Welcome

Dr. Michelle Lam is a Canada Research Chair in Rural Community-Based Education for Reconciliation. She is a faculty member in the Curriculum and Pedagogy Department at Brandon University and former Director of the Centre for Applied Research and Education in Indigenous, Rural, and Remote settings (BU CARES). She is interested in community education, rural immigration, identity, anti-racism, and social justice.

Projects:

Dr. Lam is currently working with Mountain View School Division to explore an initiative called Umbay Nagamon, which involves school and community-based reconciliation circles. She’s also working with the Indigenous Peoples’ Centre at Brandon University to use photography and film with students to answer the question, ‘What does Indigenous identity mean to you?’ Dr. Lam is also working with a team of research assistants, scriptwriters, filmmakers, and advisors to create a series of anti-racist education videos based on the survey findings of 500 Manitobans about their experiences with racism in the province. You can watch the videos on YouTube or read more about the project here. 

Dr. Lam is interested in innovative approaches to conducting research and mobilizing knowledge, including arts-based research. In 2018, she created a board game, Refugee Journeys, which is an educational tool designed to promote discussions about newcomer integration in Canada. The game has been featured on CBC radio, in the Columbus Museum of Art, in Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, and has been used for Peace Days Winnipeg. She wrote about the game for The Conversation and also was interviewed about the game for an article on Deconstructing Privilege. She also used the game as part of the data collection process for her dissertation.