The UBC Centre for Migration Studies was thrilled to celebrate our inauguration as an interdisciplinary Research Centre in the UBC Faculty of Arts on October 14, 2022! The celebration was somewhat overdue and was the first opportunity for many of us to convene in person since the lifting of COVID-related restrictions.
The celebrations were opened by CMS Founding Director Antje Ellermann with a land acknowledgement and a brief history of our beginnings as the UBC Migration Research Excellence Cluster. They were followed by three UBC speakers whose institutional support has played a vital role in the existence of CMS: Gage Averill, Matthew Evenden and Christiane Hoppmann. Niis Miou (Travis Angus), a respected Elder and Knowledge Keeper from Lax Gibuu (Wolf Clan) of the Nisga’a Nation shared their song, drumming and ceremony to connect us to place and allow us to start the celebrations in a good way.
The celebration then moved on to reflect on and showcase the main achievements of the Centre for Migration Studies since its establishment. This included CMS support for research workshops, such as the Graphic Narratives of Migration workshop held in May 2022, the Global Migration Podcast, the CMS Working Paper Series and the initiatives led by our Research Groups, such as the International Art Competition. Our thanks to Tori Yang and Mahashewta Bhattacharya – graduate academic assistants at CMS – who both presented during this part of the program! Josephine Roele (then CMS Research Manager) also introduced our first cohort in the new CMS Fellows Program.
Finally, the program focused on the vital role of community engagement at CMS, with speeches from Javier Ojer (CMS Engagement Strategist), Katie Crocker (CEO, AMSSA) and Norm Leech (Executive Director, Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre).
We ended the celebration with soulful music from the Brazuka Trio – a music group formed by three immigrants from Brazil. Thank you to all who joined us at this milestone celebration! We were delighted to see many familiar and new faces at the event and we look forward to deepening existing and pursuing new and meaningful research, policy- and community-engaged collaborations and partnerships.
Photography: Kousaku Yui & Brent Holmes.
Interested in what happened at the Launch Party? Check out our photo gallery from the event below!
The event was a success and we thank all participants for their enthusiastic engagement!
