About the Episode

What a treat it was to have James Stauch, a phenomenal storyteller, on this episode of Pause. James is the Director of the Institute for Community Prosperity at Mount Royal University. The Institute runs co-curricular and community focused learning programs primarily to connect students to broader community and social change initiatives.

The story he shared takes us back 12 years or so and into the northern parts of Canada. He was a part of a group that noticed a gap in the education system, that being there were few opportunities for advanced post-secondary education in the north which resulted in many students having to travel south for many years to access that level of education, and in a way that was not either culturally resonant or directly applicable to a northern context. They undertook research, system mapping, and communicating with the people who lived in northern communities. When it came time to “pass the project off” or let it start rolling into this grassroots movement, the boat hit some rocky waters. The realization at this point became “How much change can an external change agent really drive before it becomes inauthentic?”

Resource Links

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• Is it time for a northern university? Article from Northern Public Affairs: http://www.northernpublicaffairs.ca/index/archives-volume-1-issue-1/education-is-it-time-for-a-northern-university/
  
• Momentum Builds for an Inuit University: https://www.uarctic.org/news/2015/5/momentum-builds-for-inuit-university-in-nunavut/
  
• Yukon College is now Yukon University: https://www.yukonu.ca/news/202005/yukon-college-now-yukon-university