ANTIGONISH: StFX University has been selected as the only post-secondary institution in Atlantic Canada to help identify and overcome systemic barriers impeding the career advancement, recruitment and retention of underrepresented and disadvantaged groups.
StFX associate vice-president of Research and Graduate Studies Richard Isnor said the university is delighted with the success of their grant application, as it’s a national competition.
“The funding for this grant is really about capacity building, so it can help universities develop new policies, professional development practices or training materials,” Isnor told The Reporter. “To help researchers and staff across the university understand systemic barriers to equity, or diversity and inclusion in our academic research environment.”
In 2019, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Institutional Capacity-Building Grant was launched as a pilot program to support institutions as they adapt and implement organizational and systemic change informed by evidence and meaningful engagement with affected groups.
Over the course of two years, StFX will receive $400,000. Altogether, the 12 post-secondary institutions across Canada will receive a total of $4.8 million.
An official press release stated the Government of Canada is committed to tackling challenges encountered by underrepresented and disadvantaged groups in Canadian research institutions and their impacts on the research ecosystem.
Isnor indicated StFX’s project proposed three areas for attention: greater capacity for their leadership and coordination; to provide enhanced support for hiring and supporting faculty researchers from diverse backgrounds; and to focus on community outreach and partnerships.
“We have done a lot of analysis to show we have a lot of activities at StFX to support greater equity, diversity and inclusion in our academic environment, but they’re not coordinated very well,” he said. “We’ll be working with the Coady Institute, the McKenna Centre for Leadership and the Mulroney Institute of Government, bringing together our research centres and institutes to really work on this issue together.”
As for why StFX wanted to help identify and overcome these systemic barriers, Isnor indicated it partly goes to the historical roots and the traditions of the university, and the attention to equity and trying to reduce social inequalities.
“The Antigonish Movement is frequently used as an example of that,” he said.
More recently, Isnor said, has been the lessons they’ve learned within the Faculty of Education, where there’s been a very deliberate and profound effort to work very closely with Mi’kmaq communities to develop capabilities of Mi’kmaq teachers.
“We think we can expand those kinds of lessons to the rest of the university and learn from those efforts; an ongoing commitment to equity,” he said. “But recognizing we are not there yet within our own environment and have more work to do, and this will be a great help for us to take those next steps.”