Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed is a herbalist, botanist, wild forager, artist and educator based in Calgary, Alberta, Treaty 7 Territory. She runs a sliding-scale herbal medicine practice, and is particularly interested in reconnecting people to nature to create well-being in individuals and communities. She regularly runs retreats, workshops and plant walks to teach people how to safely identify and use wild plants as food and medicine. Latifa offers consulting services to individuals and organizations related to plant identification, and edible and medicinal plant usage in Alberta and British Columbia. She is co-owner of ALCLA Native Plants, a native plant nursery in Calgary, Alberta.
Latifa offers hand-crafted herbal remedies to clients and by commission. She uses sustainably harvested and grown plants, lichens and mushrooms, which she processes by hand to ensure unique, high-quality medicine made with the highest ethical and environmental integrity.
She is a former faculty member of Phytotherapy (evidence-based herbal medicine) at Pacific Rim College of Holistic Medicine and Sustainable Living in Victoria, BC, where she taught botany and horticulture, nutrition of wild plants and herbal therapeutics. She is qualified with a Master’s of Science in Herbal Medicine from London, UK and a Bachelor of Science in Botany from the University of Calgary.
To learn about her personal journey to become a botanist, herbalist, wild plant forager and educator read on.
The real beginning of my journey began long before I was born. Only later in life did I come to know how my maternal Grandmother loved to tend her garden. How my maternal Grandfather, who came from Quebec to settle the land in Alberta would reach for poplar bark to cure himself. My paternal Grandfather was also a botanist and managed the teak forests of India, which became Pakistan, which became Bangladesh. The knowing of how plants heal the body still is a vibrant knowing in that country which is my ancestral homeland. My father recounts how my paternal Grandmother would add spices to the giant pots of curry with a long spoon, those spices and that knowing also a deep and important medicine.
My conscious journey into plant medicine started when I was child, as my mother strongly believed in natural remedies. She took me to see several different natural health practitioners, and I remember having to drink foul smelling brown liquid every night. One time I asked her to buy me a mysterious stinging nettle tincture, which I imagined could be used to be make a witch’s brew. I always felt deeply connected to Nature and the Earth; I was recently asked when that feeling arose in me, and I realized that it was just something that was always there, that empathy that the Earth was my first mother.
When I went to the University of Calgary I felt drawn to plants. My colleagues seemed to think that plant cells were boring, but I couldn’t help feeling fascinated. This drove me to study Botany. I was blessed to have so many inspired and brilliant plant enthusiasts teaching me, many of whom retired during my time as a student. My graduating year of 7 students ended up being the last year to ever graduate from Botany.
My degree led me to begin a career in conservation, identifying and analysing wild plants in Alberta. While I was fascinated by the diversity of life I encountered, I often felt something was missing. Even though I was supposed to be conserving life, I didn’t feel like meaningful change could happen unless our beliefs and actions as human beings changed.
Feeling disenchanted I travelled to South America to “find myself” like so many of us Northerners do. I encountered a pair of healing women in Oruro, Bolivia who helped me to see what it really meant to nourish my body, mind and spirit. I participated in a simple but deeply meaningful ceremony to help me become a healer. I have been fascinated by the power of ritual to signify meaningful life change ever since. I also started meditating every day to keep my mind still and focused.
On returning to Canada the path of the plant healer was calling to me, and my once inexplicable fascination for plants was transformed into a clear direction and purpose for my life. I found the perfect course in London, England at Middlesex University: a 3-year Master’s of Science in Herbal Medicine offering the ideal mix of tradition and science that would satisfy my need for evidence-based herbal teachings.
I had the privilege of being mentored by incredibly experienced and brilliant herbalists including Hananja Brice-Ytsma, Marcos Patchett, Colin Nichols and Martin Logue. The University had its own training clinic that allowed us to experience the deeply important patient-practitioner relationship week after week. As we learned to apply our medical, pharmacological and herbal teachings, we were pushed sometimes to our mental and emotional limits, keeping reflective diaries to develop as human beings, as well as academics. The University also housed its own beautiful medicinal garden that served as an on-going source of inspiration and support.
My passion, commitment and hardwork was awarded in 2015 when I received the Phyto Pharmacology Award, recognizing academic excellence, from the National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIHM). NIHM is the oldest professional body representing herbalists in the UK and is over 150 years old. Finally, after completing a modest microbiology research project on the effect of marigold on skin bacteria, I graduated with distinction in 2016.
In 2017, I had the honour of visiting Lorna Mauney-Brodek found of the Herbalista Network and Herb Bus in Atlanta, Georgia. This was an inspiring journey that helped me to realise the importance of health care access to all regardless of abilities of resources. As a result I founded my own sliding-scale, mobile clinic currently based in Victoria, BC, and Calgary, AB.
Also in 2017 I had the honour of joining the Alberta Herbalist Association as a board member at large, it has been a true inspiration to see herbal leaders in Alberta like Jeananne Laing and Kalyn Kodiak work hard to build a vision and future for herbalists in Alberta. Meeting Julie Walker of Full Circle Adventures has been another incredible opportunity. Collaborating and sharing with her has profoundly expanded my mind as to what sustainable wild harvesting of plant medicines truly means.
My greatest blessing and achievement of 2017, was gaining a new position as an instructor at Pacific Rim College on the Phytotherapy program. Teaching is one of the best ways to build knowledge and challenge yourself to grow in new ways. I was incredibly privileged to be surrounded by brilliant practitioners and teachers who inspired and supported me. Thank you to Dr. Carrie Watkins, James Christian, Alexis Hennig, David Cauldwell, Peter Conway and Tony Acworth.
While living on Vancouver Island, I had the opportunity to attend talks and workshops by Indigenous teachers on the island. I would like to extend a special thanks to Della Rice Sylvester, John-Bradley Lewis Williams, Earl Claxton Jr., and Dr. Luschiim Arvid Charlie for sharing your knowledge. I am also grateful for the opportunity I had to work at the Heart & Hands Collective, a beautiful healing community space run by the brilliant and inspiring Christina Chan.
In 2019, I returned to my place of birth, Alberta. I am particularly grateful to my partner Ben Hartney for joining me on this long and winding journey. We now have many plant babies as we begin the profound and sometimes exhausting journey of operating a native plant nursery (ALCLA Native Plants). Thank you to Dr. Al and Pat Fedkenheuer for your wisdom and mentorship.