Faculty of Art
This interview is part of our ongoing series profiling students and community partners who participated in a Collaborative Cohort Project (CCP). To learn more about CCPs, check out our previous and upcoming projects.
In the fall of 2024, we offered a CCP with the First Nations Technology Council (FNTC), where members Jimmy Ho (Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs student), Xian Kostyrko Rapihana (MPPGA student), and Jonna Stewart (MA student, English Literature) worked with the FNTC research and engagement team on the BC Indigenous Leadership in Technology report. As a continuation of a Summer 2024 CCP with the FNTC, these three students began the second phase of a research project analyzing Indigenous mentorship and internship in technology or digital skills training.
In this phase, they conducted a landscape scan of training programs across Canada that support Indigenous learners, interviewed experts in Indigenous mentorship and internship programs, and presented their findings to FNTC executives and provincial government officials and other stakeholders.
Jimmy, Xian, and Jonna reflect on their experiences in the following interview.
1. Tell us about yourself and the project you worked on.
Jimmy: I am a second-year student in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs program. I have the privilege to work with the First Nations Technology Council’s research and engagement team on the very important work of Indigenous Leadership in Technology report in BC. Together with Jonna and Xian, we worked on phase 2 of the Indigenous Leadership in Technology project. We expanded on a landscape scan of training programs across Canada that supports Indigenous learners to advance into tech or tech-enabled careers. With support from the FNTC research and engagement team, we presented our findings to the FNTC executives as well as provincial government officials and other stakeholders, demonstrating that this is very important work with meaningful impact.
Xian: I am a first-year Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs student. I am Māori, Indigenous to Aotearoa-New Zealand and whakapapa (belong to) the tribes of Te Rarawa and Ngāpuhi. Working for the First Nations Technology Council, I was honoured to lead interviews corroborating recent research on Indigenous leadership, mentorship and internship training in technology. Our targeted profiles included Indigenous experts across industries, Canadian provinces and Indigenous affiliation (Māori, various First Nations, and Métis). After completing seven 30-minute interviews with my team, I summarized those interviews, picked out impactful quotes and metaphors and produced an independent executive summary of notable connections to previous research.
Jonna: I am a third-year student in the Master of English Language and Literatures program. I and my grad student collaborators had the opportunity to work with the First Nations Technology Council in support of their mission to advance Indigenous leadership in the tech sector. Jimmy and I initially collaborated on cataloguing Indigenous-led tech training available in BC and research reports covering Indigenous pedagogies and mentorship strategies for tech careers. I primarily lead the research reports with the goal of providing the FNTC with data to help support and inform their approach to their education and mentorship programs. We were fortunate to be able to extend our work with the FNTC and work with Xian to expand on our findings with the interviews he conducted with local and global Indigenous leaders.
2. What did you expect from this project? Did these expectations change by the end of the work?
Jimmy: As a non-Indigenous student who comes with an outsider perspective, and very little awareness of the rural or remote community experience, I constantly think about my own limitations and biases and about whose voices are being amplified through my work. I expected to learn more about Indigenous and remote communities and digital inequity – and I did. However, I did not think I would be drawing on the lessons and practices of relationality and community-based research methods I learned from this work and applying it to my own life and study. Working in collaboration with my graduate student colleagues and the FNTC team was critical in this learning process.
Xian: Honestly, I entered the position not knowing precisely what to think, or which skills to target for my long-term career goals. However, I am happy to say that I strengthened skills in interview strategies, collaboration and networking. Meeting and consistently using my team as a soundboard was extremely helpful in finding a direction, and finding which of my skills I needed to strengthen the most. My expectations were cultivated and harnessed by those around me, and I am very thankful for the experience.
Jonna: I had a very similar experience to Jimmy; as a settler without much prior experience in the tech field, navigating how to present our findings while maintaining a learning mindset was at times a difficult needle to thread, but it is an important skill to learn. While I expected to primarily be doing research, in extending the internship we got the opportunity to both refine our findings into internal and shareable documents and present our work to FNTC community partners and executives along with provincial government officials. Expanding beyond our initial roles provided an invaluable opportunity to grow my skill set and see how I can use my more familiar skills to tackle diverse new projects.
3. What did you find most rewarding or challenging about working on this CCP?
Jimmy: The most rewarding experience in this CCP was building connections with my fellow graduate students and the FNTC team through working together on a project that has a meaningful impact. The most challenging part for me was making sense of my own positionality within the FNTC. It’s a bit of a strange experience making strategy recommendations to Indigenous technology education professionals who have engaged with communities directly for a long time. I learned to treat the process of making recommendations more as an opportunity for dialogue rather than as serious advice.
Xian: I found that turning a research topic that may originally seem “railroaded” can turn into an extremely fulfilling experience when you integrate yourself in all aspects of the project. Work can be fulfilling in more than curiosity, but in self-expression, introversion and building deeply personal relationships.
Jonna: While I often dreaded group work in my undergrad, working collaboratively both with my fellow grad students and the FNTC team was as productive as it was rewarding. Additionally, I did not expect my time with the FNTC to be such a personally impactful experience. Beyond confirming my fervent belief that Art degrees cultivate a number of readily transferable skills, being able to use those skills, even in a small way, to help further a meaningful cause was an honour and a privilege. I am very grateful for the opportunity to listen to the wisdom and passion of the interviewees–their teachings on leading with love and care will inform my life and work for years to come.
4. How does the CCP model compare to the kinds of work you do as a graduate student?
Jimmy: Compared to my experience with similar projects I have done in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs or with the UBC Centre for Community Engaged Learning, the CCP model has similar elements of independent, proactive learning that are important for carrying out self-designed grant projects. However, it feels like someone actually cares about you succeeding in your project and that the work produces tangible benefits. Of course, I believe a large part of the positive experience is due to having amazing team members. Having financial compensation for 60-70 hours for the term helps as well, with classes or other part-time work.
Xian: Creating a real impact for future policies and the experiences of others was very different to run-of-the-mill coursework. Collaboration in the CCP model allowed me to build my own direction for my deliverables, rather than objectives set in stone by a professor.
Jonna: In my experience, Arts departments do not always prioritize opportunities for collaborative work, and academia can occasionally become an echo chamber with little relevance to the world outside it. Having the opportunity to not only work in an effective team, but also see that our work will have a real and positive impact for the FNTC and their goals, is not an experience I will soon forget.
5. Do you have any advice for future graduate students interested in joining a CCP?
Jimmy: The application process is designed to be very accessible to graduate students from diverse Arts disciplines and levels of professional experiences. Never doubt your own background if you see an opportunity offered by the Arts Amplifier that you are interested in.
Xian: Try everything, go beyond your assumptions, and make it yours.
Jonna: Don’t be afraid to try new things or roles that you think are firmly outside your chosen career path or comfort zone—you never know what might resonate or grow from that experience!