Science and Civic Engagement Symposium –
on campus

The Science and Civic Engagement Symposium will bring together national and international science researchers and educators for a one-day workshop that aims at increasing public engagement and interest in Science.  Keynote speakers will give presentations on various projects and science initiatives that are taking place at UVic, across Canada, and around the world.  Increasing Science literacy in the public and Science Education will be a major focus for many of the presentations.

CBR Housing and Homelessness Forum and Tour

The Housing and Homelessness Forum and Tour will bring together national and international researchers and community members to reflect, discuss and experience community-based innovations, and share the different challenges involved in ensuring that everyone in our community has a safe and affordable home in which to live.  The forum will provide an opportunity for participants to explore meaningful strategies for action aimed at enhancing access to affordable housing and addressing the complex issues related to homelessness. The tour will provide participants with a unique opportunity to tour community agencies in downtown Victoria. The tour will involve engaging with civic leaders on their perspectives and approaches to addressing the issues of housing and homelessness.  The tour will culminate in an opportunity for all participants to discuss and explore opportunities for future networking and collaboration between various community agencies and researchers.

Through collaboration with the Victoria Cool Aid Society (Coolaid) and Our Place, this tour will introduce participants to housing and programs for people that are or at risk for homelessness. Coolaid exemplifies innovation in housing and services to address homelessness and has been building hope, lives and community since 1968.  Cool Aid advocates for and provides supported housing, emergency shelter and integrated community health, life skill and job services to marginalized adults in the Victoria area. Cool Aid works to eliminate homelessness and improve our quality of life in partnership with others, using community-based solutions. Cool Aid is committed to working in a non-judgemental way with people who are marginalized, homeless and hard to house. www.coolaid.org  Host:Kathy Stinson.

Our Place is another example of innovative programs.  It provides housing, meals and a drop-in centre for inner city families and individuals.  The Soup Kitchen currently serves over 300 meals a day and also offers special festive meals (e.g. Thanksgiving, Christmas).  Our Place operates 45 transitional housing units and serves as an emergency night shelter when the temperatures drop.  In addition it has launched a new program with the support of Thrifty Foods entitled, Help End Hunger Vouchers – customers add $2 - $10 to their grocery bill towards an account that allows Our Place to select the food needed to meet the nutritional needs of the homeless, & the customer a tax receipt.
www.ourplacesociety.com Host: Rev. Al Tysick

Everyone is welcome to
The Local-Global Green Map Roundtable
University of Victoria,
Social Science and Mathematics Building, Room B215

A pre-CUExpo08 open event with special guest Green Mapmakers from the Cuban-Latin America Network and Green Map's global headquarters! For all those involved or interested in community and Green Mapmaking, please take part:

The day will include...

• A Global Overview on 461 projects in 50 countries! by Founding Director Wendy Brawer (see City List pdf)
• Story-sharing from the Mapa Verde Network - Cuba, Latin America and Pan America and Local (Victoria and CRD) Mapmaking Projects
• Overview of the new interactive OpenGreenMap and Plans for Victoria On-Line Maps
• Ways to get involved! Green Map Tools, Icons and Design Resources (see Icons pdf)
• Planning and Vision-Sharing for the Common Ground Mapping Network
• Orientation to new UVic Community Mapping Supports

RSVP to: Sarah Dickie at ocbr@uvic.ca by April 30th

Tours

1. The Food and Farm Tour of the Peninsula
2. Burnside Gorge Community Centre Tour
3. Victoria Downtown Services Tour
4. Dockside Green Tour

Opening University Centre Auditorium
Chair: Dr. Howard Brunt, Vice-President for Research, University of Victoria
Elder Marie Cooper, Opening Song & Prayer
Unity Drummers, Master Drummer and Carver, Butch Dick, Singers & Dance Presentation

Keynote
Tim Brodhead
President & CEO, McConnell Family Foundation
The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation

CCPH Annual Awards presentation

Opening Ceremonies - Welcome
Maureen Duncan, CEO, United Way of Greater Victoria
Dr. Peter Keller, Co-Chair, Dean of Social Sciences
Dr. David Turpin, President, University of Victoria
Dr. Ted Riecken, Co-chair, Dean of Education
Moura Quayle, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Advanced Education, BC
His Honour, Honourable Steven L. Point, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia

Plenary Speaker

Dr. Rajesh Tandon
Chief Functionary, Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), India

Community-University Partnerships

The Challenge of Human & social Development the world is witnessing a complex duality of ever increasing wealth and misery, freedoms and restrictions, opportunities and constraints. Rapid growth and improvements in standards of living are simultaneously creating disparities, divides and environmental unsustainabilities. Human knowledge and its social organisation is being challenged to respond in a manner that is ethical, equitable, just and sustainable. This creates new possibilities of developing meaningful partnerships between the world of academe and the world of community practice. Many experiments around the world are beginning to demonstrate the desirability and feasibility of such partnerships. yet, practical challenges remain. What is our responsibility? What can CU-Expo offer to the world in this regard?

Panel Discussion – Social Sciences Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) CURA grantees presentation.  Chaired by Chad Gaffield, President, SSHRC

A panel presentation of 5 outstanding Community-University Research Alliance teams (CURA) outlining the most significant impact(s) of their CURA funding and the lessons learned through their experience in being part of a community-university research partnership. Chaired by Chad Gaffield, President, SSHRC

Plenary Speaker

Professor Marlene Brant Castellano
Professor Emeritus, Trent University, Canada

Inclusion, Partnership, Transformation - Responses to Diversity in Community-University Relations

First Nations, Inuit and Metis individuals and communities engage with universities in diverse modes, as students, as sites for educational outreach, as subjects or partners in research. Aboriginal communities in Canada are increasingly articulating the need for new paradigms of education and research, going beyond inclusion in western culture pedagogies and methodologies or asymmetrical partnerships, to transform the dynamics of teaching and learning and the processes of knowledge creation. Drawing on lengthy experience in the development of Indigenous Studies Professor Castellano will encourage reflection on the means and mutual benefits of transforming Aboriginal-university relations.

Plenary Speaker

Joanne Linzey
Vice-President, Community Impact, United Way of Canada

Can community- university collaborations help build resilient neighbourhoods and communities?
Ms Linzey will explore what can happen when universities and community based organizations work collaboratively. She will discuss how the combined skills, knowledge, and strengths of community based organizations and universities can be powerful forces for change. She will examine, based on experience, what needs to be in place in order for the two cultures to work together effectively.

Field Trips

• Clayoquot 101
• Snitchel Tour