{"id":106080,"date":"2025-11-18T17:40:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T22:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=106080"},"modified":"2025-12-23T15:00:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T20:00:26","slug":"research-connects-international-students-with-canadas-indigenous-cultures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/11\/research-connects-international-students-with-canadas-indigenous-cultures\/","title":{"rendered":"Research connects international students with Canada’s Indigenous cultures"},"content":{"rendered":"

NOTE: Brock University announced the creation of its\u00a0<\/em>Indigenous Research Grant<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in 2021. This is one in a series of articles profiling the research of the <\/em>2025 recipients<\/em><\/a> of this yearly internal award. Read more on the series\u00a0<\/em>on The Brock News<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

It all started with a bit of a cultural misunderstanding between then-PhD student Lyn Trudeau (BA \u201908, MEd \u201913, PhD \u201924) and her classmate Tr\u00e2m-Anh B\u00f9i.<\/p>\n

While getting to know each other, Trudeau shared that she is Anishinaabe\u2019Kwe from the Sagamok Anishinawbek First Nation, Eagle Clan. B\u00f9i, who had recently arrived from Vietnam, wasn\u2019t sure what Trudeau was referring to.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up

Assistant Professor of Women\u2019s and Gender Studies and Sociology Lyn Trudeau (BA \u201908, MEd \u201913, PhD \u201924), and Adjunct Professor of Education at Lakehead University Tr\u00e2m-Anh B\u00f9i are researching international students\u2019 knowledge and perceptions of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cTr\u00e2m-Anh didn\u2019t know about Indigenous peoples in Canada,\u201d says Trudeau, an Assistant Professor of Women\u2019s and Gender Studies and Sociology at Brock. \u201cShe was taught the original peoples here were white and the history of Canada started with the settlement of the English and French.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the two formed a deeper bond, they initially joked about one day doing research on international students\u2019 knowledge and perceptions of Indigenous Peoples living in Canada.<\/p>\n

Almost a decade later, their vision has came to pass. Trudeau and B\u00f9i, an Adjunct Professor in Lakehead University\u2019s Faculty of Education, have teamed up with Indigenous Elder Peter Beaucage to study the topic.<\/p>\n

Working with Brock International and Lakehead International, they are recruiting international students to be research participants.<\/p>\n

Using a mix of Indigenous methodologies of storytelling and art-based approaches, the research team aims to explore international students\u2019 prior knowledge of Indigenous Peoples in Canada before arriving in the country as well as how their perceptions of Indigenous cultures have changed both before and after participating in the research project.<\/p>\n

Trudeau says their findings could be used to help create a variety of policies and programs \u2013 such as university orientations and social gatherings \u2013 that engage international students in the past, present and future of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.<\/p>\n

The project, \u201cRelational International Stories in an Educative Global Context (RISE),\u201d was inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada\u2019s Calls to Action<\/a>, which includes a call in Action 63 (iii) to build students\u2019 capacity for \u201cintercultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since many international students end up settling in Canada, it\u2019s vital they know about Indigenous histories, reconciliation and other factors affecting the place of Indigenous Peoples in Canadian society, Trudeau says.<\/p>\n

International students themselves will also benefit from the research and any resulting policies and programs, says Trudeau, adding that most international students come from countries where Indigenous populations were colonized and continue to be marginalized by the wider society.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as they see it happening here, international students ask me, \u2018Why did I not know this?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cThey say things like, \u2018This is resonating with me, I\u2019m actually hearing my story.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Trudeau says programs implemented at universities could also be extended to foster intercultural communications in a wider context, benefiting society as a whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It all started with a bit of a cultural misunderstanding between then-PhD student Lyn Trudeau (BA \u201908, MEd \u201913, PhD \u201924) and her classmate Tr\u00e2m-Anh B\u00f9i.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":106087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,6833,14105,1,5,38],"tags":[159,2524,522,10420,7547,14955,1426],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106080"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106115,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106080\/revisions\/106115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}