Supported by Tremblay and cartographer and community mapping specialist Ken Josephson (UVic Map Shop), students took on projects according to their community partner’s needs. For example, Geography major Emily Harris worked with the Saanich Peninsula Environmental Coalition (SPEC) to decolonize their Bioregional Framework, adding in SENĆOŦEN Indigenous language and history throughout the framework document. About the experience of doing CBPR, Emily shared, “It’s totally different. It’s really cool. My mind was opened up to a lot of new epistemologies or ways of learning, ways of knowing that I really wasn’t aware of before…It’s just really cool knowing you can let participants guide the research and then it’s really for them, rather than for you as a researcher.” Bob Peart, SPEC’s coordinator, spoke about having students involved in the Coalition’s work: “Having students involved is always good. It’s good to have a new perspective put on something…and we ended up having some really good conversations with them. It’s those kinds of conversations that lead to good stuff.” Peart has been pleased to also work with other UVic programs on SPEC’s projects—including biology and environmental law students—and upon reflecting on how reciprocally beneficial all the collaborations with UVic students have been, he added, “It’s what you’d call a win-win, I guess!”
Along with a group of her peers, Mary Nightingale, a Geography and Environmental Studies student, worked with the PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ Foundation—an Indigenous organization on W̱SÁNEĆ territory that provides education opportunities about traditional food systems, food security, and ecological restoration—to develop guidelines on how to respectfully engage with their organization for research and volunteering collaborations. Judith Lyn Arney, the Foundation’s Ecosystems Director, shared her observations that the students were “genuinely motivated by working on a project that had real world impact. I think they met the challenge of honouring our limited time as well as their own and demonstrated sensitivity in their communications.” Mary reflected on the project: “This was actually the first time that we felt like we were engaged in the projects we were doing, that we were actually impacting something by doing the work that we did. It was the first time that it felt like we were actually doing something applicable with our knowledge that we were bringing to the table and with our degrees. It was a really special opportunity to have that.” According to Arney, the PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ Foundation will be using the students’ project as a “template for our official protocol when working with university staff and students, so this work had real benefit to us.”
This unique course is part of the Salish Sea Hub, a partnership between UVic, the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, and the Victoria Foundation, and is linked to the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research Knowledge 4 Change Global Consortium. Do you want to get involved in community-engaged learning at UVic? Email the CEL Office to find out! You can also read more about Crystal Tremblay’s work here and here.