This episode continues the conversation in a previous episode about how the settlement sector has been impacted by the pandemic, taking the time to focus on how service providers have continued to provide critical support in the midst of a pandemic.
Amea Wilbur (Assistant Professor of Adult Education at the University of the Fraser Valley and a UBC Migration affiliate), along with Suzanne Smythe (Associate Professor in Adult Education and Adult Literacy at Simon Fraser University), speak with Laura Mannix (Director of Community Development at DIVERSEcity, a community resources society that provides specialized services to support newcomers living in the Lower Mainland of BC). During their conversation, Amea, Suzanne and Laura discuss everything from digital inequities, gender-based violence, and racialized work to how the pandemic has also brought forth many unexpected positives in community outreach through the adoption of innovative practices–what Suzanne and Amea call ‘pandemic pedgagogies’–and the reinvention of existing programmes. They offer glimpses of what a more inclusive, equitable and intentional settlement sector might look like, one that takes a more culturally responsive approach and is borne out of feminist and intersectional insights.