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This qualitative study explores and documents the lived experiences of women who are leading social movement organizations in Canada. It gives context to their work within the established sectors and broader movements they are a part of, while highlighting the barriers and opportunities they are currently facing in their work. Their experiences also shed light on the unique barriers that have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 global pandemic, and the unique opportunities made visible because of the current political climate in Canada and beyond.

Land as Life is a community-led and created undergraduate course in the Faculty of Xwulmuxw/Indigenous Studies at Vancouver Island University that has been running for 18 years. Every year it is planned and created by local Indigenous Knowledge-Keepers with the course instructor. The class is structured around teaching and learning in community-engaged settings, off campus from local Elders and community members from local nations, such as the Snuneymuxw, Stz’uminus, Quw’utsun and Penelakut territories. A research Project Team was formulated to explore the impacts of the course to share with the university community about how Indigenous land-based pedagogy traditionally stems from the land and how the Indigenous community members (Elders/Knowledge Keepers) exemplify how land-based and community-centred education benefits both the student-participants and the community at large. The specific contributions of this project demonstrate the benefits of an integrated course delivery, one that is informed by Indigenous pedagogies and due to COVID-19 had to be virtual. The analysis of the data, included in the film, provides the Vancouver Island University community understanding of the transformative student impacts resulting from the course, even in a virtual ‘crisis teaching’ format.

Building equitable, accessible and affordable campuses through Co-operatives. Webinars discussing co-operatives, what they are and how they could make for more equitable and accessible campus communities. Co-op webinar 2. This video is part of the second webinar in the webinar series on "COVID-19 Response: Building Higher Learning Resilience in the Face of Epidemics: Co-operatives and Campuses." Webinar occurred on March 17th, 2021.

Building equitable, accessible and affordable campuses through Co-operatives. Webinars discussing co-operatives, what they are and how they could make for more equitable and accessible campus communities. Co-op webinar 1. This video is part of the first webinar in the webinar series on "COVID-19 Response: Building Higher Learning Resilience in the Face of Epidemics". Webinar occurred on February 24th, 2021.

Female genital mutilation, also known as FGM, is a traditional cultural ceremony that has been practiced for hundreds of years in Africa, Asia, South Asia, and some parts of Europe. Girls from infancy to marriage or motherhood have been subjected to the partial or total removal of female genitalia as a rite of passage to ensure protection of purity and cleanliness. FGM is an ongoing cultural practice in Nigeria because of social conditioning. The results of the research show that the involvement of community members (victims of FGM, elders, and medical professionals) and leaders (spiritual, cultural, and political) will play a big role in reducing the practice of FGM in Nigeria. This portfolio synthesis includes methodology, methods, components, theoretical framework, knowledge of dissemination, and plan transfer. I explore why FGM is still an accepted practice in Nigeria and how social norm practices actively contribute to the ongoing practice of FGM. I had originally planned to travel to Nigeria to collect the data for this portfolio by dissertation. Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, I was unable to travel and instead resorted to using different social media platforms such as WhatsApp to collect my data. This portfolio synthesis presents an overview of the following three components of the dissertation by portfolio: 1) a journal article submitted to African Studies Quarterly journal detailing the results and answers to the FGM research questions through 30 WhatsApp phone interviews of participants in Nigeria; 2) a 3D animation documentary of the real-life experience of a victim of FGM and its harmful effects; and 3) a peer reviewed conference presentation published in the proceedings at the Royal Roads University Social Engaging Applied Research Conference (August, 2021) comprised of a literature review defining FGM and outlining why it is continued.

Building equitable, accessible and affordable campuses through Co-operatives. Webinars discussing co-operatives, what they are and how they could make for more equitable and accessible campus communities. Co-op webinar 2. This video is part of the second webinar in the webinar series on "COVID-19 Response: Building Higher Learning Resilience in the Face of Epidemics: Co-operatives and Campuses". Webinar occurred on March 17th, 2021.

This research examined the function and value of a coalition in identifying and mobilizing novel solutions to health organizations across Canada in an environment of forced disruption (i.e., COVID-19). More specifically, the study used a naturalistic inquiry methodology to understand the process of how the Canadian Health Leadership Network (CHLNet) coalition responded to the need to integrate e-Learning—an unfamiliar delivery practice for leadership development—into leadership development for its member partners and was hastened by the pandemic. The CHLNet case study results suggested that the coalition was a valuable setting upon which to identify and mobilize knowledge across Canada, despite the many challenges the pandemic brought. Further, the findings suggested that for CHLNet, key process elements contributed to their success that included using an adaptive leadership approach, taking advantage of an opportunity, selecting the right people to work on the project, actively managing the project, and allowing iterative journey processes that mirrored those of design thinking to emerge. Out of this study came three recommendations that address gaps in knowledge and suggest new lines of inquiry, namely: to look for patterns of successful project initiatives in coalitions; to explore a possible correlation between design thinking and coalition project initiatives; and to study the mindset, motivation, and empowerment of coalition project members. Overall, this study illustrated the significant value a coalition could have on identifying and mobilizing divergent practice knowledge on a national scale during a chaotic time of forced disruption across health organizations.

A sense of belonging is a fundamental human need, especially important for first-year undergraduates since it is directly related to their overall success and experience with the institution they attend (Ahn & Davis, 2020; Freeman et al., 2007; Tinto, 2017). This need drives individuals to seek mutually beneficial relationships (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Over, 2016; Taormina & Gao, 2013), underscoring the need for ongoing, positive interactions between the students and their instructors—and the university as a whole—as well as between the students themselves (Tinto, 2017). For the 2020-2021 school year, however, first-year students at traditional universities in Canada faced a new and unexpected reality: an online-only experience—along with restricted in-person contact in general—due to policies enforced by the Canadian government in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic (CBC, 2020; CDC, 2020; Government of Canada, 2020). At the University of British Columbia (UBC), specifically, on-campus activities and related events were cancelled, limited, or offered solely online, the requirement to live locally was removed—removing the dormitory or shared housing experience for most students—and all courses (except a select few within visual arts, music, and theatre) were delivered online (UBC Service Desk, personal communication, April 4, 2022). This combination of restricted in-person contact and digital course delivery highlights the importance of understanding the students’ need for belonging—specifically, whether and how it is met in the online-only context—as well as the roles played by the communicative tools involved.

For decades, the Canadian news media industry has been eroded by a myriad of factors including media conglomeration, the changing digital landscape, and declining advertising revenue—a situation which has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research examines six community news organizations across the western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia who are using new journalism practices and revenue models to serve their communities as a response to the ongoing crisis narrative currently surrounding the Canadian media industry. Through an action research appreciative inquiry methodology, this research focuses on what is working well for these organizations to create new regionally based knowledge regarding the keys to their current success, to future sustainability, and to potential replicability. In addition, the data is analyzed through Carlson’s metajournalistic discourse framework to uncover in what ways these journalists are challenging or changing the discourse surrounding local news production in their communities and in the wider industry. It concludes there are several foundational blocks other community news publishers can build upon to help create healthy and diverse media ecosystems, and while readers are showing support for these news organizations, the wider industry could be doing more to legitimize their organizations and metajournalisitc discourses.

Building equitable, accessible and affordable campuses through Co-operatives. Webinars discussing co-operatives, what they are and how they could make for more equitable and accessible campus communities. Co-op webinar 1. This video is part of the first webinar in the webinar series on "COVID-19 Response: Building Higher Learning Resilience in the Face of Epidemics". Webinar occurred on February 24th, 2021.