Launch of the UNESCO Chair in the Transmission of First Peoples’ Culture to Foster Well-Being and Empowerment

Saguenay, May 23, 2018 – The first UNESCO Chair at UQAC, titled “The Transmission of First Peoples’ Culture to foster Well-Being and Empowerment”, is being officially launched today by Nicole Bouchard, Rector of UQAC (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi), in the presence of Sébastien Goupil, Secretary-General of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCUNESCO) and several other dignitaries.

This initiative stems from the wish of the Network of UNESCO Chairs in Canada to develop the Indigenous research sector. It was in this context that Élisabeth Kaine, a research professor in the UQAC Department of Arts and Literature, was asked to submit a proposal for a UNESCO Chair. Professor Kaine, a specialist in developing creative methodologies for collaborative projects with First Nations, then joined forces with Constanza Camelo, a research professor in the same department, as the Co-Chairholder to develop the proposal within the field of cultural transmission as a vehicle for well-being.

Following an evaluation of the new UNESCO Chair proposal by peers across Canada, and another evaluation at UNESCO headquarters, this first Indigenous UNESCO Chair in Canada is being proudly launched today. This is the first UNESCO Chair to set up an Indigenous governance structure composed of a committee of Indigenous Elders to work on the Chair’s main research thrusts. One of the Co-Chairholders is of Indigenous origin, and all the researchers involved will be invited to have their research guided by an Indigenous advisory committee. The First Nations of Quebec, Canada, Central America and South America constitute the central focus of the Chair’s work, which dovetails with UNESCO’s major strategic objectives for protecting the diversity of cultural expressions and pursuing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The objectives of the UNESCO Chair in the Transmission of First Peoples’ Culture to foster Well-Being and Empowerment are to:

• promote egalitarian relations among Indigenous experts, non-university researchers and university researchers who contribute to intercultural rapprochement;
• develop innovative practical and theoretical approaches through the in-field use use of Indigenous cultural practices with Indigenous communities and groups;
• stimulate cultural self-definition by Indigenous communities themselves through their participation in their own empowerment;
• develop research programs with the Chair’s Indigenous partners based on their concerns, needs and ideas in order to address future challenges and generate new initiatives.

The goal of the Chair is to become a leader in introducing the intercultural practices of Indigenous knowledge into the research and higher education milieu by drawing on the community of Indigenous students.

The Chair and its impact

The research carried out by the Chair will:

• generate collective ideas through intersecting perspectives on Indigenous tradition and the contemporary challenges of Indigenous communities in a context of self-definition and endogenous vision;
• encourage inter-generational encounters in which Elders as cultural transmitters and youth as media connectors will blend their respective expertise into a common reflection combining identity-affirming creativity and expression, thereby reinforcing the legitimacy of Elders as knowledge-keepers and young people as innovation-generators;
• strengthen connections between research and the realities of the First Nations and the Inuit in terms of the social transformations and cultural pluralism required for inclusive and sustainable social development as a source of community well-being;
• encourage the development of innovative cultural projects created by communities on the basis of their aspirations and priorities “stemming from” – and “grounded in” – their cultural practices;
• encourage the training of Indigenous students in research and mediation/transmission practices, and inspire Indigenous youth leadership by appreciating and respecting their cultural identity;
• encourage reflection within and between Indigenous nations that will produce new synergies.

A few notes on the co-chairholders

Élisabeth Kaine is of Huron-Wendat descent. She has been a UQAC professor since 1990, specializing in the development of collaborative methodologies to support Indigenous cultural self-representation. She co-founded and directed La Boîte Rouge vif, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to respecting and fostering Indigenous cultures; she received a Governor General of Canada award in 2014 for the collaborative methods that her research group developed.

Constanza Camelo-Suarez is interested in creating, disseminating and theorizing about contextual and relational art. Her artistic practice revolves around developing both performative and site-specific structures. She has published articles that explore the practice of action art as well as the representations of intercultural reality and mobility in the art actuel [new art] milieu. She has organized theory-focused meetings and artistic exchanges between Canada and Latin America. She is also a researcher member of CÉLAT (a research centre on interrelationships between culture, art and society) and GRMC (a research group on cultural mediation).

About the Canadian Commission for UNESCO

The Canadian Commission for UNESCO serves as a bridge between Canadians and the vital work of UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. By promoting UNESCO values, priorities and programs in Canada and by bringing the voices of Canadian experts to the international stage, the Commission contributes to an inclusive, peaceful, equitable and sustainable future.

Contact:

Josée Bourassa, Information Officer
Communications and Public Relations Section
UQAC (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi)
418-545-5011, ext. 2431 | josee.bourassa@uqac.ca