CMS is thrilled to invite you to its Research Conference 2025 at the xʷθəθiqətəm or Place of Many Trees, Liu Institute for Global Issues, on May 1-2 in conjunction with UBC Okanagan.
Keynote Event: WhereWeStand
This year, CMS partners with Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration program (CERC Migration) at Toronto Metropolitan University to present WhereWeStand (WWS), a multimedia storytelling project exploring identity and belonging through the voices of Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous newcomers on Turtle Island, now known as Canada. Their collaborative works celebrate creativity, embracing differences while seeking common ground and shared hope. From films to live storytelling, spoken word to dance, music, and more, WWS provides a unique window into expressions of identity and belonging.
The keynote event will be held in a hybrid format.
In May 2023, CERC Migration embarked on its next multimedia storytelling collaboration WhereWeStand. The project brings together a cohort of Indigenous peoples and newcomers to co-create expressions of identity on the colonial construct of Canada, situated on Turtle Island.
WhereWeStand pairs an Indigenous participant with a newcomer participant and supports their process towards creating a story that will be widely shared with a public audience. Participants may choose any form of expression – including dance, music, film, theatre or installation – to produce their creative work.
WhereWeStand invites participants to reimagine the Land that sustains and shelters Indigenous peoples and newcomers. WhereWeStand is the third iteration of the inaugural i am… project, which opened the door to the shared experiences of displacement, which fuels the expression that frames the creative outcome. Identity and belonging are not fixed but ebb, flow, and evolve as the land beneath us shifts…
This project is a joint CERC Migration and Bridging Divides initiative.
Conference Program
Panel 1: Race, Indigeneity, and Ethnicity
Panel 2: Climate Change and Digital Pedagogies
Panel 3: Chinese Diasporas
3:45 PM (PT) - Keynote Event: WhereWeStand
Panel 4: Boundaries of Belonging, Dynamics of Exclusion
Panel 5: Precarious Mobilities
Roundtable: Policy-Engaged Research
Co-organized with:
Presented with support from:
WhereWeStand partners:
