EDID Initiatives Fund

A collective and Inclusive Vision for CAFS' Strategic Plan

Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS)

"2025 is the 20th anniversary of CAFS and the 10th anniversary of our Journal (Canadian Food Studies). To reflect on this milestone, CAFS initiated a strategic planning process in 2024 to reflect on its accomplishments, evaluate its impact, and chart a course for the next five years. During our 2025 annual conference, two 1.5-hour World Café sessions were hosted. The sessions prioritized CAFS mandates around ongoing equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization (EDID) initiatives, and were designed with CAFS’s anti-racism commitment in mind. During these sessions, participants engaged in structured small-group dialogues to gather insights for a strategic plan that embeds EDID throughout CAFS’s governance, scholarly interactions, and broader community engagement. By weaving lessons learned from our prior initiatives into a strategic framework, these sessions gathered insights to strengthen CAFS’ commitment to EDID, cultivated inclusive leadership, and created ongoing opportunities for meaningful collaboration within the food studies community."

"A key theme that emerged centred around how CAFS can encourage representation across diverse communities in its work. Participants in the discussions also talked about the need for and value of connection points and networking between and across food studies scholars, practitioners, and community members, with particular emphasis on ensuring that BIPOC communities are part of the conversations. Despite efforts to engage BIPOC communities, these groups are still underrepresented in our membership and at our conference. As part of ongoing strategic planning, CAFS endeavours to explore actions and tactics to encourage more engagement."

Erasure Poetry as Pedagogical Praxis: Exploring De/colonization with Undergraduate International Students in Canada

Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE)

"This initiative explored decolonial education praxis through erasure poetry with international undergraduate students at University Canada West (UCW). Recognizing the enduring impacts of colonization in Canada and the need for deeper integration of Indigenous knowledge into higher education, this initiative utilized an arts-based approach to foster understanding and engagement with de/colonization. This initiative also addressed how decolonial praxis can reshape students' perspectives on their roles in de/colonization and identified possibilities for incorporating such pedagogies into curricula. Through this work, we challenge dominant narratives, support varied perspectives on the possibilities of de/colonization, and offer insights for integrating decolonial methods into higher education."

"Through this initiative, we supported international students in engaging meaningfully with decolonial and Indigenized education. This project offers practical ways to embed decolonial praxis into undergraduate curricula, with a particular emphasis on fostering engagement among international students. The praxis also advances innovation in decolonial pedagogy and Indigenization (for settler educators especially) within internationalized higher education by using creative, arts-based methods—specifically, erasure poetry—as a vehicle for critical reflection on the complexities of colonization."

Clubs de lecture queer francophone

Association des professeur.e.s de français des universités et collèges canadiens (APFUCC)

"APFUCC's initiative builds bridges between members of racialized and gendered minorities and members representing the dominant white and cisgender culture. Teaming with young researchers, APFUCC's Francophone queer book club welcomed prestigious guests to discuss themes such as colonization, the queer identity of colonized artists, “allyship,” resilience, and illness."

"This non-Congress initiative made it possible to reach out to APFUCC members and promote the association's involvement in EDID initiatives offered by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The online format made it possible to bring together participants from across the country, as well as guests from outside Canada (the US and France)."

Equitable Field Education: Advancing Anti-Racism in Social Work Practice

Canadian Association for Social Work Education

"Through prerecorded and live presentations, the summit celebrated five decades of growth, innovation, and commitment to eco-socially just social work education, practice, and research. It brought together diverse voices to honor achievements to inspire future generations committed to social and community justice. A podcast series was then created with pre-recorded sessions that featured dialogues between scholars, practitioners, and students, reflecting on the evolution of social work education, research, and practice. Each episode explored themes such as truth-telling and accountability, anti-racism, the transformation of social work through eco-social and justice-oriented frameworks and more."

Participants gained deeper insights and a better understanding of the evolution of social work education over the past 50 years, thus enhancing their ability to address pressing issues within the field. The summit emphasized inclusiveness in education, practice and policy while building cross-sector partnerships. Key discussions were focused on empowering rural and remote communities, reducing inequities in healthcare, housing and child welfare as well as supporting Francophone communities. Current research and practices were shared by our keynote speakers and led to thought-provoking conversations. Beyond the academic dialogue, the event fostered meaningful networking amongst participants and community building. The podcast provided a digital archive of conversations that expanded the reach of the summit’s discussions and highlighted the value of digital storytelling."

Other funded initiatives

• Guide pédagogique du français inclusif et non binaire
• Increasing inclusion, diversity, and engagement with EDID at the 2025 CAIS Conference
• Indigenizing Scholarly Journals
• Dignity, Equity, and Justice at the Canadian Theological Society's Conference
• Black Caucus Research Assistant

We Need to Talk About the Backlash – What is to Be Done?

Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science (CSHPS)

""We Need to Talk About the Backlash—What is to be Done?" was a panel comprising feminist philosophers (from junior scholars to administrators) with expertise in misogyny, critical race theory, academic freedom, belief change, coded (hate) speech, equity interventions in institutions, and education. From the panel and with the help of a graduate student research assistant we wrote up a brief report that offers an analysis of the current problem and approaches to solutions. The point here was not to create a final authoritative proposal but to outline the current landscape and identify opportunities, issues, pitfalls, and problems that various institutional approaches to addressing these issues might create."

"A fulsome account of the outcomes and lessons learned is available in the draft of the report (attached). Briefly, we found that: (i) the current backlash is part of continuing practices of marginalization and harm, that foments stochastic terrorism; (ii) these practices are firmly embedded in academic institutions; (iii) institutional responses to this situation often make matters worse, not better—especially carceral responses; (iv) institutions responses often appear to be more directed at avoiding liability and managing reputation, rather than addressing the problems; (v) argumentation to address these issues may be limited in its impact; (vi) a firm commitment to basic values is key—specifically, academic freedom (and concomitantly accountability) and the wellness of all students, faculty, and staff."

Read the summary.

Other funded initiatives

• Online Workshop Series
• Lunch and Learn Professional Development Series
• Charte de l'écriture inclusive - Frais de participation au Congrès des membres de l'équipe
• Mentorship Initiative for BIPOC graduate students
• Indigenous perspectives on human-environment reciprocity: expanding principles on community sustainability
• EDID Travel Grant
• Student Accessibility Coordinator Conference

ACCUTE BIPOC Caucus 

"The Research and Community Engagement Award provides members of ACCUTE who identity as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) or racialized an opportunity to reflect on and articulate the value of their work involving racialized/BIPOC communities, and for ACCUTE to recognize and celebrate this work within and beyond our extensive research community. The award was adjudicated by members of the BIPOC caucus and ACCUTE Board members. Six awards were given out, three each to faculty members and graduate students affiliated with universities and colleges."

"The Research and Community Engagement Award provided members the opportunity to reflect on their research and engagements within BIPOC/racialized communities within and outside college and university institutions. Applying for the funding also enabled members, graduate students especially, to strengthen their CV and proposal writing, key skills that help in grant applications. The award money provided financial support to successful winners attending Congress/presenting at the ACCUTE conference. Other than the financial support, winners also celebrated the Award received as a high accomplishment through emails sent to the BIPOC group, through social media, at the annual ACCUTE awards ceremony, and (in the fall) through the ACCUTE newsletter, The Angle. The Award has created significant visibility about for the ACCUTE BIPOC Caucus group and has provided impactful promotion of the diversity of English scholars within ACCUTE."

Other funded initiatives

• Emerging Scholars and EDID Funding Program
• Charte de l’écriture inclusive
• Action Plan on Decolonizing and Indigenizing the Professional Association
• 50th Journal Anniversary
• Access for All: A Long-Term and Robust Hybrid Approach to Studies
• Taking action toward more inclusive, diverse, equal, and fairer knowledge production
• Webinar Funding Program
• Community Panel: Racialized Voices Shaping Social Justice
• Capacity Building Workshop

Decolonizing Storytelling: Biidaaban: First Light Installation and Discussion

Indigenous Literary Studies Association

"The ILSA Capacity Building Workshop, held in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the Inn at the Forks, brought together scholars, students, and community members to engage deeply with Indigenous literatures. Through collaborative discussion, presentations, and generative dialogue, the workshop underscored the need for new critical frameworks—ones that move beyond disciplinary silos and center Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies in their complexity."

"Development of new scholarly collaborations, mentorship connections and a deepened commitment to Indigenous-led literary theory and praxis. The workshop underscored the need to support emerging scholars and to hold space for forms of literary expression that embody care, complexity, and the enduring creativity of Indigenous storytelling traditions."

Other funded initiatives

• Au-delà de l’inclusion : pour une pédagogie critique, intersectionnelle et décolonisante
• Reconciling Food Systems Workshop,
• Journey towards equity, diversity, inclusivity and decolonization
• Antioppressive, Anti-racist, and DEI Training for Board members
• Learning from local Indigenous communities: Decolonizing university spaces through meaningful connections
• Dignity, Equity, and Justice