Adjusting to Grad School During a Global Pandemic – Planning, Working, and Self-Care

By Taylor Wilson, 2nd year MDP student

Like you may have read from my colleagues, COVID-19 has had an incredible impact on our lives. Not only have we had to change the way we live such as physical distancing and wearing masks when we are out to protect ourselves and others, but it has also had an impact on our education. We are fortunate enough to be in a program that has so far been incredibly flexible during this pandemic but also made sure that we are doing okay. Being a student during these kinds of times is difficult for many reasons. Some learn by doing and being at a desk can prove a challenge. Others have families or people they take care of and balancing school, work, and home, while caring for others can be hard. Some of us have family or friends who essential workers or health complications that put them at risk and so we worry which makes it hard to focus on school. With everything shut down, some even have had no source of income that can be stressful on top of the stress of school. I’m sure many people that aren’t students understand these struggles as well.

Zoom meeting with Lisa Young, Taylor, Dr. Shailesh Shukla and Kirsten Witwicki

For my placement I had initially planned to work with Dr. Shailesh Shukla in my home community, Fisher River Cree Nation. He has had a longstanding relationship with many people from the community and recently released a cookbook with them. I was to spend my summer back in my home territory, learn more about my traditional food system, and work with youth to develop a food guide, or something similar. I’ll detail a little more about why I chose not to continue this research in a later blog, for now I will talk about how I adjusted. I had planned to do field research and so Shailesh and I brainstormed on what I wanted to get out of my placement. I really want to continue working in academia and potentially teach. So, we shifted so I can build skills in those areas. I was fortunate enough that a Masters in Indigenous Governance student, Lisa Young, needed some help with her thesis and I love doing analysis. I’m thankful for her kindness and letting me work with her on it. It provided me with the insight of what it is like writing a thesis as MDP doesn’t do theses. I did analysis for her using NVIVO (a qualitative data program), helped her settle on themes and subthemes, choose quotes, and find sources that supported her work. I also took a class with Shailesh in the Winter term and he wanted to revise the syllabus, so I took up that challenge as well. I updated the course description and objectives, the reading list and schedule, and the assignments. I really enjoyed this project as I found a new appreciation for the intensive work it takes to design a course that will allow for students to learn in an innovative and engaging way.

While it seems like my placement went smoothly, by saying it did I would be lying. It was a challenge. I had to re-adjust to learning and working in an environment that I normally relax in. It definitely took some re-training of habits. Putting myself on a schedule and trying not to get distracted was something of a challenge. I thank a method I learned from a colleague, Ashley Saulog, called the Pomodoro Method. Where you work for 25 minutes, break for 5 minutes, and repeat until a task is done, then you break from 30 minutes. It really helped me stay focused on major tasks. I am also one of the many people who struggled with their mental health during this time, so learning how to ask for help and take breaks was hard for me, as an independent person. I realized during this time, that taking care of myself is more important to me and to others. I am thankful for Shailesh and MDP for being understanding and patient during my mental health journey as some don’t have luxury of this kind of support. I now know moving forward the importance of self-care, time management, and working for quality, not quantity.

Talk soon, Taylor.

My work space

Going Global During the Pandemic

By Alexander Keone Kapuni Oldroyd, 1st year MDP student

We all have stories of how the COVID-19 pandemic turned our lives upside down, stories of lost jobs, lost travel opportunities, cancelled graduations, postponed weddings, ruined vacations, of quarantine restlessness and isolation. Many of us may yet hope to avoid catching the virus, but none of us is untouched.

In times like these I try to remember the first law of thermodynamics—energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed from one state to another. When things break bad, I’m often tempted to dwell on the things I’ve lost, the things that have been “destroyed.” My field placement in Colombia? Gone. My sister’s wedding? Ruined. My conference presentation? Cancelled. But the truth is, all of these opportunities and plans haven’t really been destroyed, just transformed. In their place are new opportunities, new plans to be made, different experiences to have. In the grand scheme of things, I like to believe that there is no loss, only opportunities for change.

When all my plans for the summer fell through, it was difficult at first to see how this crucial time in a grad student’s life between their first and second year could be salvaged for me. Gradually though, new perspectives and prospects to fill my time replaced the old ones. I realized this was the perfect chance for my wife and I to drive down to Texas to quarantine with my family, who we weren’t expecting to see much this year. Classes were moved online and jobs that we couldn’t have accessed before due to geography were suddenly available remotely. My sister found a way to hold an intimate and beautiful wedding ceremony that we will never forget. Best of all, I was able to find an excellent new field placement with Carol Anne Hilton and the Indigenomics Institute.

The Indigenomics Institute works with Indigenous nations and organizations, governments, and private industry to strengthen Indigenous economic capacity and achieve Indigenous economic and community objectives. My role has been to help lay the conceptual groundwork for an upcoming Global Indigenomics Initiative, which will bring together Indigenous peoples from all over the world to promote global Indigenous economic resurgence.

I’m also preparing the Institute’s 2020 10-to-Watch List, a series of articles highlighting 10 remarkable Indigenous and Indigenous-focused organizations and innovators working to build the Indigenous economy in Canada (I also helped create the inaugural 2019 10-to-Watch-List). My work has brought me into contact with some amazing changemakers and taught me much about the state of affairs for Indigenous peoples all over the world. In a time where I’m stuck in one place, it’s poetic to take such a global perspective.

Remote work has its difficulties. There’s no replacing the camaraderie and direct mentorship of working on-site, but I have been able to develop greater independence and self-reliance, and my work-life balance has never felt better. In the beginning, I often had a hard time focusing and staying accountable, but I’ve found that diligently scheduling my day, keeping track of my hours and activities, and setting goals for myself helps me stay productive. Working through this pandemic has helped me develop new competencies that I might not have otherwise.

I’m grateful to Carol Anne Hilton and the Indigenomics Institute for helping make my summer feel like a success, and I’m glad for the chance to practice resilience and adaptability. Here’s to many more messy and transformative seasons to come. 

My workspace over the summer, along with my co-worker Appa (right). We work well together.

Adaption and Resilience: Field Placement in Lockdown

By Ada Chukwudozie, 1st year MDP student

Although my field placement has not gone smoothly, or has been anything like I expected it to be, it has turned out to be a wild ride of positive surprises and endless possibilities. In my journey so far, I picked up a wealth of exciting and transferrable skills, as well as important life lessons on resilience and adaptability. 

Going into the practical aspect of the MDP, I was initially poised to start off with an international placement in Dominica, with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Plans however changed when the global pandemic hit. The pandemic forced a nationwide lockdown which meant I had to take a domestic virtual field placement. I was first placed with a not-for-profit organization but unfortunately, things did not work out and I was re-placed to assist on a project called Kishaadigeh.

Kishaadigeh is a research project funded by the Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR) and predominantly led by female Indigenous scholars. Its mandate is to develop a pathway for existing and upcoming Indigenous scholars to work alongside and within Indigenous organisations and communities to lay a foundation for self-determination in research. The current primary focus of the project is the development of research lodges at the community level and to this end, it has partnered up with four Indigenous organisations. 

I was assigned a role that has constantly expanded and evolved far beyond what I had imagined. My initial part in the project was to draft seed grant application forms for potential Indigenous health researchers. This responsibility evolved to a position as the project’s social media coordinator, in which I was tasked to create a social media presence for the project. My involvement with Kishaadigeh has seen me coordinate with its Indigenous research partners, conduct interviews, and develop valuable networks. Moving forward, plans have been made for me to attend board meetings and sit with the adjudications committee in August, indicating exciting new prospects to come. While I was very apprehensive of this third placement initially, these new-found skills and relationship building are things that cannot be quantified and things I will not trade for anything now.

What worked:  Because of an imposed new normal brought about by the pandemic, the mode of my field placement has not been a business-as-usual style but rather, a learn as you go approach. This came with obvious challenges which I discuss below but there are things that worked well too. One of the reasons my initial local placement did not work out was because of the structured, inflexible work-plan laid out for me prior to the organisation’s realisations of the dire impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Indigenous communities it worked with. Restructuring and trying to fit me in proved challenging for the organisation. However, with Kishaadigeh, restructuring did not prove problematic. As new needs came up, I was kept in the loop and there were check-in sessions held to monitor and evaluate my progress.   This structure fostered flexibility and made it easier for me to adapt to a new normal.

What did not work: The lack of a concrete structure was what was most challenging for me. In the past, I thrived working with set deadlines and well-defined tasks. With this placement, I had to set deadlines for my task and work with a broad mandate. This is something that turned out to be a valuable learning experience and  made me learn to be a more independent worker capable of working under minimal supervision.

COVID- 19: The COVID-19 pandemic in many ways has been both a challenge and a blessing. The mandatory lockdown has been mentally challenging and I have tried to curb the effects of anxiety and feelings of isolation with yoga and online gaming. This allowed me to fill in the social void caused by the lockdown while still keeping fit. The challenge that the pandemic also caused with my field placement in general taught me resilience and as I move into the last half of this year’s placement, I move with a more positive mindset.

Reflecting on Field Work

By Kiera Kowalski & Courtney Bear, 1st year & 2nd year MDP Students

If there’s one thing COVID-19 has taught us its that working behind a computer screen will never replace connecting and maintaining relationships face-to-face with people especially when it comes to community engagement. 

This summer our field placement is with the Province of Manitoba in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Development. The Government sought to understand youth perceptions of the province’s agriculture industry and so our assignment became consulting youth, between the ages of 15 to 30 years old, in Peguis First Nation.

Kiera & Courtney at the Peguis sign. "We have become close through working together on this project. We aren’t just great teammates but friends as well"

For the most part, we have been delivering our work tasks for our field placement from behind a screen. However, we were able to travel to Peguis First Nation to connect with community members in person and conduct our focus group. Originally the focus group was going to be conducted via Zoom, but as COVID-19 restrictions lifted in both Winnipeg and Peguis First Nation, we realized we could complete it in the community. To ensure the safety of everyone involved we followed the recommended precautions including working in a space where everyone could social distance, sanitizing all surfaces before everyone arrived, and having hand sanitizer available for use.

We were honoured and very grateful that we could be with the Elder Carl McCorrister and the participants while conducting our focus group. We strongly believe that the personable interactions and long-lasting relationships will last a lifetime. As Indigenous and Metis women we know the importance of establishing, building and maintaining our relationships with the participants of our focus group. 

Doing this community focus group made us realize how important it is to connect with individuals in person, especially when utilizing Indigenous research methodologies. Maintaining respectful and reciprocal relationships are a crucial to the research process, and its clear that computers can not replace the connections and relationship building that happens in person. Especially following protocols like having a feast and sharing stories. We had Elder Carl guide us during our focus group which we will forever be grateful for. That words cannot express the gratitude we have for all of his support while we were in the field.

As this was our first time going into the field doing a focus group we understand the importance of sharing who we are and why we are in the community. Doing so not only helps the participants in making the decision to participate in our research project but it also allows for trusting relationships to be established among us.  When reflecting on research with Indigenous peoples the understanding of an Indigenous framework is critical for creating spaces and knowledge of Indigenous perspectives. The participants of the focus group are the ones who carry the knowledge and acknowledging their voices is essential. We will use the Elder and participants’ information in the most respectful way because this it is their truth.

We had a great group of people willing to help us and participate in this focus group session. We are very grateful for all of the knowledge and time that they shared with us. 

Researching amid a pandemic

By Nontokozo Ndlovu, 2nd year MDP student

Nono Ndlovu

A pandemic was the least of my worries when I started this program. Throughout my studies, public health has always been my passion and driving force. It still is but the challenges have made me explore a lot more than what I had just imagined.

My placement as a researcher for a needs assessment on Metis homelessness in the Housing and Property Management department with Manitoba Metis Federation has been eye opening.

Questions that arose were:

• What is it to be a public health practitioner?
• What is it to be a researcher and building relationships during a pandemic?
• What is it to be homelessness in this time of a pandemic?

 My duties include researching on Metis-specific homelessness, identify gaps, challenges and trends. This includes connecting with different organizations and doing interviews. Connecting with organizations who are essential during a pandemic is challenging yet a time to learn a lot. The biggest challenge is not hearing the stories of the people we are writing the needs assessment for. This meant building relationships virtually and allowing that time for people to trust you with information they are giving.

Home office

This also brought many questions like:

• Does exchanging emails back and forth build relationships?
• Does requesting virtual meetings at a time like this overstepping?
• What other ways of research could be used?

 I have so many questions that I ask myself all the time. “I have so many questions that I ask myself all the time. The only answer I have found is that it is essential to hear the stories of the people experiencing homelessness/ unsheltered people. However, this is the challenge of doing research during a pandemic when you are house bound and not able to work directly with the people for whom the work is to benefit.

Remotely connected with the land that gives life

By Henok Alemneh, 2nd year student

I first found out about the Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site from my academic advisor when I was in my very first semester in the MDP program. I have since been building relationships and working with the Pimachiowin Aki Corporation (PAC), which is a non-profit charity organization mandated to coordinate and integrate actions to protect and present the outstanding universal value of a boreal forest Anishinaabe cultural landscape. Through PAC, the First Nations of Bloodvein River, Little Grand Rapids, Pauingassi and Poplar River and the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario, collaboratively manage Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site. Pimachiowin Aki, which is Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) for “the land that gives life”, is one of the world’s few UNESCO World Heritage sites recognized for both its cultural and natural values.

In my current field placement opportunity with PAC, I have been tasked to work on two main projects. The first project has been to undertake a research and present options and recommendations to the PAC Board of Directors, for consideration by the Pimachiowin Aki First Nations, for an Indigenous-owned and controlled economic development corporation with a mission to develop and deliver a for-profit Indigenous tourism facility and experience in the World Heritage Site.

This research project has now been completed, thanks to the continuous inputs and guidance from my supervisors Bruce Bremner, PAC Board Co-Chair & Alison Haugh, PAC Executive Director. Conducting research, report writing, and teamwork are among the key practical experiences I gained through this project. 

The second project I am currently working on focuses on proposing a business plan in accordance with the recommendations of the research project. Once the business plan is finalized, it would be presented to PAC Board who would make decisions on the next steps. So far, the field placement activities have provided me with opportunities to apply some of what I learned in the MDP program, particularly through Research and Business Planning courses.

Unlike my previous field placement that involved travel and in-person community engagement, the COVID-19 pandemic we are in has now forced many of us to work from home. In my view, traveling out to the outstanding Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site, getting the opportunity to engage with some community members and connecting with the land and culture would be irreplaceable experiences. However, the stories I get to hear and read, the interactions I have with my supervisors, the articles I reference, and the reflections I make in the papers are helping me connect remotely with Pimachiowin Aki, the land that gives life, until the time and opportunity to go in person arises.

Learning the second time

By Gloria Makafui Dovoh, 2nd year MDP student

Home office

My placement(s) have been nothing short of interesting, for which I am thankful. For my (local) second field placement, I have the opportunity of working with Immigration Partnership Winnipeg (IPW) hosted by the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg.

IPW brings collaborations at the community-level, to newcomer settlement and integration. The IPW, in turn, hosts the Ethnocultural Council of Manitoba-Stronger Together Inc. (ECCM) which is the second organization I work with. ECCM is a place where various Ethnocultural, refugee and immigrant communities' in Manitoba meet to generate collective knowledge, ideas, information, resources, strategies and inspiration to create communities where all people are valued and welcomed.

Some of my roles with both organizations have been to: 

• Apply to two major grants accruing to $53,750.
• Collaborate to plan the Multiculturalism Day Celebration on June 27, 2020. 
• Work as part of various working groups including anti-racism campaign working group for which I developed a tip sheet on the facts and myths about COVID-19 and collaboratively managed a social media campaign on Facebook and Instagram called Don’t Discriminate Manitoba (social media handle @don’tdiscriminatemb).
• Host virtual meetings and take notes.
• Volunteer to take up other roles when they come up.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I have gone through various activities; you name a fun activity…. I have attempted it (social media challenges, dance videos, dressing up to go nowhere, cooking food that I never had time to cook, sitting outside and relaxing just because there’s nowhere to go).

I would say being open-minded and thankful for the learning opportunities even in these difficult times and not always complaining have helped me a lot in these past months. As I come to the end of my studies in fulfilment of a Master’s in Development Practice-Indigenous Development, I am very grateful for growth, exposure, knowledge and opportunities that I have obtained.

Gloria at the Multiculturalism Celebration Day

My Placement with CRC and Disaster Risk Reduction

By Racheal Kalaba, 2nd  year MDP student

I did my domestic field placement with the Canadian Red Cross – Manitoba and worked directly under the Disaster Risk Reduction department. (DRR).

My role was to work with the department's team in reviewing the DRR department, existing DRR tools and program reports, literature on engaging with Indigenous communities and policies on disaster management, and the fundamentals of disaster risk reduction, tools, and procedures. The final product is to be a review report of the work of the DRR program over the last 3 years including feedback from the community and staff in terms of mapping the way forward.

What worked: what worked was the literature review of the documents and review of tools. Since this work was mostly completed from my home office and online, I was able to review key documents and literature as well as get virtual support from my supervisor and the other DRR team members.  This worked though had its challenges because the initial plan was for me to be working in person with the DRR staff in person and in the CRC office.

What didn't work: Most of the work I was expected to do was to support in community visits, regular meetings, and feedback, engagement with Indigenous communities and leaders could not happen as Manitoba was and still is in a state of emergency due to COVID – 19 and the communities had more pressing matters and issues to deal with than COVID -19.

What I have learned and lessons during Covid- 19: I quickly learned that the situation was more about adaptability and resilience. Most times when I used to learn about adaptability and resilience it was more about communities and projects, then when COVID- 19 hit, I realized that resilience as a word is one, we think is easier to use until you find yourself in an unplanned crisis/ situation.

I also reflected on my Indigenous world view in terms of relationships, reciprocity, and trust. These key themes resonated well as I learned to rely on my supervisor and the DRR staff for support virtually. The support given helped me create a flexible weekly workplan, as well as take into account my wellness.

I appreciated more and more the Indigenous tools and concepts that make us co-exist as people, and it was more than achieving the tasks ahead, but making sure the wellness was also considered. After a hard 2 weeks, I created my starter pack for surviving the so-called ‘new normal’. I started walking more, created a good cooking regime, I had different workspaces - the favorite always being the kitchen table. I had my care team in the form of close friends and family, the aim and mantra  was to work, live, laugh and love. Through all this, I have created strong friendship bonds and appreciated the times when I felt like giving up and having friends who are always and therefore was the biggest support system and wellness. 

I really appreciate and thank the Manitoba Red Cross team especially my supervisor Dixie Reyes and Rachel Clark who made my work doable and memorable. I am excited on my new journey as an MDP graduate 2020.