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Awards
Six FASS projects awarded SFU community engagement grants
Congratulations to the six Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) projects that were awarded funding from Simon Fraser University's Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) program.
Open to SFU staff and faculty, the CEI grants are aimed at supporting projects developed with community partners that strengthen relationships, deepen knowledge, and have meaningful impact on issues that matter.
The successful FASS projects are among the 26 proposals that succeeded in receiving CEI grants this year, furthering the university's commitment as one of Canada's most community-engaged research universities. From developing a Haida language app to improving child development for Burnaby families, the projects work with a broad range of partners including non-profit organizations, Indigenous communities, municipal governments, local artists, and international research institutes.
Memorial, Potlatch, Gifting, Nation-al Gallery
annie ross
Department of Indigenous Studies
Based upon a long-standing working relationship between partners, this collaborative oil painting series depicts a community cultural repatriation event, fascilitated by Mr. Elroy White, Heiltsulk, a community member, graduand of SFU MA program in FASS, founder and principal of Central Coast Archaeology (CCA), and partner of this proposal. The painting series documents aspects of the Repatriation (as directed by Mr. White for and with community), as well as community practices of specific individuals chosen by Mr. White and family. The work will be displayed at a Memorial Potlatch scheduled for May, 2025. The work will be, in keeping with Indigenous protocols, formally distributed inside the rules and regulations of the Heiltsuk Potlatch system. As a part of this program, there will be a public lecture and an exhibition of the series in community.
Partners: Mr. Elroy White (Heiltsuk); Central Coast Archaeology (CAA) family and community
BC Migrant Worker Advocacy Summit
Evelyn Encalada Grez
Department of Sociology and Anthropoloy and Labour Studies Program
The funds will go toward organizing a two-day BC Migrant Worker Advocacy Summit in the early spring of 2025. 11 community organizations working with migrant workers will be invited to attend the Summit, which will take place in Vancouver. The main goals of the Summit are to 1) strengthen relationship building and dialogue among advocacy organizations and 2) contribute to capacity building to amplify the demands of the migrant justice movement in the province. The Summit will encourage participants to construct a network of dialogue, solidarity, and knowledge exchange across the province to effectively support migrant workers. Next, the Summit will support capacity building through various workshops on topics such as grant-writing, trauma-informed advocacy, and establishing ethical guidelines for community collaboration and research.
Through knowledge-exchange, the workshops will empower community organizers to address their own funding needs, adjust service provision programs, develop ethical standards for collaborating with outside partners, and provide trauma informed support while also caring for themselves as frontline workers. In sum, organizers will leave the Summit with stronger relationships and with new skills that will advance their capacity to advocate for and support the diverse migrant worker population throughout the province.
Partners: BCFED Health & Safety Center; Migrante BC; Migrant Students United; Migrant Workers Center; Radical Action with Migrants in Agriculture; Radical Action with Migrants in Agriculture; Sanctuary Health; SWAN; Watari; Workers Solidarity Network; Vancouver Committee for Domestic Workers' and Caregivers' Rights
Connecting Burnaby Families to the Science of Child Development
Hali Kil
Department of Psychology
Burnaby Family Life (BFL) has offered community social services in Burnaby and its neighbouring communities since 1971. Its mission to work with diverse families aligns perfectly with the SFU Child Research Group (SFU-CRG): We are joining together to mobilize knowledge from the science of child development, through parent education and outreach, to the diverse families in our region.
We have three specific objectives in this partnership. First, we will train SFU-based students and staff to provide community education through the existing Family Life Education Program organized by BFL (Phase I – Fall 2024). Second, based on feedback from the SFU-based educators in Phase I, we will aim to train BFL staff members on the content of these seminars, and support the creation of teaching materials, curriculum plans, and other pedagogical content to ensure that those BFL staff may better integrate the science of child development and parenting in their community-based courses in Spring 2025 (Phase II – Spring 2025). Third, we will engage in thematic reassessment and revaluation of this training, using feedback from parents, BFL staff, and SFU educators to edit pedagogical materials, and to strategize for future maintenance and development of these modules (Phase III – Summer 2025).
Partners: Burnaby Family Life
Unsettling Scottish Studies
Leith Davis
Department of English
The funding will go toward two public community cultural events connected with an international conference on “Unsettling Scottish Studies: Canons, Chronologies, Colonialisms” organized by the Research Centre for Scottish Studies and faculty in the Department of Indigenous Studies. The conference, which is free and open to the public, is focused on shifting the research and teaching of Scottish studies to include Indigenous issues and decolonizing strategies. The two planned cultural events will enrich the knowledge exchange taking place at the conference. The first cultural event (Nov. 22) features a talk by Nisga'a scholar Amy Parent/Nox Tsaa'wit focusing on “Rematriating the Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole” from National Museums Scotland in 2023, followed by a performance by the Nisga'a Tsamiks Vancouver Traditional Dancers.
The second cultural event (Nov. 23), entitled “Storywork: Music and Dance from the Métis and Scottish Gaelic Traditions,” includes performances by the Vancouver Gaelic Choir and Vancouver Highland Dancers and performances and particpatory dance by V'ni Dansi Vancouver Métis Dancers. Both events will connect Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members together, as well as engaging them with conference participants, SFU students, faculty and alumni to advance the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee.
Partners: Nisga'a Tsamiks Vancouver Traditional Dancers; St. Andrews and Caledonian Society; Vancouver Gaelic Choir; Vancouver Highland Dancers; V'ni Dansi Métis Dance Company
Haida Phrasebook App
Lucy (Sdahl K'awaas) Bell
Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies (Department of Indigenous Studies)
We're finalizing the Haida Phrasebook App, showcasing the Northern X̱aad Kil dialect. Collaborating with the late fluent speaker Lawrence Bell, I've recorded 6000 phrases from the Alaskan Haida Phrasebook, complemented by Simon Carty’s artwork. The App will be hosted on the SFU Indigenous Languages Program (INLP) First Nations Language Platform. This marks the first online app offering everyday phrases for Haida language learners. This is a collaboration between INLP, Xaad Kil Nee (XKN), the Haida language program, Sealaska, and artist Simon Carty for the App completion and community engagement. XKN already collaborates with SFU to provide accredited language courses, making the App an excellent addition for learners of all ages.
This project will involve a language learner testing the 6000 sound files and uploading remaining images. Additionally, community engagement sessions will be held in Old Massett, Vancouver, and with Sealaska in Juneau, Alaska, along with online sessions to promote the App and plan future use of the recorded content. The project holds promise for revitalizing the endangered Haida language. The App, artwork and sound files availability to Haida language learners and educators across Canada and Alaska can foster proficient speakers, writers, and readers of the Haida language, fostering lasting effects.
Partners: Old Massett Village Council; Haida Language Office, Old Massett; Sealaska Heritage, Juneau, AK; Liz Medicine Crow; Simon Carty
Working with the Aging Community: A Model for Building a Collective of Older Adult Researchers (COAR)
Mei Fang
Department of Gerontology and Urban Studies Program
This collaborative project between the Science, Technology, and Research (STAR) Institute at SFU and 411 Seniors Centre Society aims to empower older adults as active contributors to research. By building on the existing partnership, the project supports 411 Seniors Centre's vision of becoming a community research hub. To do this, we will establish a Collective of Older Adult Researchers (COAR). Through hands-on workshops, COAR members, alongside SFU graduate students, will develop practical research skills through peer-to-peer intergenerational learning. Using a citizen science approach, participants will undergo comprehensive training covering research stages from aim development to knowledge dissemination by undertaking a community-based project where COAR members and students collaborate to explore mobility barriers in local neighbourhoods.
This project-based learning initiative not only enhances understanding of issues affecting older adults but also fosters peer-to-peer learning and intergenerational working. Importantly, the impact extends beyond skills-building; it is about empowering older adults to actively shape research agendas and outcomes and enabling students to develop key skills on how to work with older adults, thereby promoting a more inclusive and equitable research landscape. By establishing COAR, we facilitate a shift from passive involvement to genuine partnership, ensuring that insights of older adults are central to the research process.
Partners: 411 Seniors Centre Society; School of Health Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland; The Urban Institute, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland