Strengthening a culture of support and mutual understanding: Lyana Patrick, SFU EDI Community of Practice

In Lyana Patrick’s work, she embeds an Indigenous lens of reciprocity, encouraging others to think relationally and building a sense of community. From student group work in her classroom to her role as co-designer of SFU’s EDI Community of Pratice (CoPr), community care is a key value in her approach.

As an assistant professor and faculty teaching fellow in health science, Patrick’s practice draws from her Stellat'en First Nation and Acadian/Scottish background, focusing on decolonization and systems transformation. Her research examines health and justice systems through an Indigenous lens, urban Indigenous community planning and institutional change through decolonizing education. 

Patrick acknowledges the importance of differentiating between EDI work and Indigenization and decolonization due to the differing goals and needs each can have. However, when asked to take part in co-designing the EDI CoPr, she was drawn to finding intersections and ways for these goals to be mutually supportive.

“I'm really interested in seeing what the interconnections between EDI and the work of Indigenous scholars and staff can look like.” 

The EDI Community of Practice supports equity practitioners across the university by building community and capacity. Throughout its first year, the EDI CoPr held monthly meetings to facilitate training for developing equity-centred design, share ongoing work and ideas and build relationships with one another.

“Over the course of the year that I was involved as a co-designer I was able to participate in and witness some really wonderful work,” says Patrick.  

Patrick describes seeing units with an embedded EDI approach beyond a dedicated Equity group or job position mandate as particularly inspiring. She cites Facilities Services and Procurement as examples of departments who have shown a commitment to thinking about EDI throughout their regular duties.

Patrick also highlights transgender equity work that emerged during the CoPr. In the annual report, a participating staff member lauded the network of support found within the CoPr, which enabled them to scale their work. Among others, one of these achievements was SFU’s new commitment to gender affirming care benefits through Pacific Blue Cross. 

In building the CoPr, designers Patrick, Rachel Nelson, Paola Ardiles Gamboa, Simran Purewal, Bee Brigidi, Dal Sohal and Ashley Edwards employed a developmental evaluation practice. This allows facilitators to collect feedback, evaluate and make changes to a program throughout its implementation.

“It was really interesting and exciting to see in that context,” says Patrick. “As opposed to getting people to do evaluations at a time that’s removed from the work that we're doing, reflecting on six months ago, or a year ago, having the opportunity to immediately reflect on things and then to shift and change them as we go was a really valuable process and a really good way to do it.” 

Based on learnings as the CoPr took place, the group introduced activities including office-hour style networking opportunities and more tailored supports for members.

“I thought it was such a rich and meaningful way to design, develop and iterate a community like the one that was created,” says Patrick. 

As the Community of Practice prepares for their second year of operation, they hope to continue breaking down silos among practitioners and supporting one another.

“I hope that the folks who were really engaged in the first year of the CoPr continue to be engaged, and can further provide mentorship to new people who might hear about this community and are interested,” says Patrick. “As they pursue different projects and carry forward, there’s a lot of work to do that needs people to be sustained.”