Research Report 2019

CHANGE WITH
COMMUNITIES
2019 RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Catalyzing
Change
T
he Faculty of Extension’s distinguishable
academic purpose is to build and nurture
enduring relationships with local, national, and
global partners for social change. All of our work
coalesces to catalyze change with communities
and place the Faculty at the forefront of community
engagement. Our partnerships reimagine urban
and rural living, life for the young and old, and life in
local and international communities, with reverence
to cultural and Indigenous wisdoms. Above all, our
work cares for and nurtures our relationships and
how we engage with each other, embodying the
practice and study of community engagement.
The theme of this year’s research report is
Shaping Our Cities and Towns. While some of our
research is explicitly in partnership with municipal
governments, other research indirectly shapes
the cities and towns in which we live and care so
deeply about.
The stories in this report reflect the work of those
who care for our land, food, space, governments,
community organizations, and those living with
inequity. As Associate Dean, Research, I am
humbled to be surrounded by my colleagues and
their community partners, who work each day to
make life better for all.
Maria Mayan
Associate Dean, Research
Table of
Contents
4 Strength in Community
6 More United Approach Needed to
Provide a ‘Good Death’ to Rural
Residents Who Wish to Die at Home
8 Collaborating to Cultivate a Local
Food System
10 Evaluation Capacity
12 Grocery Run
14 Transforming How We Think
About Heritage
16 A Return to the Land
19 Professoriate
20 Adjunct Professors
21 Research Centres
22 Graduate Programs
23 A Message to Our Donors
2
3

IN
COMMUNITY
Combatting the Stigma
and Isolating Effects
M
ost of us can name someone with
dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Over half a million Canadians are
living with dementia, according to the
Alzheimer Society of Canada, and that
number continues to grow.
“As dementia progresses, a very strong
trend is social isolation of the informal
caregiver and the person living with
dementia,” says Helen Lightfoot, a
graduate student at the Faculty of
Extension. Lightfoot explains that
people are often unsure about how to
interact with people who have dementia.
“One of the things that people say
disappears is their community after a
dementia diagnosis. Friends and family
are key supports and when they are lost,
the rest of the network is weakened.”
From her own experience and
background in the health sector,
Lightfoot has known people with
dementia who have been supported by
the community and enjoyed a higher
quality of living. Some people with
dementia in early stages still go about
their daily routine, stopping at habitual
spots such as the bank or a coffee shop.
“The people at each place would help
them out,” she recalls. “That kind of
support builds strength—so how can
we reduce the stigma and help the
community provide support?”
One way community members can start
helping people with dementia, Lightfoot
advises, is to start by listening to their
story. “Often they just want someone
to talk to or a way to contribute. We
can look at what we can do to make
connections and provide support.”
Working with her Faculty of Extension
supervisor, Kyle Whitfield, Lightfoot
decided to examine what is the role
of support networks in the lives of
informal caregivers (often family
members) who look after people
with dementia. She asked informal
caregivers how they view support
and what factors influence the role of
support networks.
Interviews with informal caregivers
revealed that their support networks
provide five main types of support:
advocacy, education, caregiving, access
to resources, and coordination of
supports. Lightfoot explains that their
“support networks are attempting
to play these roles while adapting to
the loss of the main support person
to dementia and a withdrawal of the
community.” This finding indicates
the importance of community in
strengthening support networks and
improving resiliency to overcome
“gaps” in the network when individuals
are diagnosed with dementia.
Lightfoot’s research as part of her
master’s studies in community
engagement builds on the work from
her previous position as a manager
of the Westview Home Care Program
in Stony Plain and Spruce Grove. She
even received some funding from
Alberta Health Services’ professional
development fund in support of her
master’s program.
Her research also complements her
involvement with the Westview Dementia
Friendly Community Collaborative
project (funded by Seniors Health,
Strategic Clinical Network, Alberta
Health Services). The project involved
talking with people who have dementia
and their families to find out what
support is needed and what barriers
exist. The results revealed three areas
in which those with dementia wanted
a greater opportunity to participate:
physical and recreational activities,
ability to use transportation, and ways to
give caregivers a break. The community
also came together at a town-hall
meeting to brainstorm ideas on how to
help those with dementia be part of the
community, leading to the development
of a recreational program and plans for
other activities, such as a choir group
and an art program.
Lightfoot points out that while a cancer
diagnosis has a pathway to refer people
to support, dementia doesn’t, leaving
people unsure of where to find answers
and support. The Alzheimer Society of
Alberta and Northwest Territories’ First
Link program is a start to providing
early support and guidance, but
community awareness and involvement
are key to ensuring that individuals with
dementia and their caregivers do not
become socially isolated.
of Dementia
4
5

More United Approach
Needed to Provide a ‘Good
Death’ to Rural Residents
Wishing to Die at Home
Researcher Finds One Rural Community Rallied
Together to Support Terminally Ill Residents
R
ural communities have to take the
lead in giving their terminally ill
residents a “good death” at home rather
than relying solely on the government,
says a University of Alberta expert.
It’s becoming a keenly felt issue for many
small, under-resourced hamlets and
towns hit by shrinking health care like
doctor shortages and hospital closures,
said Faculty of Extension community
planning researcher Kyle Whitfield.
“We aren’t planning ahead. We’re
reacting—and we’re reacting much too
slowly to the need that’s growing quickly.”
In a case study of one Alberta town,
Whitfield found that volunteers had to
take on the work of planning hospice
care for their families, friends, and
neighbours to stay in the community
to die.
“It’s a phenomenon that’s occurring
at a high rate; in Alberta you’re going
to find hospice societies made up of
citizens coming together to plan for
their own communities. They are really
having to come together to plan for their
own health-care needs because of the
downloading of government support onto
the shoulders of these people. They are
having to find ways to provide support for
end-of-life care, because it isn’t there,”
said Whitfield.
Yet the need is growing for meaningful
hospice care—a major health service—
that allows people a good death: being
surrounded by loved ones in their home
communities during their final days.
The number of people choosing to die in
hospitals is dwindling, Whitfield noted.
One recent U of A study found that only
44 per cent of deaths in Canada are
taking place in a hospital.
“We are moving away from hospitals,
which aren’t necessarily about death
and dying,” Whitfield said. “People are
choosing to die at home, and that’s their
right. Why should someone have to go to
a big-city hospital to die, when they could
have health care and support services
in their own community? Saying where I
want to die is one of the most important
characteristics of what a good death is.”
The community she studied, which has a
population of 8,600, found itself rallying
to provide that for its citizens. In one
case, the hospice society lined up people
to sit with a dying woman who was asked
what her biggest fear was.
“It was being alone; she did not
want to be alone when she died. So
they arranged for around-the-clock
volunteers to be at her side. They all took
shifts to be with this lady. And she did
not die alone. This community responded
to the needs of someone being able to
die with absolute dignity, comfort, and
compassion,” said Whitfield.
While some rural communities have
nursing homes, that doesn’t necessarily
meet the need for good end-of-life care,
she noted.
“It’s not a duplication of service to have
a hospice, because it’s not the same
service that’s being provided,” explained
Whitfield. “It’s a space where the care
needs are met from a broader, homelike
perspective which is harder to provide in
a nursing home.”
The community originally wanted to
build a hospice facility but realized that
was beyond reach. Instead, over two
years, it established a formal society,
held fundraisers, applied for grants, and
created a network of bedside volunteers
to support the dying and their families.
It showed the strength of the
community’s efforts, Whitfield said.
“There was grassroots support, they got
donations from citizens and businesses
to train volunteers, they had people
attending talks about end-of-life care.
That propelled the group forward and it
shows how rural communities do more
with less by building their own resources
and capacities,” Whitfield said.
But they shouldn’t have to do it alone,
she added. The case study revealed the
community had difficulty trying to meet
with the province about its needs.
“The government was not open to
collaborating as easily as it could have
been. There wasn’t any direction or
step-by-step guide on how a community
should respond to hospice care needs,”
she said.
There was also debate within the
community about whose job it is to
provide in-place care for the dying,
Whitfield noted.
“There was real confusion around
whose role it is to address hospice
care needs. Should it be community or
should it be government?”
What’s needed is a mix of both, in the
form of a “multi-pronged approach,”
Whitfield said.
“You can’t deny rural communities
their role in this. We need their
perspectives on end-of-life care.
They don’t necessarily want the
government to come in and control the
process, but we need a more united
approach with government, community,
and health-care support. It’s not an
either-or situation.”
Story Credit: This article originally appeared
on folio.ca.
6
7

COLLABORATING
TO CULTIVATE
FOOD SYSTEM
The Alberta Flavour
Learning Lab as an
Innovative Community
of Practice
I
n response to growing demand
for local food, several local food
stakeholders are now working
together in a more coordinated way to
serve up more of what Alberta has to
offer to Edmontonians.
“The food system is a system and we
can’t just work in corners,” said Mary
Beckie, an associate professor and food
systems researcher with the Faculty of
Extension. “We have to acknowledge
the system and all players to be able to
scale up.”
Thanks to the Alberta Flavour Learning
Lab, its member organizations have
been able to purchase more local food.
In 2015, 23.9 per cent of their aggregated
food purchases were Alberta-produced
or processed foods. That number
continues to grow each year, and is as
high as 35 per cent for some institutions.
The City of Edmonton and Northlands
Agricultural Society initiated the
Alberta Flavour Learning Lab in 2014,
inviting a broad range of local food
stakeholders to form a community
for learning about local food, sharing
expertise, and taking joint action with
the mutual goal of “getting more local
foods on more local plates.”
“We made the case for working as a
collective rather than as competitors,”
said Beckie.
Beckie has been involved with the
Alberta Flavour Learning Lab from
the start, leading the research and
evaluation of the initiative. What she
refers to as the “social infrastructure”
has been a key factor in the current
success of the Learning Lab, indicating
the “importance of relationships,
working together, meeting regularly, and
building knowledge together.”
Institutional food buyers, distributors,
processors, producers, and governments
all make decisions that can impact
support for local foods and sustainable
food systems. With representatives from
these different groups meeting regularly,
the Learning Lab working group has
been able to create a shared definition of
local food (to mean “Alberta food”) with
criteria that make it easier to identify
local food and facilitate procurement.
The group has also been able to
address knowledge gaps together
and increase awareness of local
food available in Alberta with
opportunities such as “Meet the
Maker” and food tours. These
opportunities not only provide a way
for food buyers to connect with local
producers and processors, but also
provide information to government
representatives who develop
assistance programs for local
farmers and processors.
The Learning Lab plays a role in
creating a more resilient and robust
local community and economy. “The
more reliant we are on food from other
places, the more vulnerable we are to
environmental, economic, or political
changes that might restrict our access to
that food,” explained Beckie.
“As we strive to cultivate sustainability and
drive change in the greater food system,
the challenge is creating the critical
social space and supports to shift food
purchasing practices and processes.”
To support more informed and advanced
food planning and policy, Beckie has
also been working with the Institute for
Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen
Polytechnic University to launch the
Alberta Municipal Local Food System
Policy Database. This online searchable
database includes valuable resources,
such as municipal development plans,
bylaws, and food strategies, collected
from over 25 local governments.
Planners, policy makers, researchers,
and community advocates can use the
database to research and advance food
system planning in their regions.
Beckie is the academic lead for the
Western Canada arm of Food: Locally
Embedded, Globally Engaged (FLEdGE),
with her work in Alberta focused
on exploring regional food systems,
particularly the role of the social
economy and municipal and provincial
government in promoting local food.
The research “Creating a Local Food
Procurement Community of Practice:
The Alberta Flavour Learning Lab”
was published in a special issue on
institutional procurement in the journal
Canadian Food Studies.
8
9

Evaluation Capacity
A Critical Tool for Social Innovation
I
n recent years, increasing pressures
on community-based organizations to
demonstrate accountability and success
have led to an increase in evaluation
demand and the need for expertise
and support. The Evaluation Capacity
Network (ECN), an interdisciplinary
and intersectoral collaborative at the
Faculty of Extension, is working to
meet this need by developing several
community-engaged capacity-building
and learning opportunities.
The ECN bridges communityuniversity
evaluation gaps, serving
as a central space where students,
researchers, government, and
community organizations can share
and access evaluation expertise,
resources, educational opportunities,
and networks. Originating from
conversations in the field of early child
development, the ECN has expanded
the network, drawing on intersecting
relationships that have led to a broader
reach across the social sector.
The ECN promotes critical learning
and reflection about evaluation, and
supports partners in generating and
collecting valuable information about
the relevance and effectiveness of their
programs, policies, and practices. The
overall aim is to positively impact the
lives of children, youth, families, and
broader society.
“In working in deep relationship
and partnership on evaluation
with organizations, their staff, and
participants, we’ve seen organizations
build their capacity to gather
meaningful evidence and use it to shift
practice, programs, and policies in their
organization,” said Rebecca Gokiert,
Director of the ECN.
UEval, Eval Lab, and Evaluating Refugee
Programs are a few of the capacitybuilding
initiatives currently being run
under the ECN. Each program is unique
in how it builds evaluation capacity
among different groups.
Hands-on Learning for Students and
Community Members
A new initiative of the ECN, UEval
is a one-week institute that brings
undergraduates, graduates, and
community professionals together for a
unique co-learning experience focused
on evaluation in practice. Using an
experiential learning approach, UEval
engages learners in the exploration of
evaluation theory and principles within
a community context, enabling them
to apply their learning in developing
evaluative responses to communityinformed
cases.
In addition to UEval, graduate students
taking evaluation courses in other
faculties are given the opportunity to
gain tangible and applied evaluation
experience by connecting to local
organizations with evaluation needs.
Once matched with an organization,
students help to develop evaluation
plans, logic models, and data collection
tools, such as interview guides, as
needed. Students learn flexibility as
they apply theory to complex community
contexts, and partners benefit from the
work students produce.
Kelly Tyler, Project Manager at the
Alberta Ministry of Justice and the
Solicitor General has worked with three
students over four years through the
ECN brokering initiative. “The students
bring a fresh perspective to the work,
asking questions and uncovering
assumptions; that creates learning on
both sides.”
“The Evaluation Capacity Network
student program has created
opportunity for relationships between
the University and government,” Tyler
added. “The relationship has been of
great value and helps both students and
government to develop capacity in the
area of evaluation.”
Supporting Professionals in
Evaluation Practices
To further support professionals in
their evaluation practice, the Eval
Lab was developed and is offered in
partnership by the ECN, Edmonton
Chamber of Voluntary Organizations,
and Alberta Culture and Tourism.
Over six full-day sessions, non-profit
sector professionals come together
to collaboratively deepen their
understanding of evaluation, reflective
practice, and critical learning. Meeting
over a longer time span also offers
participants the opportunity to test
and apply evaluation concepts and
tools within their organizations
as needs arise. Coming together
to explore and critically reflect on
evaluation helps improve the quality
of information collected within the
participant organizations, to more
clearly articulate and learn from what
is working and what is not working in
current programs.
With the increased need for evaluation
in the non-profit sector, Eval Lab offers
an affordable and accessible resource
for organizations often lacking the
resources to meet these needs.
Bethan Kingsley, an adjunct professor
in the Faculty of Extension and Eval
Lab facilitator, sees immense potential
in the program. “Eval Lab can play a
role in the broader transformation of
a sector that uses data to engage in
critical reflection to improve research,
policies, and practices.”
After a successful Eval Lab in 2018,
the next Eval Lab will be offered in
October 2019.
Evaluating Refugee Programs
in Canada
The ECN is also working in partnership
with the Centre for Community Based
Research (CCBR) in Waterloo to build
evaluation capacity in the refugeeserving
sector. Funded by Immigration,
Refugee and Citizenship Canada, and in
response to the recent influx of refugees
entering Canada, this initiative will
support the development of national
capacity-building opportunities for
programs serving refugees and
refugee claimants.
Jason Daniels, ECN co-investigator
and a team lead on this initiative, hopes
to promote “participatory evaluation,
empowerment evaluation, and shared
power relationships,” through the
facilitated in-person evaluation
workshops and mentorship ‘pools’ for
refugee program staff that are being
developed across Canada.
This project aims to build sustainable
evaluation practices within current
programs in the refugee-serving sector.
To Community and Beyond
The ECN continues to evolve with shifting
evaluation needs, to reflect what is
practical and meaningful to community
organizations, government agencies, and
the social sector as a whole.
In guiding meaningful evaluation
practices across the social sector,
Kingsley believes there is a need to
question our desire for evaluation, to
ensure data is not collected for its own
sake but in a way that can truly inform
programs, policies, and practices. “We
need to ask ourselves, why are we
collecting data, and does it really help
us to understand something in a way we
couldn’t have known before? By asking
ourselves this question, we can reduce
what is currently a significant data
burden on non-profits and the individuals
they are trying to serve.”
Reflection, promoting evaluative
thinking, and an openness to learn have
allowed the ECN team to be successful
and create learning opportunities with
significant impact for partners and the
greater community.
To learn more about ECN and related programs or resources, visit:
evaluationcapacitynetwork.com
10 11

GROCERY
Food Program Offers
Lifeline to Immigrant and
Refugee Families in Need
w
hen Marilena arrived in Edmonton
from Romania five years ago
to join her husband, she weighed 70
kilograms. Six months later, the couple
split up and she was left to fend for
herself and their young son. Her weight
soon dropped almost 20 kilograms.
“I was starved,” she said. “First for me,
it was important for my son to have
something to eat. Then if something
remained in his bowl, I ate it myself.”
Struggling with her English skills and
an economics degree not recognized
in Canada, Marilena was grateful for
social assistance that covered rent
—but it didn’t stretch to cover food.
When she connected with the Grocery
Run, a program that provides healthy
rescued food from store shelves, it was
a lifesaver. She continues to rely on it to
feed herself and her child as she takes
English language classes and gets her
new life on track.
Providing Food While Reducing
Food Waste
Marilena’s situation—and that of
other immigrant moms grappling
with food insecurity—is at the heart
of a problem-solving partnership led
by researchers at the University of
Alberta’s Faculty of Extension. Grocery
Run is one of the results.
“This is a food waste reduction strategy
that is really just a creative way to get
food directly to families who need it,”
said lead researcher Maria Mayan, who
studies poverty.
The stop-gap program was started in
response to the overwhelming need
women and their families had for
same-day food, said Sandra Ngo, initial
coordinator of the Grocery Run program
and U of A alumna in nutritional science
and agricultural economics.
Grassroots community workers with
Edmonton’s Multicultural Health
Brokers Co-operative were working
holistically with these families to secure
housing and income assistance, but
instead found themselves scrambling to
find emergency food—often using their
own money to buy enough for evening
suppers and school lunches.
“The food insecurity piece was really
hampering their efforts, taking away
from what the brokers were already
trying to do,” Ngo said.
Mayan teamed with the co-operative
in 2013, and through a U of A nutrition
research project for pregnant and
postpartum women in Alberta called
ENRICH, laid the groundwork for
Grocery Run. The food program is
part of a larger initiative working
with immigrant and refugee families
in numerous strategies that, when
combined, will enable them to thrive as
they build new lives.
They Used to Be Able to Grow
Whatever They Needed
With the economic downturn in
Alberta, it’s become even harder for
everyone, including migrants, to find
work—especially those like Marilena
with language barriers. Ngo knows of
families existing on a child tax benefit
of $900 a month—with $850 of it going
to rent. “A lot of families are really
struggling and are quite trapped.”
An ENRICH survey of 213 families with
the co-operative showed 53 per cent
were very food insecure in the previous
year, with 31 per cent reporting children
not eating for a whole day because
there wasn’t enough money to buy food.
On top of that, many of the migrant
women, particularly those from Africa,
were at a loss as to how to get healthy
food for themselves here.
“We often hear from our clients that
they miss being able to grow their own
food back home, where many of them
were skilled farmers. Unfortunately,
the majority of these clients do not have
access to land to grow their own food in
Edmonton,” said Morgan Allen, the new
coordinator of the Grocery Run Program.
“We tend to think women are in Canada
by choice, but most left their families,
jobs and social networks to escape
extreme persecution, so there are many
struggles in the first few years,” said
Maíra Quintanilha, a doctoral student
with ENRICH. “They want to make
simple, healthy meals for their families,
but don’t have the financial means to
do so.”
Although food rescue could be seen as
a way of foisting off substandard fare
to the needy, most people are on board
with addressing food waste.
“Our project lies beautifully in the
middle. We are reducing food waste
while addressing immediate needs of
those who are hungry,” said Mayan.
The Canadian food system—from farm
to factory to shelf to fork—throws away
40 per cent of the food it produces
annually, she noted.
The Grocery Run currently provides
almost three tonnes of rescued food
each month, to approximately 115
families per week, from seven Edmonton
companies that redirect excess fresh
produce, potatoes, and bread.
Building Community and a
Support Network
Every Thursday afternoon, moms and
their babies—and the occasional single
dad—drop in to collect food from the
Grocery Run, and if they have time,
linger for tea and conversation, which
helps them build a support network.
“They have the opportunity to connect
with other women who are going
through similar experiences, and they’ll
tell each other about resources, events,
things in the community that might be
valuable for them,” Ngo said. “We can
use food as a doorway to addressing a
lot of the social issues these families
face. If we can get people to congregate
in the same space, we can really
capitalize on that, to do more than the
program might be intended for.”
Most recently, the Grocery Run team
has partnered with a registered charity
called the Leftovers Foundation, which
works on food rescue in Edmonton.
This partnership has greatly increased
the quantity of culturally appropriate
food staples available, including
fresh fruit and vegetables. However,
the team is still on the lookout for
local food vendors able to provide
other cultural staples such as lentils,
beans, rice, and flour, which are less
commonly available through food
rescue operations.
“We want to emphasize culturally
appropriate foods as much as possible
because those are the foods that our
families most enjoy,” said Allen.
Meanwhile, Marilena is able to stretch
her Grocery Run staples into some
nourishing meals.
“I am from Eastern Europe, and we
cook a lot. If you give me potatoes,
tomatoes, rice, bread, I can cook a
lot of things. To me, this program is
like oxygen.”
Providing Timely and
Innovative Solutions
“We have often been asked why our
families don’t just go to the food bank,”
said Mayan. “The Grocery Run was set
up to address emergency food needs of
migrant women and their families. It has
now grown into a multi-sector network
of business, university, citizen groups,
advocacy groups, service organizations,
and government to not only address the
lack of ‘same day’ food many families
experience, but also consider ways
to creatively repurpose excess food,
develop social enterprises, change food
waste policy, and contribute to a building
social movement.”
Looking beyond emergency food
measures, the research team is now
partnering with others to develop
a mobile market that would make
available low-cost food to those who
not only lack sufficient resources to
purchase food, but experience other
challenges such as time, physical,
or geographic limitations.
Story Credit: A previous version of this
article appeared on folio.ca.
12
13
Photo: Richard Siemens

Photo: Richard Siemens
Transforming How
We Think About
Heritage
Edmonton as a Case for Innovative
Approaches to Heritage Planning
A
s Edmonton continues to grow and
change, heritage planning must
too evolve. Exploring the relationships
among heritage, culture, and place in our
city, a forward-looking research study is
informing ways to modernize heritage
planning in Edmonton, as part of building
a better city for the future.
Kevin Jones, an assistant professor with
the Faculty of Extension, partnered with
the Edmonton Heritage Council on the
project to discover how Edmonton can
innovate approaches to heritage, culture,
and inclusivity while supporting positive
urban evolutions in the city.
As a starting point, the research
examined the Historic Urban Landscape
(HUL) approach, which seeks to balance
ideas of conservation with contemporary
urban development challenges, including
managing growth and fostering resiliency.
It also emphasizes the importance of
community engagement as part of the
process and the narrative.
“Traditional heritage conservation has
often been at odds with how cities are
trying to progressively adapt, so the
idea of HUL is to move away from that
oppositional tension and think of ways
in which heritage can be understood as
a support for urban change and positive
forms of urbanism,” explained Jones.
Edmonton is quite diverse with many
different perspectives, experiences,
cultures, and communities that shape our
city landscape, and yet, much of our city’s
landscape can feel “placeless” or generic
due to the rapid urbanization that has
taken place. Finding ways to recognize
this diversity in heritage planning
and urban development is not only
important in acknowledging the multiple
communities and cultures within the city,
but also in creating successful urban
communities for the future.
One of the places that Edmontonians
readily perceive as unique to Edmonton
is Whyte Ave. While the appearance is
part of the charm, the experience of
walking down Whyte Ave amid bustling
crowds is a sensory experience unique
to that place. Capturing this kind of
intangible quality in modern heritage
planning is difficult, but it’s an example
of how heritage also needs to consider
how we live and experience our city
as it continues to evolve. With this
intersection of tangible and intangible
aspects, Whyte Ave has been identified
by the research team as a potential
case for HUL.
“The project has been valuable
in providing a sharper lens and
perspectives on neighbourhoods
such as Old Strathcona, a commonly
recognized heritage district, but one
that has significant new challenges and
one that’s been underappreciated in its
complexity and layers of experience,”
said David Ridley, Executive Director of
the Edmonton Heritage Council.
While HUL has been cited in a
recommendation by UNESCO and is
being observed in some international
case studies, further research is needed
and each case is different. Edmonton is
a relatively young city compared to other
pilot cities such as Cuenca, Ecuador,
and has experienced significant, rapid
changes to its landscape, making it an
interesting case to examine HUL and
other innovative approaches to heritage.
Jones is now looking at creating
community-based approaches to how
we understand heritage in Edmonton,
as well as translating those visions
into current development and planning
priorities. Community engagement is
essential to the success of inclusive
landscape approaches to heritage
planning in the city, which further
aligns with the Faculty of Extension’s
commitment to engaged research
and Jones’ work with the City-Region
Studies Centre (CRSC) to support
positive urban development in our city.
Partnering with Indigenous communities
to better account for urban Indigenous
experiences and futures will be of
particular importance for developing
landscape heritage planning in
Edmonton. “We’re exploring Indigenous
methodology to capture that sense of
how people have lived in relation to the
city and their desires for the future,”
mentioned Jones. “We’re looking at how
Indigenous communities tell the stories of
Edmonton’s urban past, including ongoing
challenges related to colonization,
and how we can define pathways for
incorporating this knowledge and
experience into the decisions and plans
we make for creating a shared Edmonton
going forward.”
“Heritage planning needs to have a
central role in building cohesive and
inclusive communities, make significant
contributions to sustainability, and
challenge us to confront difficult
aspects of the past,” added David Ridley,
Executive Director of the Edmonton
Heritage Council. “That’s how heritage
thinking and planning will make a fuller
contribution to society and innovation.”
Preliminary details of the project have
been published in a report. “The report
is a background piece to thinking about
the origins of these ideas and how they
make sense for Edmonton,” explained
Jones. “While HUL was a starting point,
we moved away from it to talk about
understanding culture, inclusivity, and
multiple histories in the city.”
Jones primarily worked with a master’s
student, Vanessa Zembal, on compiling
the report, and received funding support
from Mitacs and the Edmonton Heritage
Council. Further research, involving
substantial engagement with the
community, is intended to begin
later this year.
14
15

A RETURN TO THE LAND
Reconnecting to the Spirit of
the Cree Language
Art by Lana Whiskeyjack
A
dark history of trauma and
assimilation drove a wedge
between many Indigenous people
and their culture and language,
disconnecting them from the laws
of the land. A new study aims to
understand the spirit of the language
and its link to the land, to help people
regain this lost connection and
revitalize the Cree language.
“Our elders always say our language is
spirit and our words are medicine; I want
to dive into what that really means,” said
Lana Whiskeyjack, an assistant professor
at the Faculty of Extension.
“This research is going to be informing
programs of language revitalization.
One of the things I want to do is create
language resources—visual and digital
stories—for people to have access to.
And in future programs, I want people
to learn the language through the
creative process.”
Whiskeyjack’s own desire to become
fluent in Cree motivates this project.
Tired of hearing that the younger
generation does not know the
language, she has made a declaration
to learn Cree within five years.
However, it’s about more than just
knowing the words.
“There are a lot of Cree language
speakers out there who are
disconnected from the laws of the land,”
said Whiskeyjack. “My goal is to bring
spirit back into education, and one of
the main reasons I’m here at Extension
is that we have a ceremonial room that
gives space to spirit.”
Whiskeyjack recruited a graduate
student in communications and
technology, Kyle Napier, to prepare a
literature review, which gives context to
the trauma to the spirit of the language.
This review will help inform the next
research goal of how to overcome
language trauma and reconnect
speakers with the spirit of Cree.
“We looked at all the assimilation
policies and the laws that affected the
Indigenous people’s connection to the
land—and therefore the language,” said
Whiskeyjack. “One of the first things
that happened was the forceful removal
from the land, which is important to tie
into the loss of the language and the
loss of the spirit of the language.”
By looking at what happened to cause
this loss, we can better understand
how to address the issue, explained
Whiskeyjack. The information obtained
from the literature review will also be
shared with the community as a onepage
summary.
Community engagement will be a large
part of the study as well. Whiskeyjack
plans to interview language leaders,
educators, and language warriors—
people who are revitalizing the language
in a contemporary way. She will also
recruit cultural helpers who have a
specific way of teaching to be the voices
of the visual and digital stories.
“The most powerful cultural helpers in
our community are those grandmothers
or aunties and uncles who treat
everyone like you’re their precious
little baby or niece or granddaughter or
daughter; they come from what we call
wakohtowin—the place of always being
in relation to them.”
“It’s all relational. My work does not
happen on its own.”
Relationships with community members
are core to Whiskeyjack’s research,
teaching, and learning. They become
lifelong commitments and meaningful
co-mentorships. She also frequently
invites community members to share
their knowledge, often asking elders or
ceremonial people to co-teach or guest
speak in her courses.
“I know I’m only as smart as those who
are my teachers, and so I bring in my
community to help with extending my
knowledge,” said Whiskeyjack. “I rely
a lot on my community connections
to come and help with my work in
education and then with community
engagement specifically, it takes a huge
community to do that work.”
Cree also imposes a different way
of thinking about our relationships.
Something is either animate or
inanimate. Everything living is related—
not just all humans. The trees are alive.
The sun is alive. This connection to our
earth recognizes that without the trees
or the sun, we wouldn’t exist.
“It’s having more gratitude for living
every single day.”
Whiskeyjack envisions how revitalizing
the Cree language and regaining the
spiritual connection to the land can help
the rest of the world better understand
how to balance our relationship with our
environment and leave a better world
for future generations.
“In any of the work I’m doing, I make
sure it’s arts-integrated.”
Art plays a major role in Whiskeyjack’s
research, serving as the means through
which she processes the analytical
thinking of her work. “Art is my
ceremony,” she explained.
With her research on the spirit of the
language, Whiskeyjack is doing an art
series based on the Cree teachings
of the 13 moons, which predate the
Gregorian calendar as a way to keep
time. Each moon has a name and a
teaching. For example, in February, it
was the eagle moon, where the eagles’
return signifies spring and includes
teachings of the love story and rituals
of eagles.
Whiskeyjack plans to bring in different
teachings with each of the moons
from the Cree stories, and put them
in a contemporary context, which
she describes as having the feel of
futuristic surrealism.
She also uses her art to nurture visual
literacy and communicate in a different
way. “People don’t realize, when you’re
looking at art, looking at photos, there’s
a lot going on in your brain that you
can’t explain.”
16
17

Professoriate
FACULTY OF
EXTENSION
AT A GLANCE
Katy Campbell, PhD
Dean
Maria Mayan, PhD
Associate Dean of Research
Professor and Associate Director of the
Community-University Partnership for the
Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP)
Mary Beckie, PhD
Associate Professor and Director of Community
Engagement Studies
Thomas Barker, PhD
Professor, graduate program in Communications
and Technology
Jason Daniels, PhD
Evaluation & Research Associate, Community-
University Partnership for the Study of Children,
Youth, and Families (CUP)
Fay Fletcher, PhD
Professor
Jennifer Foote, PhD
Assistant Professor, English Language School
Lois Gander, QC, PhD
Professor
Rebecca Gokiert, PhD, R. Psych
Interim Associate Dean of Academic and Student
Affairs, Associate Professor, and Associate Director of
the Community-University Partnership for the Study of
Children, Youth, and Families (CUP)
Gordon Gow, PhD
Associate Professor and Director of the graduate
program in Communications and Technology
Martin Guardado, PhD
Professor and Academic Director of the English
Language School
Kevin Jones, PhD
Assistant Professor
Rob McMahon, PhD
Assistant Professor, graduate program in
Communications and Technology
Kent Rondeau, PhD
Associate Professor
Rob Shields, DPhil
Professor, Henry Marshall Tory Chair, and Academic
Director of the City-Region Studies Centre (CRSC)
Stanley Varnhagen, PhD
Faculty Service Officer
Lana Whiskeyjack, PhD
Assistant Professor
Kyle Whitfield, PhD, RPP-MCIP
Associate Professor
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19

Adjunct
Professors
Jeff Bisanz, PhD
Professor Emeritus, Psychology, Faculty of Arts
Affiliated with the Community-University Partnership for
the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP)
Sherry Ann Chapman, PhD
Practicum Coordinator, Human Ecology
Affiliated with the Community-University Partnership for
the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP)
Ann Curry, PhD
Professor Emerita, Faculty of Extension
Affiliated with the graduate program in Communications
& Technology
Martin Garber-Conrad
CEO, Edmonton Community Foundation
Affiliated with the Community-University Partnership for
the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP)
Judy Iseke, PhD
Métis Artist and Researcher
Bethan Kingsley, PhD
Affiliated with the graduate program in Community
Engagement
Jessica Laccetti, PhD
Affiliated with the graduate program in Communications
& Technology
Helen Madill, PhD
Professor Emerita, Faculty of Extension
Special Advisor, Student Affairs
Lucie Moussu, PhD
Associate Professor, English and Film Studies,
and Director, Centre for Writers
Affiliated with the English Language School
David Peacock, PhD
Executive Director, Community-Service Learning
Program, Faculty of Arts
Affiliated with the graduate program in Community
Engagement
Jane Springett, PhD
Professor, School of Public Health
Affiliated with the Community-University Partnership for
the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP)
Michael Stolte, PhD, R. Psych
Director of Clinical Services, Centre for Autism
Services Alberta
Affiliated with the Community-University Partnership for
the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP)
Rika Tsushima
Affiliated with the English Language School
Research
Centres
Children | Youth | Families
Community-Driven Research
Community-University Partnerships
uab.ca/CUP
Urban and Rural Development | Regional Development
Sustainable Communities | Planning
Community-Driven Research
Community-University Partnerships
uab.ca/CRSC
Susan Lynch, PhD
Affiliated with the Community-University Partnership for
the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP)
20
21

Graduate
Programs
Master of Arts in Communications
and Technology
For Working Professionals | Part-Time
Online | Course-Based | Theory and Practice
uab.ca/MACT
Master of Arts in Community
Engagement
Interdisciplinary | Thesis-Based
Theory and Practice | Work with Community
uab.ca/MACE
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