8:30AM-10AM: Visiting & Tea Making
Start your Saturday morning in a gentle way with visiting and tea making, hosted by Kirsten Lindquist (Métis Nation of Alberta/UAlberta). Herbal dried plants will be available for you to blend your own tea, offering a grounding and creative way to begin the day. Learn more about the Kihokewin Research Space and take time to reflect on your care needs and intentions for visiting, learning, and connecting throughout the workshop.
This is an informal drop-in session (no registration required). Side spaces are available for quiet reflection or simply resting with your tea.
10:30AM-12PM: Reconciliation on Canvas
Reconciliation on Canvas: Healing as a Transformative Indigenous Methodology Approach through Art in conjunction with a Racialized Artist of Color Woman's Autoethnographic Journey. Hosted by Colleen Charles (First Nations University) and Jebunnessa Chapola (Mount Royal University).
This interactive art workshop explores the Five Stages of Colonialism through an Indigenous lens, using painting as a tool for reflection, healing, and dialogue. Participants will learn about the history and impacts of colonization, the importance of reconciliation and decolonization, and the role of art in fostering mental health and cultural expression. This dialogue will also include similar marginalized experiences of racialized women immigrants, newcomers, and refugees.
Dr. Jebunnessa Chapola will share her research on how Indigenous and racialized women artists weave together cultural heritage, personal history, and artistic practice to create distinct narratives of resilience and care. Participants will create their own artwork and engage in dialogue in a safe, supportive space. Art supplies provided.
1:30-3PM: The Beaded Vulva Project
The Beaded Vulva Project provides an opportunity for participants to learn about anatomy, decolonial approaches to sexual and reproductive health, pleasure, and the reclamation of bodily autonomy from the legacies of colonial gynaecological and other women's health practices.
In a workshop setting, Brittany Johnson (Beaver First Nation/MacEwan) provides participants with teachings and materials to bead a vulva while discussing anatomical terms, bodily sovereignty, and sharing in some laughs and open discussion. Session is open to any and all genders and sexualities.
3:30PM-5PM: Centering Relationality in Métis Research, A Dialogue
Organized by the Rupertsland Center for Métis Research and hosted by Nathalie Kermoal (UAlberta), Kisha Supernant (UAlberta) and Yvonne Poitras-Pratt (UCalgary)
Together with a group of Métis research affiliates, the Rupertsland Center for Métis Research (RCMR) will host a workshop-style activity focused on good relations and dialogue to talk about how to conduct research that reflects, advances, and meets expectations for ethical, collaborative, and culturally supportive engagement with Métis individuals and communities. Best practices will be the primary focus. The main topics of discussion will be how to better inform communities about academic research and how to best create guidelines to assist researchers and communities.