The Circle Game: Shadows and Substance in the Indian Residential School Experience in Canada

Join us virtually on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 from 12:00–1:30 pm for a conversation with Dr. Roland D. Chrisjohn – Kanakalut, Onyota’a:ka of the Haudenausuanee. Dr. Chrisjohn is the author of The Circle Game: Shadows and Substance in the Indian Residential School Experience in Canada and Dying to Please You: Indigenous Suicide in Contemporary Canada.

In this Indigenous Speakers Series session, we’ll explore preconceived sensibilities about Indigenous peoples, and how we begin to heal the very systems in which the work of truth and reconciliation is being done.

It Starts With Us | Conflict Theatre: Spotlight on Rural Medicine

Join us virtually on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 from 12–1:30 pm for an interactive conflict theatre session to gain deeper conflict engagement skills. This session will be facilitated by Dr. Tom Scholte, Faculty Lead and Artistic Director of Conflict Theatre@UBC.

A team of clinicians and educators from the Faculty of Medicine is developing a play specifically tailored for the context of rural medicine. This It Starts With Us session will provide scenario-based examples that will help you navigate difficult conversations in the workplace.

Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation

Join us virtually on Thursday, December 7 from 12–1:30 pm for a conversation with Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson – Amo Binashii, authors of Valley of the Birdtail.

In this Indigenous Speakers Series session, learn about what it means to be Indigenous in Canada, what it means for all of us to be Canadians in a newly-reformed Canada, and ultimately what it will mean for all of us if we choose to be on the road to reconciliation.

Disability in the Workplace! An Interactive Workshop with Dr. Jon Breen

Deepen your understanding of disability awareness and inclusion in the workplace by joining this online workshop developed specifically for Faculty of Medicine faculty and staff.

Led by postdoctoral fellow Dr. Jon Breen, each session includes interactive discussions with participants, interviews with researchers and people with disabilities, and an opportunity to identify and analyze the many disability-related realities of the workplace.

Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your awareness, understanding and commitment to disability inclusion in the workplace. Register for the next workshop on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, or one of two additional dates in 2024.

Stories & resources

REDI is here to help over the holiday season

As the holiday season approaches, the REDI team is here to offer support for the coming year. Whether you are looking ahead to EDI projects for the new year or are actively working through change to support equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization or Indigenization in your unit, connect with our REDI advisors to collaboratively brainstorm, co-create and innovate projects and ideas.

Request a personalized 1:1 consultation about embedding EDI into roles, practices, and policies or actioning change to support equity, decolonization, and inclusion.

Join the EDI Community of Practice

Are you a faculty or staff member leading equity, inclusion, decolonization, and Indigenization initiatives within your unit? Would you benefit from a community of practice to discuss common challenges you face in your role? Join our monthly Community of Practice network or drop in to one of our sessions. Learn more about our upcoming sessions and email Brian at REDI.Assistant@ubc.ca to join the mailing list.

REDI Grab ‘n’ Gos

Introducing REDI Grab ‘n’ Gos — your shortcut to sparking EDI conversations. Perfect for EDI champions and leaders, these bite-sized slide decks are ideal for kicking off team meetings, delivering ongoing reminders about equity, diversity and inclusion and infusing professional development in digestible chunks.

The REDI team is available to support units exploring these resources for the first time, ensuring an impactful experience. Grab these ready-to-use resources and fuel your team's journey in 15-min sessions designed to foster more inclusive workspaces.

REDI Deep Dives

Embark on an hour-long journey of transformation with REDI Deep Dives — a dynamic series of team-facilitated activities designed to infuse EDI principles into your unit’s core practices. These engaging slide decks empower leaders and EDI champions to guide their teams through meaningful discussions, fostering competencies that drive positive change.

The REDI team is available to support units exploring these resources for the first time, ensuring an impactful experience. Dive deep into change with these one-hour sessions and set the stage for meaningful progress.

REDI Word of the Month: Unconscious biases

Unconscious, or implicit, biases are pre-judgments or mental shortcuts we make about others.

We all harbour beliefs about members of various social and identity groups. As educators and health professionals, our mental shortcuts can lead to harmful assumptions about individuals from historically, systematically and persistently excluded groups. If left unchecked, these shortcuts can negatively impact student and patient care. Therefore, it is crucial to reflect on biases about different groups and implement practices that mitigate the effects of biases, preventing behaviours that may harm students and patients.

Learn more by downloading the REDI Best Practices Tip Sheet: Mitigating Cognitive Biases in Hiring (PDF) and the REDI Deep Dives: Bias Busters slide deck.

Recordings

Our Language & Stories are Far Too Complex for Them to Understand: An Excavation of Sorts about Who We Are & Where We Come From

Watch the recording of our conversation with Dr. Paulette Steeves, an Indigenous mother and scholar, and author of The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere.

In this Indigenous Speaker Series session, Dr. Steeves spoke about the rewriting of Indigenous histories, framed through Indigenous knowledge. This talk underscored the importance of reclaiming the way we understand Indigenous Peoples’ identity, sense of belonging and place, and about the recovery of all things that were either stolen or dispossessed from Indigenous Peoples — family, language, lands, humanities, ceremonies and safety.