Earlier this month, Partnership Matters, the “Member Newsletter of Community-Campus Partnerships for Health” provided its take on the CUexpo:

MESSAGE FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Anyone doubting that community-academic partnerships and community-based participatory research is a world-wide movement would surely have been convinced at the 3rd Community-University Exposition (CUexpo) held in Victoria, BC Canada earlier this month!

Read the full article.

Many of the photos taken at CUexpo08 are appearing on Flickr. You can browse our Flickr set, or see these photos embedded in the right column of this page, or our Facebook profile. Post your own and let us know where we can find them!

Several of the videos taken at CUexpo08 this year are available on our YouTube playlist and on our Facebook page. Please feel free to comment or add your own! Contact cuenews@uvic.ca for more info.

That community is the underlying fabric of society
People bound together in common cause by their identity, place, enterprise and culture

That strong healthy resilient and sustainable communities
Improve the lives of individuals and contributes to
The betterment of all

That all elements of society have a responsibility to contribute
By listening, convening, sharing and learning
With respect, openness, honesty and action

That by mobilising our shared understanding
We more quickly and surely realize the common good

That research informs, and is challenged by practice in order
To build a more just, civil and responsible
citizenry and society

We believe that together we are wiser
May 5, 2008

At the close of the Community-University Exposition 2008 (CUexpo 2008), the largest gathering of community based researchers held to date in Canada, a new initiative was launched to support communities, their volunteers and agencies with social research. Attended by over 600 delegates from around the world, the conference drew together different organizations, from education, to community practitioners, who released a declaration that will have far-reaching effects throughout Canadian communities.

“We are excited by the prospect and a new way of working” noted Dr. David Turpin, President and Vice-Chancellor of U-Vic. “This places community as central both because of the value of knowledge that residents and their supporters hold but also for the first time it creates a stronger relationship between all of us.”

The Coalition was formed through the efforts of UQAM, Carleton University and the University of Victoria.

“The University has always been a strong proponent of, and support in this community,” notes Maureen Duncan CEO of the United Way of Greater Victoria, one of the founding members, “and I know that this is true in many other cities across Canada. It just seemed like we needed to get closer so that we can learn together and apply the understanding that our community brings along with what universities and their researchers and students can help with. It’s a win-win!”

What is strikingly different from past and present work is that the community is considered a source of knowledge and that this asset has been relatively unexploited/under exploited. Many voluntary and not-for-profit groups do know the social conditions they are facing, but do not have the capacity to assess, analyze, and present the social conditions that they wish to change.

“We are turning the equation upside down,” said Sonia Vaillancourt, Coordinator, Conseil Québecois du Loisir, and Lucie Dumais, Professor in Social Work, both members of l’Alliance de Recherche Universités-Communautés en Économie Sociale, “and it has already generated a tremendous amount of anticipation about what we can expect for the future.”

The founding organizations reflect the diversity of this unique enterprise ranging from community organizations, research institutes, agencies, and universities across Canada.

Marlene Brant Casetellano states, “A network such as this, respects the principles about aboriginal ways of knowing. Respecting the voice of the community is the starting place to all knowledge. I believe it will be embraced in our communities.”

“The value that universities offer society can be wonderfully realized through sharing to the stories, histories and present day experience of both community actors and universities,” said Budd Hall, Director of the Office of Community Based Research, University of Victoria. “For the past ten years we have worked to develop this field and this is certainly another step towards improving the social conditions in Canada.”

Al Hatton, President and CEO of United Way of Canada –Centraide Canada adds, ”We need to encourage this sharing of information between and among us in order to create social innovation and social impact. If we find a solution, then it will be available to all and that is the real value – this knowledge is the essence of a strong civil society. It is an invaluable investment that will affect business, government and all stakeholders.

We acknowledge the significant progress that humanity has made since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948, and all other subsequent enactments. This Declaration sets forth the universality of certain fundamental human rights; The rights to education, freedom of association and speech, and the right to participate in the life of the community are inherent to the rights of life with dignity.

We declare, therefore, that the right to learn, the right to know, the right to produce knowledge, and the right to access knowledge are inalienable rights for all.

We acknowledge the significance of science, research and knowledge being produced in a community-engaged manner, such that the fruits of such knowledge are available, usable and beneficial to those communities and their civil society organizations and movements. We are particularly mindful of families and communities that are excluded or marginalized in our societies.

We underscore the vast treasures of indigenous knowledge in all societies, and the associated processes of their transmission orally across generations. We recognize that knowledge has been stored in books, digitally and through cultures of dance, music, arts and dialogues.

We respect the knowledge-creation work of scientists, educators, activists, intellectuals, students, civil society organizations, and mother-tongue scholars.

We believe that now is the time to mobilize ourselves globally. Together, we are all part of building a global alliance.

Our purpose is to add value to actions across disciplines and community aspirations worldwide by:

• sharing effective practices in strengthening engagement of communities
• creating and mobilizing knowledge for human betterment
• supporting communities and groups to create healthier societies and environment
• developing new generations of community engaged scholars and community based researchers
• measuring collectively the impact of our work in our community and world
• advocating for enhanced policy and resource support

We value inclusion, integrity, commitment and freedom, and recognize that all peoples in the world are enjoined in the creation of knowledge.

We call you to action – Share the dream!