UNews - Tanya Pace-Crosschild

Blackfoot Women’s Empowerment project highlights community and collaboration

caroline.zentner — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 18:18:01 +0000

When Tanya Pace-Crosschild (BSc ’98), director of the Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society, saw a call for proposals from Women and Gender Equality Canada in 2018, she immediately recognized an opportunity to develop a project to foster the economic empowerment of Indigenous women in southern Alberta.

“Many of our families are living below the poverty line and Blackfoot women don’t have the same opportunities as a lot of other Canadian women,” says Pace-Crosschild. “We wanted to look at what economic prosperity means to Blackfoot women and how to go from economic security to prosperity, keeping in mind many of our women aren’t even at the security level.”

Pace-Crosschild reached out to her network of women, including, from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, Drs. Carol Williams (history, women and gender studies) and Jan Newberry (anthropology) and Rhonda Crow (BMgt ’99), coordinator with Indigenous Governance and Business Management at the Dhillon School of Business. They submitted a proposal and succeeded in getting $350,00 in funding for a three-year project called Blackfoot Women’s Empowerment from Security to Prosperity.

From left to right are Crystal Good Rider, Marjie Crop Eared Wolf (BFA ’09), Dr. Carol Williams, Dr. Jan Newberry, Rhonda Crow, Marsha Wolf Collar (BA ’11), Robin Little Bear, Tanya Pace-Crosschild, Coby Royal and Melissa Shouting (BHSc ’19), U of L graduate student.

“We’re really excited about Blackfoot Women’s Empowerment because it’s a grassroots initiative,” says Pace-Crosschild. “It acknowledges the voices of women, the strengths of Indigenous women, specifically Blackfoot women, and it gives us a basis to move forward. Our goals and dreams with this project are to empower women.”

Now in their final year of funding, they recently launched the Blackfoot Women’s Empowerment website, a portal for Blackfoot women to access resources to enhance their entrepreneurial skills and learn more about traditional ways of life. In addition, the website highlights two projects the group has funded — the Paahtómahksikimi Cultural Centre online craft store and the Red Woman Talks series.

The online gallery and store showcases the talents of 10 artisans and includes artwork, jewelry, accessories, clothing, moccasins and more available for purchase through the click of a mouse. Red Woman Talks is designed to be a series of seven interviews featuring Indigenous women’s successes in communities within the Blackfoot Confederacy. Still in the planning stages, the goal is to inspire, empower and motivate by having role models talk about the challenges they faced and how they overcame them on their path to success.

This fall, the Blackfoot Women’s Empowerment group partnered with the Dhillon School of Business. Starting in January, Drs. Tanya Drollinger and Katie Lafreniere will lend their expertise in promotion to the two projects.

“We needed help in marketing and developing an online presence,” says Crow. “Hopefully, it will be an ongoing partnership because we’re hoping this project doesn’t end when the government funding ends. We’re looking at sustainability and how we can ensure this becomes a permanent program.”

The project began in 2018 with the formation of an Indigenous women’s council. With the help of Coby (Eagle Bear) Royal (BA ’08), they organized a series of meetings with Blackfoot women, both on and off reserve. Along with meetings in Lethbridge and Calgary, they met with women from the Siksika, Piikani, Kainai and Blackfeet First Nations to ask them how they define economic prosperity and what it means to them.

“The results were similar to what I had expected,” says Pace-Crosschild. “Economic prosperity to Indigenous families is not just based on money. It’s based on relationship — relationship with each other, to the land, and to the resources within the community.”

Following the meetings, the women developed a community plan and were asked to submit proposals to Blackfoot Women’s Empowerment. Crystal Good Rider (Ba/BEd ’04, MEd ’10) was hired as project manager to help implement the successful proposals.

“The website was developed in response to what the women were saying in the community needs assessment,” says Good Rider. “When you empower the women, you empower the whole community. There are so many challenges, but this is one positive. Everything we do has been guided by the Blackfoot women’s voices.”

The women identified needs for including cultural content, showcasing Blackfoot women role models and providing entrepreneurial opportunities for women.

“With the website, we’ve been able to work with the Paahtómahksikimi Cultural Centre to highlight artists within the community,” says Good Rider. “With that project, we were really focused on the collective effect of their proposal.”

Newberry says Blackfoot Women’s Empowerment highlights the many connections between the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and the larger community. Almost all the women involved in the project are either employees, faculty or alumnae of the U of L.

“This is a very exciting project,” she says. “It’s been going on for a while and we’re finally seeing some of the fruits of our labour. We used an assets-based model and the projects we’re supporting definitely build on the strengths that already exist among Blackfoot women.”

Care labour the focus of Liberal Education Symposium

trevor.kenney — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 16:26:15 +0000

The global pandemic has shone a light on many different facets of society but perhaps none more than on those who provide care. Care labour — what is it, what does it mean to you, how does it affect the economy, how is it related to ethics, gender, sexuality and ability? These are just some of the questions that will be explored at the School of Liberal Education’s fourth annual Liberal Education Symposium.

For the first time, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will offer the symposium in an online format, inviting the community at large to participate. The event takes place Friday, September 25 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. and registration is free.

“When we talk about essential workers like doctors, nurses, teachers, daycare providers, janitors and housekeepers, we are talking about those who take care of others. Although the term care labour has been taken up recently to describe this kind of work, the questions it prompts have been around a long time,” says Dr. Jan Newberry, a professor in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Department of Anthropology and one of the three keynote symposium panelists. “What does it even mean to say that we care? For the planet? For our communities? For one another?”

In her talk, Newberry will use relationality to consider forms of care and what the renewed questions about care labour tell us about humans, our connections to others, and social justice.

She will be joined by Tanya Pace-Crosschild (BSc ’98), the director of Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society, an Indigenous Family Resource network that provides programs and services for urban Indigenous families in southern Alberta. Pace-Crosschild will discuss the importance of accessible, affordable and quality driven childcare.

As well, Dr. Sienna Caspar, an associate professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, will share her research on care aid engagement.

“There is now an overwhelming body of evidence to show that engaged staff really do deliver better health care. By engaged staff I mean staff who are committed to their organization and emotionally invested in their work,” says Caspar. “Yet despite the evidence, most long-term and continuing care settings are unsuccessful in creating a truly engaged workforce.”

The symposium opens at 1 p.m. with introductory remarks, followed by the keynote panel presentation at 1:15 p.m. and a question and answer session at 2 p.m. Participants can then choose from a selection of break-out sessions on a broad range of topics, each with a host to present a topic and facilitate discussion.

“This is an entirely different format than we have presented in the past, and it may also bring more people into the conversation by offering these discussions online,” says Shelly
Wismath, dean of the School of Liberal Education. “Care labour is such an important issue and in the midst of a pandemic situation, everyone is understanding just how essential care is to the health and well-being of our society.”

Registration is free for the symposium and is available on the conference web page.

Raising Spirit project receives Canada 150 grant

caroline.zentner — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 17:08:07 +0000

The Raising Spirit project by the Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society, and supported by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Institute for Child and Youth Studies (I-CYS), has received a Canada 150 grant worth $10,000 that will allow it to undertake a series of workshops that will culminate in a public exhibit at Casa in September.

“The purpose of the exhibit is to showcase the creative work of southern Alberta Blackfoot children and youth,” says Dr. Erin Spring, a post-doctoral fellow with the I-CYS and Raising Spirit project manager. “They’re not only going to be creating the exhibit in terms of doing the art, they’re also going to be curating the exhibit. It’s going to feature their voices, their stories, their creative capacities.”

From left to right are Kaitlynn Weaver, Tesla Heavy Runner, Dr. Jan Newberry, Amy Mack, Taylor Little Mustache, Dr. Erin Spring and Hudson Eagle Bear.

The Canada 150 Grant, awarded by the Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta, is designed to encourage participation in Canada 150 activities and to inspire a deeper understanding of the people and places that shape the country. Raising Spirit is a project to help ensure Blackfoot history, language and values endure and help build future generations. The Canada 150 funding will be directed toward a series of art workshops for Blackfoot children and youth.

“It’s kind of a sub-project within Raising Spirit called Elders of the Future,” says Kaitlynn Weaver, a master’s student working with Dr. Kristine Alexander, a history professor and one of the principal investigators on the Raising Spirit project.

For older youth, Weaver organized a zine workshop that focused on art as a form of activism and resistance. Three- to six-year olds participated in a storytelling and art workshop. A collage-making workshop for older youth is scheduled for March and others will be held at Opokaa’sin, the U of L and Casa. As part of the curating exercise, youth will learn how to mat and frame a photo and how to create an exhibit.

“Our exhibit will mark the anniversary of Confederation by celebrating the resilience of Indigenous families and communities. It speaks to colonialism but also is a way of looking forward and talking about reconciliation, resurgence and resilience to show that their community is strong, that their culture is strong and that their people are strong,” says Spring.

During the exhibit, the digital library created from the Raising Spirit project will be launched to the public, along with a mobile application for the library. In addition to the materials generated from the Elders of the Future workshops, the library will contain photos from principal investigator Dr. Jan Newberry’s photo elicitation project and people’s responses to them, and storytelling sessions with elders and youth at Opokaa’sin.

Raising Spirit has been supported by funds from the Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network, PolicyWise for Children and Families and the U of L Office of Research Services. Funding from the Summer Temporary Employment Program enabled the hiring of two Blackfoot high school students, Tesla Heavy Runner and Hudson Eagle Bear, as ethnographers and curators.

Along with Newberry and Alexander, Tanya Pace-Crosschild (BSc ’98), executive director at Opokaa’sin and member of the U of L Board of Governors, has served as a community principal investigator. She is joined by Francis First Charger, project elder, and Dr. Michelle Hogue, research consultant and U of L professor in the First Nations Transition Program. Others who have been involved in the project include Ashley Henrickson, a master’s student; Taylor Little Mustache, an undergraduate student; and Amy Mack, lead researcher.

Building rapport key to success of the Raising Spirit project

caroline.zentner — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 21:51:11 +0000

Taylor Little Mustache couldn’t have asked for a better summer job. As a research assistant with Raising Spirit: The Opokaa’sin Digital Storytelling Project, Little Mustache says she felt honoured to work on a project where she learned so much.

“I feel humbled by being a part of this creation,” she says about the project that features photos of Blackfoot family life and audio recordings where Blackfoot Elders and children come together for the telling of traditional cultural stories.

Raising Spirit is a collaborative project of the Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Institute for Child and Youth Studies (I-CYS). The purpose is to help ensure Blackfoot history, language and values endure and shape future generations, as well as build research capacity and understanding of intergenerational knowledge transmission that was interrupted by residential schooling. Once completed, the goal is to produce a digital library that will be a community resource.

Little Mustache, who’s entering her third year of studies at the U of L, is working on a combined education, Native American Studies and history degree. She also has a love of athletics, especially basketball. She has coached for the Alberta Summer Games and the Junior Pronghorns teams. She became part of the Raising Spirit project after taking a history of childhood course and an independent study with Dr. Kristine Alexander, the director of I-CYS.

Her fields of study and experience working with youth and community organizations have served her well in her work with the Raising Spirit project. She’s been busy building rapport with the Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society and the Piikani and Kainai First Nations. Little Mustache has worked with children aged four to seven and youth up to 18 years of age. She has presented on the project at conferences, met with Elders, collected and organized data, and transcribed interviews. In addition, Taylor has supervised the growing research skills of two high school summer students, Hudson Eagle Bear and Tesla Heavy Runner.

Little Mustache says she found the field work component of her job especially engaging. She attended a Blackfoot immersion camp, slept in a teepee for the first time and furthered her knowledge of cultural traditions.

“I’ve learned so much from the elders I got to meet over the summer. They hold so much knowledge,” she says. “I’m well connected to my culture but this field work made the connection even stronger.”

At first, she wondered how she could contribute to the research team — Tanya Pace-Crosschild (BSc ’98), executive director of Opokaa’sin, and the Opokaa’sin staff, U of L professors Jan Newberry and Kristine Alexander and Erin Spring, a post-doctoral fellow and Amy Mack (MA ’16). Michelle Hogue and Francis First Charger serve as advisors on the project.

“When I first met them I felt a little under-qualified because I was just an undergraduate. However, they made me feel comfortable and I want to acknowledge their mentorship,” says Little Mustache. “This project really opened doors for me.”

One of those doors is a co-operative placement with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada this fall. She’ll be working as a junior program analyst in the education branch.

“I’ll be conducting policy research and analyzing indigenous education issues,” she says. “I’m super excited and the position is a good fit for my research skills.”

Blackfoot culture and identity explored in joint project between Opokaa'sin and U of L institute

trevor.kenney — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 16:26:23 +0000

The Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society, with support from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Institute for Child and Youth Studies (I-CYS), is helping to ensure that Blackfoot history, language and values will not only endure but help shape future Blackfoot generations.

On Saturday, March 5, 2016, a special photo exhibit titled Raising Spirit: The Opokaa’sin Digital Storytelling Project opened at Park Place Mall. The display features photos of local Blackfoot families in everyday moments of childrearing, a testament to Blackfoot culture and identity as it continues to thrive despite disruptions such as the residential schooling system, among others.

The storytelling project, featuring photos such as this, builds on the earlier work done between Opokaa’sin and I-CYS, led by principal investigator Dr. Jan Newberry, a U of L anthropology professor.

The exhibit runs for two weeks and is one facet of a larger project, of the same name, in which Blackfoot Elders and children will come together to develop interactive digital recordings of traditional cultural stories – a way to preserve the past and help its rich heritage influence future generations.

“We are very excited about this project because it speaks to the strengths of the Blackfoot people,” says Tanya Pace-Crosschild (BSc ’98), executive director of Opokaa’sin. “Blackfoot people were traditionally very family-oriented. With the colonization of our people, we saw significant challenges to our traditional way of life, especially in respect to childrearing practices.”

The storytelling project builds on the earlier work done between Opokaa’sin and I-CYS, led by principal investigator Dr. Jan Newberry, a U of L anthropology professor. That project was initially featured in a small exhibition at the Galt Museum & Archives and will now reach a wider audience as it makes its way into a busy community space. In addition to the photos, participant-photographers, people at powwows in Blackfoot territory and Elders were asked to respond to the pictures. A book featuring the photos and the responses is in the works.

“The intergenerational transmission of stories, language and values is central to the project. What’s terrific here is the inter-disciplinary reach of the project and how all of this aids a local community organization in raising issues of First Nations families,” says Erin Spring, a Post-Doctoral Fellow for I-CYS. “Not only does this raise community awareness of Opokaa’sin’s work and the resilience of local families, it also showcases how powerful local, collaborative research can be.”

The Raising Spirit project will enhance Blackfoot language skills, transmit stories from generation to generation and create an archive of material that will be available in both Blackfoot and English. It has already involved multiple areas of the U of L campus, from the humanities, social sciences and fine arts.

The display in Park Place Mall also involved collaboration with museum studies faculty.

"It was a really wonderful opportunity for Star Crop Eared Wolf, our first major in Native American Art History/Museum Studies, and Amy Dalton, a museum studies intern, to curate the digital display," says their supervisor, Dr. Anne Dymond of the Faculty of Fine Arts.

The project also has the potential to incorporate high school students in the future.

“We are currently working on securing STEP (Summer Temporary Employment Program) funding that will give local high school students the chance to work on the project and enhance their research and digital skills,” says Newberry. “Eventually, we want to share this digital library with the southern Alberta community as a whole.”

Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society is an Aboriginal child and family organization that was a joint initiative created in 1996 by various Aboriginal service agencies that shared a commitment to improving the well-being of all Aboriginal children. Among its founding principles is a belief that supportive relationships with grandparents and Elders helps decrease anti-social behavior and increase social competency, thus fostering resiliency in children.

“Raising Spirit is a project that captures traditional core values that are still evident with today’s Blackfoot families,” says Pace-Crosschild. “It examines traditional value systems in a strength-based approach that align with Opokaa’sin’s ideology of drawing on the strength of our Indigenous people and recognizing of the strength in our traditional cultural systems.”

The photo exhibit appears in Park Place Mall March 5-19, 2016. A formal public reception for the opening of the exhibit will take place on Monday, March 21, 2016 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society.

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