May 12 - 15, 2025
We are excited to welcome you to MacEwan University for C2UExpo 2025,“Partners in Place”
The C2UExpo is a biennial international conference dedicated to Community Based Research. The aim is to showcase how community-campus partnerships are addressing global and local societal problems, and it will feature activities such as interactive workshops, panels, symposia, field trips, and networking events.
Keynote Speakers
Just Breathe, Okâwîmâwaskiy
Melanie Kloetzel
Melanie Kloetzel (she/her; MFA, PhD) is a settler performance maker, scholar and educator based in Treaty 7 territory (Moh’kinsstis/Calgary). Director of the dance theatre company kloetzel&co. and co-director of the art intervention collective TRAction, Kloetzel’s research work spans stage, site and screen. Employing practice-as-research methodologies, Kloetzel develops events, workshops and encounters in theatre spaces, alternative venues, spaces of public assembly, and online environments. Kloetzel is Professor and Division Lead of Dance at the University of Calgary.
Sandra Lamouche
Sandra Lamouche (she/her) is a Nehiyaw Iskwew (Cree Woman) from the Bigstone Cree Nation in Northern Alberta. She married into the Piikani Nation in Southern Alberta and is now a proud mother of two boys with braids. She holds a BA in Native American Studies from University of Lethbridge, and an MA from Trent University where she focused on Indigenous dance and health. Sandra is a multidisciplinary creator, artist, writer and storyteller, a Champion Hoop Dancer, an award-winning educator, and a two-time TEDx Speaker. She has performed, collaborated and trained with such Indigenous artists and companies as Rosalie Jones, Rulan Tangen, Yvonne Chartrand, Santee Smith, Raven Spirit Dance, O. Dela Arts, and Jack Gray, among others.
Just Breathe, Okâwîmâwaskiy is a collaborative project created by Cree artist Sandra Lamouche and settler artist Melanie Kloetzel. Developing from a shared concern regarding the state of the planet, Lamouche and Kloetzel came together to consider how to use an immersive and site-specific dance theatre experience to address the intersection of climate change, capitalism, Indigenous knowledge and mental health.
With support from the University of Calgary, Canada Council for the Arts, and Environment and Climate Change Canada (Mobilizing Alberta), multiple live presentations of the project occurred between January 2023 and January 2024. These presentations involved taking audience-participants (including full classes of students) on an immersive ‘tour’ through a site-specific landscape where they engaged in physical and state-based embodied tasks, faced a mock climate emergency, and experienced the sharing of Indigenous knowledge through a healing hoop dance. Each tour ended with a one-hour focus group conducted by a clinical psychologist, who helped the audience process the emotions of hope, fear, confusion and anger that emerged.
The project has recently been reconstituted as a 22-minute film that can be used as a springboard for discussion and facilitation around eco-anxiety, its roots and the paradoxes surrounding it. In this keynote address, we will share this film, along with lecture, imagery and discussion, as a way to explore how creative practice can support community wellness and catalyze cross-cultural and place-based learning.
Walking with Relatives:
Exploring the history of amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Edmonton)
May 12th, 2025 | 1:00 - 4:00 PM
Join Carla, Dwayne, and Etienna for a guided walk along the beautiful North Saskatchewan River as we explore some of Edmonton’s most iconic sites and hidden stories. Along the way, you’ll hear rich reflections on the city’s history and deepen your understanding of our shared responsibilities as treaty partners. This is a chance to move, listen, learn, and ask questions in community—come curious, and leave inspired (and a few steps healthier)!
Dwayne Donald
Dwayne Donald is a descendent of Norwegian, Metis, and amiskwaciwiyiniwak (Beaver Hills Cree) ancestors and works as a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. He is also a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair. His work focuses on ways in which Indigenous wisdom traditions can expand and enhance conventional understandings of curriculum and pedagogy.
Etienna Moostoos-Lafferty
Etienna Moostoos-Lafferty was born and raised in Grande Prairie Alberta. Her family is from the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory. Etienna is a certified teacher and has teaching experience in both First Nations community schools and in provincial schools. Etienna has completed her Master in Secondary Education at the University of Alberta and has a published thesis titled "Pihtikwe: Exploring Withness in Teacher Preparedness and Professional Development" She is currently a PhD student at the University of Alberta and enjoys researching topics such as Treaty Relationships, Indigenous Knowledge, Pedagogy and Place and Land-Based Education. Etienna works as an Assistant Professor in the Bachelor of Early Childhood and Curriculum Studies program at Macewan University.
There is limited to no access to washrooms. There is an extensive amount of walking time, however the terrain is low risk. Participants are reminded to wear appropriate walking attire and be dressed for the weather.
CBRCanada is a national nonprofit that facilitates community-based research in an effort to address societal problems both locally and internationally. They are committed to the decolonization of knowledge, and making the communities in which we live more equitable, just and sustainable. Community-based research excellence means community organizations and individuals engaging with post-secondary institutions on equal footing. The C2UExpo is more than a conference, it's a national movement bridging community and campus together.
To stay up-to-date on the conference, follow MacEwan's Office of Research Services on social media
For more information about how to participate,
please contact c2uexpo2025@macewan.ca
ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ amiskwacîwâskahikan Edmonton, Treaty 6 Territory & Métis Homelands
We acknowledge that the land on which we gather in Treaty Six Territory is the traditional gathering place for many Indigenous people. We honour and respect the history, languages, ceremonies and culture of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit who call this territory home.
The First People’s connection to the land teaches us about our inherent responsibility to protect and respect Mother Earth. With this acknowledgement, we honour the ancestors and children who have been buried here, missing and murdered Indigenous women and men, and the process of ongoing collective healing for all human beings. We are reminded that we are all treaty people and of the responsibility we have to one another.
ᓂᓂᓯᑕᐍᔨᐦᑌᓈᐣ ᐆᒪ ᐊᐢᑭᐩ ᑳᑖᑭᐢᑳᑕᒫᐦᐠ ᓂᑯᑤᓯᐠ ᑭᐦᒋᐊᓱᑕᒫᑐᐏᐣ ᑳᐃᑕᒥᐦᐠ ᐆᑕ ᐁᑮᐅᑕᐢᑲᓀᓯᒋᐠ ᒥᐦᒉᐟ ᐃᔨᓂᐘᐠ, ᐆᑕ ᑮᒫᐘᒋᐦᐃᑐᐘᐠ ᑭᐦᒉᔨᐦᑐᐏᐣ ᐁᑿ ᑭᐢᑌᔨᒧᐏᐣ ᓂᒥᔮᓈᓇᐠ ᐅᑖᒋᒧᐏᓂᐚᐘ, ᐅᐲᑭᐢᑵᐏᓂᐚᐘ, ᐅᓯᐦᒋᑫᐏᓂᐚᐘ ᐁᑿ ᐃᓯᐦᑖᐏᓂᐚᐤ ᐆᑭ ᑲᐦᑭᔭᐤ ᐃᔩᓂᐘᐠ
ᑳᑮ ᐃᓯᓈᑲᑌᔨᐦᑖᐦᑭᐠ ᐆᒪ ᐊᐢᑭᐩ, ᑮᐢᑕᓇᐤ ᑕᑮᑲᓇᐍᔨᐦᑕᒫᐦᐠ ᐁᑿ ᑕᒪᓈᒋᐦᑖᔮᐦᐠ ᑭᑳᐑᓇᐤ ᐊᐢᑭᐩ ᑳᓂᐢᑕᐍᔨᐦᑕᒫᐦᐠ ᐅᑕᐢᑮᐘᐦᐠ, ᐯᔭᑿᐣ ᒦᓇ ᓂᑭᐢᑌᔨᒥᓈᓇᐠ ᓂᐢᑕᒥᔨᒫᑲᓇᐠ ᐁᑿ ᒦᓇ ᐊᐚᓯᓴᐠ ᐆᑕ ᑳᑮᓇᔨᓀᒋᐠ, ᐊᓯᒋ ᐃᐢᑵᐘᐠ ᑳᐘᓂᐦᐁᒋᐠ, ᑳᒥᓴᐏᓈᒋᐦᐁᒋᐠ, ᓈᐯᐘᐠ ᐑᐢᑕᐚᐤ, ᐁᑿ ᒦᓇ ᑲᐦᑭᔭᐤ ᐊᔨᓯᔨᓂᐘᐠ ᑳᒫᒪᐏᓈᑕᐏᐦᐁᐦᐃᓱᒋᐠ ᑖᐱᑕᐤ ᐁᑭᐢᑭᓱᒥᑐᔭᐦᐠ ᑲᐦᑭᔭᐤ ᐁᑖᑯᐱᓱᔭᐦᐠ ᑭᐦᒋᐊᓱᑕᒫᑐᐏᐣ ᐁᑿ ᑿᔭᐢᐠ ᑲᓈᑲᑌᔨᒥᑐᔭᐦᐠ