UNews - Parkland Institute

Study chronicling history of Alberta Gay Straight Alliances wins Parkland Institute Faculty Research Award

trevor.kenney — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 14:30:19 +0000

A new ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge research project that proposes to chronicle the history of Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs) in the province of Alberta has been selected as the winner of the 2019 Parkland Institute Faculty Research Award.

Tif Semach, left, and Dr. Athena Elafros will work with undergraduate student Wednesday Culley on the collaborative research project.

The project, GSAs in Alberta: Past, Present, and Future, is a collaborative study led by Dr. Athena Elafros (assistant professor of sociology), sessional instructor Tif Semach (BA ’12, MA ’14) and fourth-year undergraduate student Wednesday Culley. The group aims to create a record of Alberta GSAs by capturing the oral histories of those involved from the early 2000s to the present. In addition to preserving these experiences for current and future policy analysis, the project will create a public repository and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure the preservation of data in Canadian LGBTQ2S+ archives.

“I’m just really interested in capturing something that is so ephemeral. There really isn’t any record of this and it’s a really important thing for the queer community of which I identify as part of,” says Semach, who is also the community education coordinator for OUTreach Southern Alberta. “It’s also a chance to really track the evolution of LGBTQ rights in Alberta.”

Elafros researched GSAs as part of her doctoral program at McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and co-published two papers with, among others, Dr. Tina Fetner, current president of the Canadian Sociological Association. With an inherent interest in the topic, she began speaking with Semach and the idea for the project took shape.

Undergraduate student Wednesday Culley will play a key role in the research project.

“We really started talking about the fact that there is no record of this very important history in the province,” she says. “Working together, we came up with the idea to do the oral history component. Given my two colleagues’ connections in the community, we thought it’d be a good way to access participants and give them a chance to talk about their experiences and share them with other people who might be experiencing similar issues.”

Semach played a key role in starting the city’s first GSA, and only the second in the province, when she was a student at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute (LCI) in 2003. A decade later, Culley was involved with the GSA at LCI, while Culley’s father worked as a board trustee for Lethbridge School District No. 51 and touted the implementation of safe and inclusive policies in the district.

“I’ve sort of lived and breathed these topics for a long time,” says Culley. “We’re primarily looking for people who have participated in GSAs, and it doesn’t matter the experience, just people who were involved with them in any capacity. Being able to access different people who have experienced things maybe two years ago versus 10 years ago allows us to see a wide array of experiences and how things have changed over time.”

The project will involve a lot of ground work and take place over the next year.

“We’re going to start here in Lethbridge and then kind of branch out to Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton and hopefully some of the rural areas as well,” says Semach. “It’ll mainly just be a case of reaching out and letting people know we are doing this largely from a queer perspective, so we are working from within the community and are a safe voice looking to capture their stories.”

Elafros says the Parkland award is welcome recognition for the legitimacy of the study, especially in the current political climate. And while much of the current literature on GSAs is focused on the present, this study offers a historical perspective and will highlight broader outcomes.

“A lot of conventional historical accounts focus on people or groups with power, those without power or prominence often being left out,” says Dr. Trevor Harrison, U of L sociologist and director of the Parkland Institute. “The research being conducted by Dr. Elafros and her colleagues is important in addressing this absence. Additionally, because the present is always informed by the past, such research also points to contemporary issues of how the LGBTQ2S+ community still experiences prejudice and exclusion in Lethbridge.”

For Semach, the data they acquire will be integral for future programming and policy decisions.

“From the perspective of a community advocacy organization, a lot of what we are doing right now at OUTreach is looking at what our community needs,” she says. “Having access to data like we will be acquiring — the real, lived experience of people in Alberta — will allow us to then go out to organizations and advise perhaps on how policies should be focused. It’ll really allow for us to make decisions based on data.”

Hanrahan earns Parkland grant, to study water security in Metis communities

trevor.kenney — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 22:00:36 +0000

For the vast majority of Canadians, the concept of not having readily available drinking water is literally foreign – something only developing countries have to face. Unfortunately, residents of rural and remote communities, many of which are indigenous, face the problem of trying to find potable water every day of their lives.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professor Dr. Maura Hanrahan has studied this problem and is currently embarking on a research project to examine the state of water security in Métis communities in Alberta. Her work has earned her the support of the Parkland Institute as the recipient of the Parkland Institute/U of L Faculty Research Grant.

Dr. Maura Hanrahan says that residents of rural and remote communities, many of which are indigenous, face the problem of trying to find potable water every day of their lives.

“While the applications were all of a very high standard, Dr. Hanrahan's proposal to study water quality and infrastructure in Alberta’s Métis communities is especially timely,” says Dr. Trevor Harrison, director of the Parkland Institute and a professor in the Department of Sociology. “In Canada’s 150th year, it is crucial to acknowledge the disparities faced by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples, and, as with Dr. Hanrahan’s research, to work towards understanding these inequities and finding solutions.”

Hanrahan, a faculty member in the Department of Native American Studies for just over a year, has spent the majority of her professional career working with indigenous organizations. She has spent time on land claims and negotiations, helped develop health policy and as an academic, been at the forefront of research projects. Originally from Newfoundland and Labrador, she has both Irish and Mi’kmaq heritage, making the research that she does that much more personal.

“Most of my career has been responding to community needs because that is a cultural imperative. The academic piece comes out of that and I see research as a very good way to highlight issues, such as drinking water problems, that need to be brought into the open,” she says. “Water security is so basic. The United Nations recognizes it as a human right and yet Canada isn’t living up to its responsibilities in that regard.”

She has worked in communities such as Black Tickle, Labrador, an Inuit community in the Canadian sub-arctic that has no potable piped water. She describes people trying to lead productive lives but having to worry every day about whether they can access water.

“What really bothers me are the mental health implications. In some of these communities, people think about water all the time,” she says. “Water shortages are treated like an emergency when they happen in the south and in urban areas but not in rural and indigenous areas, where they are almost normalized. People are faced with these long-term boil-water orders and they get tired of it, so they begin to take chances with it.”

Her focus on the Métis population in Alberta is unique because there has been no research into the water security issues they face. With Alberta being home to more than 66,000 Métis and the only province with Métis land bases, she says the time is right to investigate their contaminated water and water access problems.

“When I looked in the literature there was absolutely nothing on Métis water security,” she says. “There has been a lot of attention to First Nations and some attention to Inuit, and that’s all good, but we also need to bring Métis into the research.”

Hanrahan’s initial work is a pilot project with Faust, a Métis-majority community near Lesser Slave Lake, with a grant application in the works to expand it to a cross-case analysis involving other sites. She’s thrilled to have the support of the Parkland Institute and to be working in partnership with the Métis Nation of Alberta.

“I’ve found in my year here that the U of L is a very supportive institution and you are given the resources you need to do your job, so the Parkland award was like the icing on the cake,” she says. “I like the work that Parkland does on policy. They’ve given me the chance to expand my research from Labrador to here in Alberta, which is something I really appreciate.”

$2.5 million SSHRC award to support examination of fossil fuel industry in Western Canada

trevor.kenney — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 17:29:12 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge sociologist Dr. Trevor Harrison and his colleagues from the Alberta-based Parkland Institute are embarking on a six-year research project that will examine the corporations and individuals driving fossil fuel extraction in Western Canada, and their resulting political influence.

Mapping the Power of the Carbon-Extractive Corporate Resource Sector is an initiative that will bring together researchers, civil society organizations and Aboriginal participants to study the oil, gas and coal industries in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) has awarded $2.5 million in partnership grant funding to the project.

The partnership is jointly led by the Parkland Institute (of which Harrison is the director), the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria and the BC and Saskatchewan offices of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). It will bring together a team of 28 academic researchers from 12 universities, civil society organizations and Aboriginal participants. Augmenting the SSHRC award is an additional $2 million in matching contributions from participating universities and community partners.

“Albertans are all too familiar with the influence that the fossil fuel industry exerts over the political process in Alberta and beyond,” says Harrison. “But what has been missing is a comprehensive understanding of which individuals and corporations are applying this political influence, and how. This project will fill that gap.”

The partnership’s work will focus in four key areas:

• A systematic mapping of how the carbon-extractive industry is organized, including what companies are involved, who runs them, how they are owned, and how they connect to broader international corporate networks.
• Analysis of the sector’s influence on public debates and policy making, such as efforts to secure social license, and corporate links to governments, political parties, lobby groups, and private foundations.
• Case studies of contentious flashpoints, including the expansion or development of new mines, pipelines or export facilities.
• Development of an open source, publicly accessible corporate database and training program for citizens and civil society groups, many of whom will contribute and update data.

“How – and indeed, if – Alberta’s carbon resources will be developed is one of the most crucial policy decisions this province faces over the next decade,” Harrison says. “The transparency this project will provide about who is involved in shaping these choices will be critical to ensure that the decision is made in the public sphere, not in corporate boardrooms.”

Parkland Institute is a province-wide, non-partisan public policy research network housed within the Faculty of Arts at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council is a federal government agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and training in the humanities and social sciences.

Parkland Institute and U of L partner to support diverse research projects

robert.cooney — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 20:12:39 +0000

Two ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge humanities and social sciences researchers studying vastly different projects will receive support for their work from the Parkland Institute, a not-for profit organization based at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta that supports the study of economic, social, cultural and political issues facing Albertans and Canadians.

Pictured from left to right, Dr. Trevor Harrison, Ann Holden and Dr. Suzanne Lenon

Dr. Suzanne Lenon (Women and Gender Studies), whose research interests are in the area of law, gender and sexuality, will receive $5,000 to further her research on the complex relationships between gender equality and the recognition of valid foreign polygamous marriages.

Ann Åsfrid Holden, graduate studies Master of Arts candidate in History, takes her research into the Subarctic and Arctic to compare legal policies that affect first Nations and Inuit people in Northern Quebec, and those of the Sami people of her home country of Norway. Both groups were affected by large-scale hydroelectric power developments that changed their land and lifestyles, and the legality of the expropriation of indigenous land for these developments was questionable. She will also receive $5,000 to further her studies.

“Parkland is excited to be able to support the diverse research represented by Dr. Suzanne Lenon and Ann Holden,” said Dr. Trevor Harrison, a U of L sociology researcher and Director of the Parkland Institute.

“Parkland’s emphasis has been, and remains, on research that is academically sound, that is important to the broad public and that dares to push the boundaries of our understanding. Both of these research projects fit that bill.”

Harrison added that though they are very different, both projects deal with legal issues and social policy.

“Dr. Lenon’s work will contribute to the body of knowledge that deals with immigration, polygamy, and gender equality, and how those concepts are intertwined, in an often confusing way, from a policy perspective. Ann Holden’s work will explore and explain how the respective legal systems of Norway and Canada have framed the implementation of hydroelectric projects on indigenous land. Though they are far apart geographically, there are some striking similarities that both parties could gain from knowing more about.”

SUZANNE LENON

In Lenon’s case, she is using the recent (2011) Polygamy Reference case in British Columbia as a springboard for discussion, which upholds the prohibition of polygamy in Canada as constitutionally sound. “As in the United States, polygamy is illegal in Canada, but people often immigrate to Canada from a number of countries in Africa and the Middle East where polygamous relationships are, in fact, legal,” Lenon said.

Lenon said that one of the reasons for the continued criminalization polygamous marriages in Canada (and in the West) is that of gender equality.

“The second spouse cannot be legally acknowledged, and has very few, if any, rights if the relationship breaks down. The same challenges apply to people in Canadian polygamous relationships in communities such as Bountiful, BC, where the law applies to the individual who is considered to be legally married, but not to other polygamous spouses. While this law is upheld in the name of gender equality, in these cases the law prevents women from being legally supported if there are problems, and this, ironically, has created gender inequality.”

There is, she says, vigorous debate as to whether continued criminalization of polygamous marriage is a viable public policy strategy to address the complex issues arising from it.

ANN HOLDEN

Holden’s work involves a topic that is just as complex, involves a number of inequality elements, and has affected people -- but in a different way.

The development of hyropower projects in both Norway and Canada a few decades ago and 1980scaused more grief for the politicians than they would have expected, because the negative reactions to it was so strong. Both the James Bay Cree, a fishing, hunting, and trapping community in eastern James Bay in Canada, and the reindeer-farming Sami people in Finnmark, Northern Norway argued that they had rights that stemmed from their immemorial usage of the land.

“Historically, land ownership, in the Western meaning of the word, was a foreign concept for both the Sami and the James Bay Cree,” Holden said. “The Norwegian and British legal systems suited a farming culture, and private ownership over land was the most common form of a legal connection to land, although not the only form of legal rights to land. When the Scandinavian legal traditions met the Sami traditions and the James Bay Cree met the English and later French traditions, the needs of both communities were written into the laws - but not equally.”

Holden said that her work will help Indigenous groups learn more about how the laws of land ownership -- and land management -- can apply to current issues where land is disputed, in particular in cases that involve oil, gas and mining exploration in the northern areas of several Canadian provinces and Territories, and also in northern Sweden, where similar activities are taking place.

“In Canada, resource extraction (i.e. mining) on indigenous land happens in several Provinces. In Sweden, civil disobedience that mirrors the actions the Norwegian Sami used in the 1970s and 1980s was used as a tool to put a mining project on traditional Sami reindeer herding ground on the political agenda. These events are taking place right now, and have significant parallels to the challenges I am looking at which took place decades ago. The historical context is important to understand current issues because changes to the law in both the cases I study were consistent with legal traditions in Canada and Norway.”

Ultimately for Harrison, funding projects that stimulate not only public conversation but social change -- and that allow researchers to explore topics of public interest -- is what makes him happy as a researcher and as a representative of the Parkland Institute.

“This is the second year that the Parkland Institute has partnered with the U of L to deliver the scholarships. I want to thank the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge for its tremendous support given to Parkland, in particular for making the awards possible.”

The project period is two years, and the researchers are expected to deliver a final report on their work to the Parkland Institute, which will make their findings public.

Contacts:

Dr. Suzanne Lenon, Women and Gender Studies (403) 380-1876
suzanne.lenon@uleth.ca
http://directory.uleth.ca/users/suzanne.lenon

Ann Åsfrid Holden, School of Graduate Studies Candidate (History)
ann.holden@uleth.ca

Dr. Trevor Harrison, Sociology / Director, Parkland Institute (403) 329-2552
trevor.harrison@uleth.ca
http://directory.uleth.ca/users/trevor.harrison
http://parklandinstitute.ca/home/

Parkland Institute grant supports research project

trevor.kenney — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 21:16:15 +0000

The Parkland Institute has granted funding for the first time under a new program established this year.

Both the Parkland Institute Faculty Research Grant and the Parkland Institute Graduate Research Award aim to provide seed funding for ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge faculty and their research teams, including students, in areas of public policy. Dr. Claudia Malacrida (sociology) and international graduate student Alan Santinele Martino are the first recipients of the combined $10,000 award.

Both researchers will be exploring information and services about relationships, intimacy and sexuality for people with intellectual disabilities. Malacrida will be gathering data on the policy and programming options that guide individuals, family members and agencies in their decision-making.

International graduate student Alan Santinele Martino, left, with Drs. Claudia Malacrida and Trevor Harrison.

Martino will be interviewing agency workers about the challenges and resources they experience in supporting people with intellectual disabilities in terms of sexuality and relationships.

Parkland Institute Director Dr. Trevor Harrison (sociology) says the projects fit well within the institute's mandate to research topics of interest to a broad audience, and which examine disparity between groups or organizations.

"Studying the issues surrounding sexuality in the context of an intellectual or developmental disability is an under-researched area that we are pleased to support both at a faculty level and at a graduate student level," says Harrison. "Research is a long-term process that often suffers in the initial stages for lack of start-up funds, much like a small business. We are hopeful that, by making sure projects like these get started, they lead to other opportunities for our researchers and graduate students."

Martino says that advocating for the rights and social inclusion of individuals with disability has always been a personal commitment.

"I have an older brother with cerebral palsy, and I believe that this research is a chance to connect knowledge and practice in a way that we can improve the lives of individuals with disability, as well as their families."

"For me, it is not possible to talk about social inclusion without considering sexuality. We need to acknowledge the importance of recognizing individuals with disabilities as sexual beings within their communities and providing them with opportunities for a healthy sexual development."

Martino is originally from São Paulo, Brazil. He came to the U of L to work with Malacrida after completing his undergraduate degree at St. Lawrence ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in New York State. He plans to interview agencies, policymakers and community members to learn more about how sexuality is either integrated or not integrated into the process of working with people with developmental disabilities, and hopes to influence change at a policy level.

"The key objective of my research is to influence the policies and practices in the agency and government levels, identifying gaps and suggesting possible solutions."

See the video below for more on Martino's experience at the U of L.

This story first appeared in the October 2012 issue of the Legend. To see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Parkland Institute establishes new research awards

trevor.kenney — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:15:12 +0000

The Parkland Institute is sponsoring two new awards for faculty and graduate students at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. Worth $5,000 each, the awards reflect a desire by the Parkland Institute to broaden its research base and provide opportunities for faculty members and graduate studies candidates to work together. Contact Trevor Harrison (trevor.harrison@uleth.ca) for more information.

Parkland Institute Faculty Research Grant

The Parkland Institute Faculty Research Grant (PIFRG) aims to support small-scale research by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge faculty and their research teams, including students, in areas of public policy. We encourage research associates to build research teams, possibly interdisciplinary teams, which could include colleagues at the U of L or elsewhere.

Eligibility

The Principal Investigator (PI) must be a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Research Associate of Parkland Institute, though members of the research team may come from other institutions.

A member of Parkland Institute's Research Committee is eligible to apply but cannot participate in discussions related to evaluation of the proposals.

Parkland Institute Graduate Research Award

The Parkland Institute Graduate Research Award (PIGRA) aims to encourage research and advance training of graduate students from all faculties. The program facilitates research advancement by providing students with a suitable research training experience with a Parkland Institute Research Associate at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge dealing with public policy research.

Eligibility

At the time of application the student must:
• be a full-time graduate student
• have a cumulative GPA of 3.60 or higher
• plan to return to full-time graduate studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in the semester immediately following the award.

This story first appeared in the February 2012 edition of The Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Harrison assumes Parkland Institute's director's role

trevor.kenney — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:12:04 +0000

After years as a volunteer supporter, researcher, advocate and co-director at the Parkland Institute, Dr. Trevor Harrison (Sociology) has moved into the director's chair of the Edmonton-based, but province-wide, research organization.

The Parkland Institute studies economic, social, cultural and political issues facing Albertans and Canadians, using the perspective of political economy.

"The institute shares the results of its research widely and promotes discussion of those issues," Harrison says. "Within post-secondary institutions, Parkland Institute includes those who are involved in interdisciplinary and socially-engaged thinking."

With a diverse board and support from members, Harrison says the Parkland Institute is serving a niche purpose.

"One of things that makes the Parkland Institute unique is the connection with the community," Harrison says. "We spend a lot of time trying to get away from complex wording and jargon while preserving the intent of the research, and we try to communicate with the community at large."

Harrison says the Parkland Institute works with religious organizations, professionals, trade unionists, the arts community, non-profit organizations, environmentalists, feminists, social movement activists, private sector individuals and other interested individuals.

Harrison cites ongoing research into disparity – economic and social – as being typical of how the Parkland Institute's work has acted as a catalyst for social change. Alongside other research that outlined the challenges of royalty rights in the oil and gas industry, Harrison says the vastly different projects affected change and drew attention to issues common to all Albertans.

A broad base of members who pay a donation-based individual membership supports the organization, and number more than 700 – a figure Harrison hopes to increase.

"We don't want to be connected to any one particular group, and have found that individual members provide a good base of support. We view this as a two-way conversation, and many research topics have evolved from what our members tell us."

New to the U of L are two awards aimed at faculty and graduate studies candidates, which Harrison hopes will spawn even more research ideas.

To learn more about the Parkland Institute, visit its website at parklandinstitute.ca or e-mail Harrison directly at trevor.harrison@uleth.ca

This story first appeared in the February 2012 edition of The Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Parkland Institute

Study chronicling history of Alberta Gay Straight Alliances wins Parkland Institute Faculty Research Award

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