Browsing by Author "Pratt, Yvonne Poitras"

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    All my online relations: Aboriginal community participation in planning for Alberta SuperNet broadband technology
    (2005) Pratt, Yvonne Poitras; Bakardjieva, Maria
    This thesis examines the community involvement of three Aboriginal communities in their participatory research activities around the topic of the Alberta Super Net. The researcher worked alongside three groups representing the Blackfoot, Cree, and Metis people of Alberta as part of a research partnership where the goal of the project was community empowerment through active involvement in planning activities for the introduction of the Alberta Super Net broadband technology. While development support communication provided the theoretical foundation for this study, an ethnography of the research process across the three communities formed the final methodology. Findings from this study implied that awareness and recognition of a need for directed social change within communities remain critical first stages to genuine participation within participatory research activities. This study also revealed that emerging efforts in developing culturally appropriate forms of Aboriginal research must be supported and prioritized for the immediate and social good of Aboriginal people.
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    A Difficult Journey: How Participation in an Indigenous Cultural Helper Program Impacts the Practice of Settler Social Workers Supporting Indigenous Service Users
    (2019-05-28) Slessor, Jane; Kreitzer, Linda; Lorenzetti, Liza; Pratt, Yvonne Poitras
    The impacts of the Indian Residential School System and other assimilationist policies have had a devastating impact on the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. As a result, Indigenous Peoples frequently experience poorer economic, health, and social outcomes, including experiencing homelessness at a greater rate than settler Canadians. Unfortunately, social work as a profession has been complicit in this history of colonization and still struggles to work effectively with Indigenous Peoples. In this post Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada era, it is incumbent upon the social work profession to actively seek better ways of working with Indigenous service users as reconciliation is not possible whilst such inequities continue to exist. Homeward Trust Edmonton (HTE), with the Housing First (HF) program, have developed a unique strategy to work more effectively with the Indigenous Peoples they house. It is called the Indigenous Cultural Helper Program (ICHP). This program offers housing support staff the opportunity to learn about Indigenous histories, worldviews, cultures and ceremonies in order that they may experience and understand the significance that (re)connection to culture can have for people attempting to connect with home. This research study interviewed settler housing support workers who had taken part in activities offered by the ICHP to determine if their participation had any impact on their housing support work with the Indigenous Peoples in the program. An anti-colonial research methodology for settler researchers doing research in Indigenous sovereignty was used for this research (Liz Carlson, 2016 a, 2016b). Through participants’ rich narratives, the research found that the housing support workers were impacted personally, in their relationships with the Indigenous service users they work with, and in how they view the transformations necessary within their organizations.
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    Exploring Aboriginal Student Experiences with Post-Secondary Education through Photography and Story
    (2019-08-15) Coble, James; Louie, Dustin William; Ottmann, Jacqueline; Pratt, Yvonne Poitras; Steeves, Phyllis; Walsh, Christine Ann; Pidgeon, Michelle
    Post-secondary completion rates are lower for Aboriginal Canadians compared to non-Aboriginal Canadians. This phenomenon has received a lot of attention in the research literature. Reports and peer-reviewed research have identified a number of barriers that contribute to these rates. Such barriers often include things like financial pressures, academic readiness, and cultural differences among others. Many of these barriers can be attributed in varying degrees to the residential school era, the intergenerational effects of which have contributed to not only current education outcomes, but also comparatively low socioeconomic and health related indicators. Despite this, a decolonized education is considered central to improving the lives of Aboriginal Canadians. Post-secondary institutions have a role to play in achieving this goal. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore Aboriginal student experiences with post-secondary education in a community college setting. The issue was explored using methodologies and data collection methods that lend themselves to Aboriginal ways of knowing and doing. Three Aboriginal women took part in the study. These women were asked to take photographs over a four-week period of those factors they believed influenced their respective educational journeys. The photographs were then discussed at length using personal interview and focus group formats. The results are presented in narrative (i.e. storied) form. Common narrative threads include stories of identity, culture, resilience, connection, family and stories of the “other.” There were also experiences unique to each participant. It is concluded that a majority of the factors such as relying on cultural teachings contributed positively to persistence. When situated within the context of the research literature, several recommendations are presented that might further contribute to Aboriginal student persistence and completion.
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    ‘First, do no harm’: systematic program evaluation of an equine veterinary service-learning initiative with Indigenous communities in Canada
    (2024-03-14) Tan, Jean-Yin; Pratt, Yvonne Poitras; Danyluk, Patricia
    Abstract Background Veterinary students have historically lacked meaningful experiential learning opportunities in equine medicine. At the same time, there are barriers to accessing veterinary care in Indigenous communities stemming from colonial injustices. In 2018–2019, a partnership was initiated where University of Calgary students began to provide equine veterinary services to Indigenous communities. As the first-documented equine veterinary service-learning initiative in Indigenous communities embedded in a veterinary curriculum, the purpose of the study is to systematically evaluate the program for its potential impact as part of a formative process for improvement. Methods Multiple parties in the program were engaged in a convergent, parallel, mixed-methods systematic program evaluation to explore the main program outcomes: (1) equine veterinary care; (2) clinical experiential student education; (3) cultural training of veterinary professionals and students; and (4) education of community members. The hypothesis was that ethical development using the “first, do no harm principle” would lead to benefits including a healthy horse population, a technically and culturally competent veterinary community, and an educated horse clientele. Results The program had a positive impact on accessibility to veterinary care and self-reported improvement in veterinary and cultural competency. In addition to the hypothesized program outcomes, additional program outcomes and effects were identified, including reciprocal learning and relationship building with the Indigenous community, leading to trust and equity-building. The students learned from both the in-community programming as well as the Indigenous community members they worked with. Conclusion Program evaluation of an equine service-learning initiative in Indigenous communities reveals multiple and profound impacts including improved patient health status, wider scope of veterinary and cultural learning, strengthened relationships, and reciprocal learning with partnering Indigenous communities.
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    Meaningful media: an ethnography of a digital strategy within a Metis community
    (2011) Pratt, Yvonne Poitras; Seiler, Tamara
    This study is an ethnographic exploration of a collaborative and community centred research project involving the researcher and the community of Fishing Lake Metis settlement situated in north-eastern Alberta. This study represents a digital strategy that sought decolonizing goals through Metis-specific research activities, community partnering and the culturally appropriate and meaningful appropriation of digital media. The project met several identified community needs, including the restoration of intergenerational connections and the revitalization of storytelling traditions, through a creative process realized through a collaboratively-led digital-storytelling workshop and related media activities. Fittingly, the work continues on in Fishing Lake.
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    Responding to the Calls to Action: Indigenizing a Graduate Program
    (University of Calgary, 2017-05) Pratt, Yvonne Poitras; Lablonde, Solange; Hanson, Aubrey; Danyluk, Patricia; Werklund School of Education
    In this article, we present our work on Indigenizing pedagogy as a response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015) Calls to Action. While Indigenous scholars provide access to the written voices of First Peoples (Battiste, 2013; Donald, 2009; Smith, 2012), the graduate program we created around the topic of reconciliation intentionally invited in Elders and allies to teach and learn alongside students. Our research reveals that inclusion of knowledge keepers, a respectful learning environment, along with creative pedagogical approaches, fostered transformative learning; yet we argue these innovations were only possible because our visions were supported by allied leadership.
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    Walking Alongside: Poetic Inquiry into Allies of Indigenous Peoples in Canada
    (2019-09-18) Garbutt, Joan; Jubas, Kaela; Pratt, Yvonne Poitras; Groen, Janet Elizabeth; Spring, Erin; Hogue, Michelle
    This qualitative arts-based study made use of poetic inquiry to analyze and represent the stories of non-Indigenous people recognized as allies of Indigenous peoples in Canada. I adopted a theoretical foundation in critical realism, focusing on the role of agency in the emergent realities of the participants’ ally work (Archer, 2002). I grounded the study in literatures that drew from multiple Indigenous perspectives on teaching, learning and knowledge; social justice education and awareness; and postcolonial theory and decolonization. Thematically, the areas of ally experience that interested me most were their actions, emotions, and how they related to others in the spaces they occupied. Using the ally interview transcripts as raw data, I created found poems that reflected those themes. Constructing the poems while engaging in analysis led me to attempt to decolonize language and names. Hence, I made use of a disruptive strategy to bring attention to the extent to which language reflects colonization. In the final chapter of the dissertation, I outlined implications for adult education theory and practice as suggested by the study. In addition, I made suggestions for actions that allies-in-the-making may take up and directions for future study.