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This research explores the perspectives of faculty members teaching in undergraduate tourism programs across British Columbia (BC), Canada regarding curricula revitalization in consideration of macro changes that have occurred in the tourism industry worldwide including the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing climate change crisis, and the urgent need for indigenization. With a focus on programs that offer bachelor’s degrees in tourism management, this qualitative study investigates the perspectives of nine faculty members representing Capilano University, Royal Roads University, Thompson Rivers University, and Vancouver Island University. Data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews. A reflexive thematic analysis indicated one overarching theme: collaboration; two themes: tourism management higher education must 1) craft leaders who embody 21st century skills and 2) be as dynamic as the tourism industry; and three subthemes: 1) multi-disciplinary, 2) work-integrated learning, and 3) macro changes. Due to the rapid pace of change in the tourism industry, the current curriculum offered in tourism management degree programs across BC must be reimagined. Recommendations include course content revitalization, mandatory work-integrated learning, and the renewal and maintenance of collaboration across institutions. The study’s findings are relevant to tourism management students, faculty members and higher education institutions in British Columbia.

This paper aims to explore the demand for wellness tourism and how it has grown in the last decade. This growth is in part due to increased stress levels from various factors. Some of these factors are heightened stress in society such as COVID-19 and high inflation, people working longer hours, unhealthy lifestyles, and higher obesity rates. The study focused on the demographic cohort known as millennials, ranging from 25 to 40 years of age. Millennials are projected to account for 75 percent of consumers and travelers by 2025 globally. The study aimed to determine how Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) can rethink their approaches for targeting millennial consumers and travelers and the preferences of Canadian millennials specifically related to their perceptions and their needs from wellness tourism within Canada. The material presented in the literature review represents the relevance of wellness, wellness in tourism, the importance of wellness in Canada, the impact of COVID-19, and millennials' characteristics and influence on tourism. The study uses a qualitative approach for interviews with DMOs on how to approach their marketing strategies and a mix-method approach on surveys for millennials on how they perceive wellness tourism. The qualitative research assisted in identifying the elements of millennial travel and DMO's influence in marketing to the demographic. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) was the critical component in developing the questions for the interview and survey. The questions focused on AI's four D's: Dream, Destiny, Discovery, and Design. The purpose of AI is to help anticipate if the best-case scenario occurred more frequently within the wellness tourism industry in Canada instead of analyzing problems. The data gathered produced a list of the critical factors pertaining to millennial consumer and travel behavior, the importance of wellness tourism for the millennial demographic, and DMO's marketing techniques to target millennial travelers within Canada. Additionally, the data also produced recommendations for the future of wellness and tourism.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way people work together, particularly how colleagues communicate with one another in a remote work setting. With the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, all organisations in Canada were mandated to move their employees to work from home to slow the spread of the virus. This resulted in the work from home phenomenon (WFH) and a transposition of the social aspects of work and relations between colleagues. This study investigates the WFH phenomenon through the lens of workplace communication and applies the findings to the practice of HR and organisational leadership. Through the use of adaptive structuration theory (AST), which proposes the idea of soft technological determinism, the study explains the introduction and utilisation of information and communication technologies in the workplace, particularly for a workforce with low digital literacy. The study reveals the absence of organisational policies and legislation on remote work, while acknowledging the challenges created by differences between organisations, unique features of various communication software, and varying individual preferences. Furthermore, the results demonstrate the importance of workplace relationships in organisational resilience and the role that HR and organisational leaders play in supporting a culture that promotes flexibility and openness.

This action research inquiry, undertaken in partnership with the Independent Schools Association of British Columbia (ISABC), was guided by the question: How might the ISABC’s Team Leadership Program support the leadership development and thriving of emerging and middle leaders throughout and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic? Data were collected with a survey and two focus groups involving 52 participants from 16 independent schools. Arts-based approaches included photo elicitation and found poetry. Key findings indicated the pandemic has magnified the human side of educational leadership and thriving as being a middle leader requires communication, relationship building, and the prioritization of followers’ needs. Recommendations addressed strategies to (a) develop self-awareness, coaching, and interpersonal skills amongst emerging leaders; (b) capitalize on existing leadership networks to foster a stronger sense of belonging within the ISABC; and (c) offer leadership-focused professional development and resources accessible to the broader ISABC community. Keywords: arts-based research, found poetry, K–12, independent schools, leadership development, middle leaders, photo elicitation, thriving at work

This case study explores the conditions and motives that led to the formation of a local Chapter of environmental educators and documents the successes and challenges that occurred during the Chapter’s first year as the Salish Sea Environmental Educators Provincial Specialist Association (SSEEPSA). The thesis also explores the challenges experienced by the writer as a public-school environmental educator and highlights the learning and identity-forming experiences that occurred while she worked in collaboration with teachers who shared similar interests and passions. Details of the events that SSEEPSA organized offer best practices to implement when establishing a professional network or Chapter of a Provincial Specialist Association (PSA). In a year that was marked with additional isolation and challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the thesis highlights the importance to teachers of professional communities in which to share their passions and knowledge and collaborate on projects and practices that extend beyond their classrooms.

Despite multiculturalism serving as a policy for more than 50 years in Canada and 30 years in British Columbia to build acceptance of cultural diversity, the COVID-19 pandemic has served as an impetus for a resurgence of anti-Asian racism in Canada, particularly in B.C. This study explores how the policy of multiculturalism has been applied in Canada’s westernmost province to address anti-Asian racism, examining its application from a communication perspective and its unique sub-national context. Using a pragmatic, mixed-methods approach, the study involved a survey of Canadians of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean backgrounds living in B.C., and a content analysis of B.C. government messaging related to multiculturalism and anti-Asian racism within the fiscal periods of 2017-18 and 2021-22. The study finds that the provincial government application of multiculturalism focuses on the fundamental acknowledgement of the existence and value of cultural and ethnic diversity rather than on a more advanced application promoting belonging and integration of immigrants into Canadian society. The findings suggest opportunities for government messaging to strengthen its focus on values related to inclusion that are of importance to Canadians of East Asian descent, and a need for the application of multiculturalism to focus on strengthening the sense of belonging between Canadians of all cultural backgrounds and ethnicities to collectively recognize the common values we share as a basis of a common civic identity.

This case study will critically examine lessons learned during COVID-19 to inform how we advance change towards socially sustainable public spaces. Through the lens of equity, access to public space for vulnerable populations during COVID-19 in Victoria, British Columbia, is explored. A stakeholder analysis is presented to illuminate the nature of stakeholder engagement within the City of Victoria, followed by a review of the intersectoral response that led to the activation of ERCs and the mobilization of hotel rooms to accommodate people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic. Furthermore, this case study will discuss how participatory processes, such as equity-centred design, placemaking, and equity mapping, can facilitate community and citizen engagement. This case highlights the emergence of leisure-related innovations as catalysts for social change—an increasingly important area of leisure research. In addition, this case study outlines the urgent need for research related to the intersection of COVID-19, equity, public space, and leisure. For broader audiences, such as local governments, not-for profit organizations, and leisure service providers, the value of this case study is underscored by the relevance of co-creation in the context of inclusive land-use planning, policy, and design. https://viurrspace.ca/bitstream/handle/10613/25231/Broderick.pdf?sequence=3

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.

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.

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.