Indigenous Perspectives on Water Security in Saskatchewan, Canada

The term “water security” continues to gain traction in water resources literature with broad application to human health, water quality, and sustainability of water supply. These western science applications focus almost exclusively on the material value of water for human uses and activities. This paper offers voice to other interpretations of water security based on semi-structured interviews with Indigenous participants representing varied backgrounds and communities from Saskatchewan, a Canadian prairie province. The results indicate that water security from an Indigenous perspective embraces much more than the material value of water. Five themes emerged from this research that speak to a more holistic framing of water security to include water as a life form, water and the spirit world, women as water-keepers, water and human ethics, and water in Indigenous culture. This broader interpretation provides a more nuanced understanding of water security, which serves to enrich the water security narrative while educating western science.

Discourses, Practices, and Realities of Multilingualism in Higher Education

This Perspectives article explores the changing sociolinguistic realities of Canadian postsecondary institutions focusing on tensions and contradictions around two prominent discourses: internationalization and indigenization of higher education. In doing so, we focus on a common challenge: English dominance in Canadian universities. This linguistic hegemony persists in a time of Truth and Reconciliation and indigenization of education as well as within the intensified discourse of internationalization in the new global political economy. As professors of language education in two prairie province universities, we draw on examples from our own contexts and consider the potential mismatches between positive discourses about multilingualism and practices and structural realities that do not support on-the-ground multilingualism. We situate our discussion within a larger social, political economic context of contemporary colonialism and capitalism. Our goal is to introduce a critique of the ongoing role Canadian universities play in producing settler colonialism and English monolingualism as well as to provide suggestions to engage more meaningfully with multilingualism in today’s higher education across Canada. Cet article de Perspectives explore l’évolution des réalités sociolinguistiques des établissements postsecondaires canadiens en mettant l’accent sur les tensions et les contradictions qui entourent deux discours très répandus : l’internationalisation et l’autochtonisation de l’enseignement supérieur. Dans ce cadre, nous nous concentrons sur un défi commun : la dominance de la langue anglaise dans les universités canadiennes. Cette hégémonie linguistique persiste à une époque caractérisée par des notions de Vérité et Réconciliation et d’autochtonisation de l’éducation, et elle s’inscrit également dans un discours intensifié d’internationalisation au sein de la nouvelle économie politique mondiale. Professeures de langues dans deux universités différentes des Prairies canadiennes, nous nous appuyons sur des exemples tirés de nos propres contextes et nous penchons sur les possibilités d’inadéquation entre des discours positifs sur le multilinguisme et des pratiques et des réalités structurelles qui ne soutiennent pas le multiculturalisme sur le terrain. Nous inscrivons notre discussion dans le contexte plus large du colonialisme et du capitalisme contemporains. Notre objectif est d’entamer une critique du rôle que les universités canadiennes continuent de jouer dans la production d’un colonialisme de peuplement et d’un monolinguisme anglophone, et également de fournir des suggestions en faveur d’un engagement plus significatif envers le multiculturalisme dans l’enseignement supérieur actuel à travers le Canada.

A Survey Exploring the Perceptions of Academic Librarians as Researchers

This study examines the perceptions of academic librarian research at six Canadian prairie-province universities. An understanding of how librarian research is viewed and valued at academic institutions can lay the groundwork to improve the state of librarian research in the future. Surveys were sent to librarians and non-librarian faculty in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences at these universities to gather information about how both groups perceive academic librarian research. Thirty librarians and 30 non-librarian faculty responded to the survey. In general, research was viewed as an important and positive aspect of librarianship, though one that was of secondary importance to service. Non-librarian faculty largely lacked awareness about librarian research, and librarians reported being unsupported in their research needs by their institutions. Librarian research collaboration with non-librarian faculty was of high interest to both groups of respondents. The results of this survey highlight the importance of research to academic librarianship while indicating that there is room for further improvement by raising the profile of librarian research outside of the library, fostering collaborative research projects, and providing librarians with the support necessary to engage in research activities.