Volume 8, numéro 4, automne 2022

EN :

Through this action research project, we endeavour to reconfigure pedagogical encounters involving children and the natural world to be more reciprocal and respectful, as well as responsive to the ecological crisis. The goal of our research is to advance understandings of how to educate children to become good relatives to all the beings on these Lands. We are guided by the question: How can we educate children to live like Salmon People (those Indigenous to this place), which is the sacred responsibility of all those residing on the Coast Salish territories? Practices that contributed to shifting relationship between people and the Land and moved our community beyond our human-centric engagement were participatory and embodied. They included acts to care for Salmon and other beings as relatives, as well as experiencing Land as agential and existing independently of human desire. We see our research as a site for what Kari Grain calls “critical hope.”

EN :

Community-university engagement is a growing field and takes many different forms. We explain and reflect critically on a community-university developmental process that we created to design a new non-profit studies undergraduate certificate. A steering group comprising students, non-profit organizations (NPOs), and faculty guided our process. We adopted a community-based, emergent, multi-tactic process that went from testing an idea, to collectively designing and co-constructing the certificate to building momentum to operationalize it, over an 18-month period. Our strategy was based on the convergence of three main bodies of literature—community-engaged scholarship, citizen participation, and naturalistic inquiry—and included seven tactics: community-university dialogues, e-communication, interactive booths in public places, presentations and learning circles, student research projects, student and NPO surveys, and pilot-testing undergraduate courses. The outcomes of our process revealed strong community support for a new certificate, which was then co-constructed and later approved by the University Senate. Today, five years later, we reflect on the ebb and flow of our process, in particular: emergent design challenges, the space-in-between, community/university black boxes, ownership, and facilitation work. This exploration contributes to the knowledge base on co-construction processes.

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Experiential learning offers students the opportunity to gain practical experience with a community or industry partner in their field of study. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many workplaces transitioned from in-person to at-home work environments, and those that did not, often reduced or removed access for non-essential personnel. In this report from the field, multiple viewpoints are shared that emerged from an interdisciplinary panel on experiential learning in the June 2022 Spotlight Series hosted by Teaching and Learning Support Services at the University of Ottawa. These voices “from the field” shed light on the impact of uncertain times on experiential learning and, collectively, focus on identifying challenges, implementing strategies and good practices, and sharing recommendations moving forward.

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In Canada, community and policy leaders have issued urgent calls to collect, analyze, and mobilize disaggregated data to inform equity-oriented initiatives aimed at addressing systemic racism and gender inequity, as well as other social inequities. This essay presents critical reflections from a national Roundtable discussion regarding how meaningful community engagement within academia–community–government research collaborations offers the opportunity to harness disaggregated data and advanced analytics to centre and address the priorities of equity-deserving and sovereignty-seeking groups. Participants emphasized four key priorities: (1) Building equitable and engaged partnerships that centre community-driven priorities and address structural barriers to community engagement; (2) Co-creating ethical data governance policies and infrastructure to support community data ownership and access; (3) Stimulating innovation and pursuing community involvement to create contextualized, advanced analyses and effective visualizations of disaggregated data; and (4) Building the capacity of all partners to effectively contribute to partnership goals. Capacity building was viewed as a bridge across a diversity of lived and professional expertise, enabling intersectoral research teams to collaborate in culturally safe and respectful ways. Beyond identifying key structural barriers impeding the promise of disaggregated data, we present practical opportunities for innovation in community-engaged scholarship to address social justice challenges in Canada.

EN :

This project, supported by the Department of Canadian Heritage, was conducted by scholars from the First Nations University of Canada, Royal Saskatchewan Museum, University of Regina, and University of Saskatchewan in collaboration with Sturgeon Lake and Pelican Narrows First Nations communities in Canada. The objectives of the project were (i) to develop a research ethics protocol for collecting, studying, and preserving Indigenous artifacts; (ii) to determine physical parameters of artifacts from communities and Royal Saskatchewan Museum collections; and (iii) to collect oral stories in communities. Within the project, we also managed consultations with Elders and Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, organized two workshops in the communities, and trained Indigenous students for working in the communities. The laboratory measurements were carried out at the Scanning Electron Microscope Laboratory of the University of Alberta, Saskatchewan Isotope Laboratory of the University of Saskatchewan, and André E. Lalonde Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory of the University of Ottawa. We analyzed the data obtained from the measurements of physical parameters of artifacts collected in these communities and selected from the Royal Saskatchewan Museum collections. The purpose of the statistical analysis was to determine the similarities of artifacts with respect to their chemical compositions.