, L’Herbothèque) and attending the now world famous Earthship Academy, he finally settled in Terra Perma. Our project meet his wishes for more nature, autonomy and community, while facilitating a tremendous impact on society at different scales.
It is to increase this potential impact that Yoann has chosen to set up a school at Terra Perma, the core values of which will be ecology and autonomy, dedicated to helping a maximum number of people to access knowledge and know-how necessary to whomever wishes to be an agent of transition in our times.
Laurence Perle ‘Lola’ Barchichat, passionate about sheep and management.
Nicknamed the ‘Black Sheep’ by her family, this path was her destiny! After 6 years working in NPO management and event planning, Laurence traded in her power suits and heels for overalls and rain boots and embraced peasantry by starting an organic lamb production with Terra Perma. Lola loves sheep, wild harvesting, thrift shopping, the call of the white throated sparrow and defending social and environmental justice (specifically food sovereignty issues). She is very active in political movements which support peasantry and short circuit agriculture and sits on the board of the Union Paysanne. Refusing to completely abandon her city life, she is very involved with urban agriculture groups, notably the Concordia Greenhouse, and she started an urban sheepherding project, Biquette à Montreal, in the parcs of Rosemont-Petite-Patrie.
Karl Huber, Park Director
Karl first came to Terra Perma in 2013 to attend an eco forestry workshop and has been involved in numerous projects ever since. With an academic background in Geography and environmental studies, Karl has found a natural role within the Terra Perma Forest Park planning and developing the growing trail network. Often considered a lifelong student, he has completed vocational degrees in woodworking, plumbing, and electrictricity and is always willing to provide other members with assistance in these domains. At the end of the day, Karl can often be found promoting happy hour with home brewed beverages and mouth watering meals cooked over the open fire.