Author: Susan O'Donnell

We post regular project updates on our RAVEN Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RAVENUNB/

Our *new* RAVEN friends group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/994336474290377) is where we will share not only the RAVEN project updates but also news from Canada and other countries about environmental issues of interest to activists in New Brunswick. If you like our RAVEN friends group page, you’ll see the posts in your news feed. Every friend of RAVEN is welcome to post to this group.

RAVEN is a partner with the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts. Our event on April 24, 7pm, with Bruce Campbell and Len Falkenstein is the opening act of Mayworks! Partners for that event also include the NB Media Co-op, Council of Canadians, Westminster Books and the Fredericton Public Library.

This event is in Fredericton. RAVEN is also hosting events in Edmundston, Saint John and online. Check out the full RAVEN Earth Week calendar.

Earth Day was April 22. The RAVEN project has lined up a series of events later this week in Edmundston, Fredericton, Saint John and online. Our partners include the NB Media Co-op, Mayworks Festival, Council of Canadians Fredericton and Saint John, the Saint John Free Public Library, the Fredericton Public Library, Westminster Books and others. Hope you can join us!

• April 23, Edmundston, public discussion and book launch, 4pm
• April 24, online, music video contest winners, noon
• April 24, Fredericton, book launch, play reading, public discussion, 7pm
• April 25, Fredericton, RAVEN research panel, 1pm
• April 25, online, presentation and public discussion, 5pm
• April 26, Saint John, book launch and public discussion, 3pm
• April 27, Saint John, March for Tomorrow’s Jobs, 1pm

• April 26, Saint John, 3pm: Free Public Library, Central Branch Bruce Campbell book launch, The Lac Mégantic Rail Disaster: Public Betrayal, Justice Denied, (details here), followed by a public discussion on: Rail transport and safety for jobs, communities and the environment.
• RAVEN partners for this event: the NB Media Co-op, Council of Canadians, Saint John Free Public Library

April 25, 1pm: RAVEN research panel, University of New Brunswick Fredericton, Marshall D’Avery Hall (the education faculty building at the top of the hill). Room 328.

This is RAVEN’s opportunity to highlight how UNB students are working with the team on different studies related to rural action and voices for the environment. The presentations will be a mix of completed work and research in progress. Each presentation will be about 10 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of discussion. Panel presentations:

1pm: Mary Aspinall, PhD candidate, UNB Sociology, will present:“Manufacturing Consent for Rural Compliance with Corporate Development” based on the team’s analysis of Brunswick News editorials. Mary will be presenting this work in June at the Canadian Sociological association annual conference. Abstract here.

1:30pm: Amy Savile, PhD candidate, UNB Sociology will present “Environmental activism in a monopoly news media setting: Social movement media in a rural Canadian province,” based on the team’s analysis (in progress) of alternative media in New Brunswick. Amy will be presenting this research with RAVEN’s Tracy Glynn at the Canadian Sociological Association conference in June. Abstract here.

2pm: Kim Reeder, UNB Masters in Environmental Management candidate, will present “Leadership and mobilization for climate change adaptation in rural communities”  based on RAVEN’s study (in progress) with municipal leaders in the northwest region of New Brunswick. You can read her abstract here. Kim will be presenting this research in June at the Environmental Studies Association of Canada conference.

2:30pm: Rowan Miller, final year undergraduate, UNB Political Science, will present a summary of the team’s work to date on a vision paper, A Just Transition to a Green Economy in Rural New Brunswick.

• April 25, 5pm: Bruce Campbell webinar. Details here.

April 24, Fredericton, 7pm Fredericton **venue changed due to flood: Conserver House, 180 St John Street** Bruce Campbell presentation and book launch, The Lac Mégantic Rail Disaster: Public Betrayal, Justice Denied (details here), PLUS a reading of Lac/Athabasca, a play by local playwright Len Falkenstein, that was inspired by the rail disaster, followed by a public discussion on: Rail transport and safety for jobs, communities and the environment. Everyone welcome!

RAVEN partners for this event: the NB Media Co-op, Mayworks Festival, Council of Canadians, Westminster Books, and the Fredericton Public Library.

• April 23, Edmundston, 4pm Café Lotus Bleu, 52 chemin Canada: Bruce Campbell book launch The Lac Mégantic Rail Disaster: Public Betrayal, Justice Denied, and public discussion (bilingue): Rail transport and safety for jobs, communities and the environment. Click here for more information. Everyone welcome! Coffee and snacks by Café Lotus Bleu, provided for everyone by RAVEN.
• RAVEN partner for this event: the NB Media Co-op

The community in Knowlesville hosted the RAVEN project today. The RAVEN team visitors – Tracy Glynn, Matt Rogers, Sabine LeBel, Daniel Tubb and Susan O’Donnell – would like to thank everyone gathered at the Knowlesville Art and Nature Centre for their hospitality.

Some members of the Knowlesville group – the South Knowlesville Community Land Trust – are busy organizing their PRAXIS project permaculture-inspired art festival scheduled for June 7 to 9, 2019. You can read all about it here.

Tell Your Rural Story, Knowlesville: A Storytelling Workshop
https://www.facebook.com/events/2264938297078942/

Do you work on land, water and air protection? Clean energy? Regenerative farming? Sustainable forestry?

Are you interested in telling your rural community’s story in a collaborative way?

Learn about storytelling methods, photovoice (photography and storytelling), cellphilming (taking films with cell phones) and participatory video.

Where: The Knowlesville Art and Nature Centre
When: Saturday, March 30 at 3:00pm

Hosted by Rural Action & Voices for the Environment (RAVEN). 

Participants must be 19 years or older.

This project has been reviewed by the Research Ethics Board of the University of New Brunswick and is on file as REB 2018-099.

For more information, contact Tracy at raven.unb@gmail.com. 

A new book: The Great Trees of New Brunswick, 2nd edition, authored by RAVEN’s Tracy Glynn and co-author David Palmer will be published by Goose Lane in May. The NB Media Co-op published a video with the authors discussing why they wrote the book and their favourite trees. The video was edited by RAVEN’s Shanthi Bell and produced by RAVEN partner Sophie Lavoie. Looking forward to the book launch! Here’s the link to the video.

Dr. David Hofmann, UNB Sociology, a member of the RAVEN team, is contributing his expertise on social networking analysis to the RAVEN project. David’s other research, separate from RAVEN, is investigating terrorism and political violence, charismatic leadership, right-wing extremism, apocalyptic and millenarian groups, and criminal & illicit networks.

Mark your calendars – David will be the presenter for the final Rural Issues Workshop this academic year at UNB, 4-5:30 pm on Thursday, April 11. The workshops are held in room 202 of the UNB Forestry and Geology Building, 2 Bailey Dr., Fredericton.

Dr. Hofmann’s talk for the Rural Issues Workshop, entitled “Right-wing and Anti-government Extremism in Rural New Brunswick and Nova Scotia” is data-driven presentation that will provide attendees with a conceptual introduction to the history of right-wing extremism in Canada, context for the explosive growth in right-wing, ultra-nationalist, and hate movements in Canada in the last 5 years, and will introduce and explain preliminary data on the presence and extent of right-wing extremism and hate groups in the Maritimes. This research is part of a large, multi-year grant funded by Public Safety Canada (led by Dr. Barbara Perry), where Dr. Hofmann is the lead-researcher of the team tasked with investigating right-wing extremism in the Maritimes.

Members of the group Sussex Area for Frack Free Environment (SAFE) hosted members of the RAVEN team on March 16: Tracy Glynn, Casey Burkholder, Matt Rogers, Chris George, Daniel Tubb. The group is interested to develop a “Faces of Fracking” project together.

In the meantime, SAFE is busy hosting a speaker series. Their guest speaker on March 27 is Jim Emberger, NB Anti-Shale Gas Alliance.

RAVEN’s Susan O’Donnell and Matt Rogers engaged with more than 50 environmental educators today at the Sustainability Education Alliance (SEA) workshop “Nurturing Connections with Nature” in New Maryland. The event featured informative guest speakers, including educators from Listuguj First Nation in Quebec (near Campbellton, NB) who shared info about their innovative outdoor education program with Mi’kmaq language teaching. At today’s workshop there was plenty of time for networking, including meeting up with people we met at the SEA Art and Sustainability workshop in Moncton in October last year, where several RAVEN researchers made presentations about their work.

SEA is a program of the NB Environmental Network (NBEN). The event today marked exactly six months since the RAVEN project was launched. NBEN staff from Moncton came to Fredericton to our launch event in September. Shortly afterward RAVEN applied to be part of the NBEN and we were accepted as associate members. Our affiliation with the NBEN has been vital to our development as a project – through the network we’ve met important contacts and new collaborators. The information shared at NBEN events and meetings has shaped our direction and priorities for action. Thank you NBEN for your support of RAVEN and everything you do for environmental groups in NB!

Four members of the RAVEN team at UNB will be representing the project at the biggest academic conference in Canada: the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences, held this year at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in June. All four will be presenting their research at the Canadian Sociological Association (CSA) annual conference. Click here to read the abstracts of the presentations.

PhD candidate Mary Aspinall, UNB Sociology, will be presenting: “Manufacturing Consent for Rural Compliance with Corporate Development,” based on her analysis of Brunswick News editorials. Mary will also be making a presentation from her work at the Canadian Communication Association conference at the Congress.

Sociology PhD candidate Amy Savile and PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies Tracy Glynn will be co-presenting: “Environmental activism in a monopoly news media setting: Social movement media in a rural Canadian province,” based on their analysis of alternative media in New Brunswick. Amy will also be making a separate presentation at the CSA conference related to her thesis work.

Susan O’Donnell, adjunct professor in Sociology, will be presenting: “Rural communities adapting to climate change: a socio-political analysis,” based on RAVEN’s study in collaboration with the Northwest Regional Service Commission. Susan is working with UNB Masters in Environmental Management student and RAVEN research assistant Kim Reeder on that study.

We are keen to complete these studies and share our research in June. Some of this research will be ready to share with the public during RAVEN’s planned Earth Week events at the end of April 2019.

RAVEN’s application to join the New Brunswick Environmental Network (NBEN) as an associate member has been approved by the NBEN board. It will be formally approved by the NBEN members at their 2019 AGM. Since making our application in November 2018 to join the NBEN, RAVEN has been actively involved in several NBEN events and caucus groups. We are pleased and proud to be a member of such a dynamic, important umbrella organization that brings together more than 100 environmental groups across the province.

Today the UNB Research Ethics Board (REB) approved RAVEN’s application for a modification of its research protocol. This gives our team the green light to conduct the new research planned with the additional funding from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF).

RAVEN research assistant Mary Aspinall’s abstract was accepted for presentation at the Canadian Communication Association (CCA) Annual Conference at the University of British Columbia in June 2019. Mary, a PhD Candidate in Sociology, conducted her research in Autumn 2018 with RAVEN lead investigator Susan O’Donnell. Mary’s abstract: “Editorials, rural invisibly and resource extraction in a monopoly news media environment,” is one result of RAVEN’s study of Brunswick News editorials.

RAVEN’s Tracy Glynn, lecturer at St. Thomas University, is inviting the public to join her Environmental Praxis class and STU Students for Sustainability at any of the following guest lectures happening this semester at 4:00pm at George Martin Hall, Room 207, St. Thomas University, Fredericton.

Thurs, Jan. 24 – Marie Maltais, UNB Art Centre, “Using Art to Create Dialogue about Environmental Issues.”

Thurs, Jan. 31 – Jim Emberger, NB Anti-Shale Gas Alliance, on the status of shale gas in New Brunswick and his organization’s work to transition to a clean economy.

Tues, Feb. 12 – Jenn Wambolt, Wil-Doo Community Bike Club, on bringing together newcomer, indigenous and local youth living in Fredericton’s north side.

Tues, Feb. 19 – Sabine LeBel, Professor, UNB Culture and Media Studies, on “QueeringArt Education for theEnvironment.”

Thurs, March 21 – Edee Klee, Hayes Urban Teaching Farm, on efforts to foster a new generation of farmers in a future of climate change.

Tues, March 28 – Christy Rust, Save Officer’s Square, on the grassroots movement to save old trees and heritage in downtown Fredericton.

RAVEN is pleased to announce that we hired four UNB students for the Winter 2019 term:

• Amy Savile, PhD candidate in Sociology
• Chris George, PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Kim Reeder, Masters candidate in Environmental Management
• Rowan Miller, final year undergrad student in Political Science

In addition, Shanthi Bell, final year undergrad student in Psychology and Media Arts and Cultures, and Tracy Glynn, a member of the core research staff and PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies, will be returning for the Winter term.

Welcome! We are excited to be working together.

RAVEN’s Tracy Glynn and Susan O’Donnell made a presentation today to students in the St. Thomas University Migmaq-Wolastoqey Bachelor of Social Work program. We were invited by the lecturer, Chris George, for his class, Introduction to Research Methods. Tracy and Susan spoke about the monopoly news situation in New Brunswick, the need for alternative media, and the importance of Indigenous voices being heard on environmental issues. We described RAVEN as an activist research project and presented our first video produced by the NB Media Co-op, featuring Ron Tremblay, Wolastoq Grand Council Chief.

PhD candidate and RAVEN research assistant Mary Aspinall is leading a study of Brunswick News editorials focused on rural issues. Her work is using content analysis methodology. Mary’s abstract, Looking for the invisible: Analyzing latent content in the news media was accepted for presentation at The Qualitatives conference to be held in May 2019 in Fredericton. We look forward to your presentation Mary!

We are grateful to the UNB Faculty of Education for giving RAVEN an office space in Marshall D’Avery Hall. We will use the space primarily as a meeting room and hot-desk location for RAVEN graduate student research assistants who need a place to work. Our RAVEN undergrad students are working in a new shared office in the Sociology Department in Tilley Hall. Thanks to all for helping make this happen (space is at a premium at UNB).

Graduate Student Research Assistant (GSRA) Position Available for Masters or PhD Student(s)

The project RAVEN (Rural Action and Voices for the Environment) will be hiring one or more graduate student research assistants (RA) for the winter and fall terms.

Timeline:

• Winter term: 10hpw for 16 weeks, Jan. 7 to April 26, 2019
• Summer term: 10hpw for 17 weeks, May 7 to August 30, 2019
• A student can work fewer hours upon request.
• Salary: Masters student, $28 per hour; PhD student, $32 per hour
  

• December 5, midnight: application deadline
• December 6, 7: phone interviews with candidates screened in
• December 7-10: reference checks
• December 11: candidate(s) selected, paperwork for hiring submitted
• January 7, 2019 first meeting for winter term, work begins

The RAs will be members of the core team, supervised by one of the team members listed on the RAVEN people page:

The RA work will include participating in regular individual and team meetings and assisting the project investigators on a range of studies using qualitative methodologies. Information about RAVEN including a link to a statement of its principles and actions is available on the project site:

We will be screening applications for the following requirements:

• experience working on a research project at UNB or elsewhere
• familiarity with social science, education and / or arts theories and approaches
• have written term papers or other publications using critical theoretical analysis
  
  

Optional additional skills and experience that would be a plus:

• experience working in solidarity with Indigenous peoples
• experience working in a rural setting in New Brunswick
• experience as champion or activist on environmental issues
• experience with NVivo or other qualitative analysis software
• experience with production or analysis of video
• experience working in a bilingual environment
  

To apply for this position, prepare a cover letter that includes the following points:

• Summary of experience and skills listed above, required and optional
• Experience, if any, working on a research project with a large team
• What stage you are at in your graduate work
• What terms (winter or summer or both) you want to work with RAVEN
• Other jobs (TA, RA, other) you will be working during the terms requested
• Name of your thesis supervisor who will be contacted for a reference

Note: we strongly suggest that students check with their thesis supervisor before applying for this position; the supervisors will be contacted for a reference.

Send your cover letter, a copy of all your graduate academic transcripts, a past term paper or other writing sample, and your CV to:

Susan O’Donnell, Researcher and Adjunct Professor, UNB Sociology: susanodo@unb.ca

This position is covered by the Collective Agreement negotiated between PSAC on behalf of the Union of Graduate Student Workers (UGSW) Local 60550, and UNB. The University of New Brunswick and the Public Service Alliance of Canada are committed to Employment Equity.

RAVEN applied to be an associate member of the New Brunswick Environmental Network (NBEN). We participated with many other environmental groups around the province at the NBEN annual meeting. At the Nov. 17 event in New Maryland, we had the opportunity to learn about other groups’ current issues, priorities, tools at strategic approaches to tackling pressing environmental challenges.

RAVEN participated in a community summit organized by the St. John River Society and WWF Canada. The event was held at the Charlotte St. Arts Centre in Fredericton on Nov. 6 and The Ville in Marysville on Nov. 7. The Marysville meeting brought together dozens of environmental and community groups working on issues involving the river. At that event, Susan O’Donnell spoke about the RAVEN project. She also spoke about the importance of giving the Wolastoq back its name, a request made by the Wolastoq Grand Council.

Four members of the RAVEN team at UNB participated in “The Art of Sustainability: Education through Arts-Based Methods” event in Moncton in October. Sabine LeBel delivered the thought-provoking keynote address, “Queering Art Education for the Environment.” Matt Rogers shared the work of RAVEN and how participatory video can be used to tell rural stories. Tracy Glynn shared a photovoice project on women and mining in Indonesia. The conference was organized by the NB Environmental Network’s Sustainable Education Alliance (NBEN-SEA).

RAVEN is excited to begin collaboration with another research network, ECHO (Environment, Community, Health Observatory). The ECHO Network is investigating social and environmental change in resource-rich regions in Canada. Leading the Network is Margot Parkes (University of Northern British Columbia) and Sandra Allison (Northern Health), along with researchers from other universities, including Université de Moncton’s Céline Surette and Julie Forgues. A key ECHO network partner is the New Brunswick Environmental Network (NBEN). ECHO’s New Brunswick case study aims to use arts-based tools, such as photovoice, to study the cumulative environmental and health impacts of resource development in locations of the province such as Belledune. The next ECHO Network Annual Meeting is happening in Moncton on May 27-31, 2019. RAVEN will be there!

RAVEN contracted Jesse Fiddler from Sioux Lookout, Ontario, to design a logo for our project. RAVEN primary investigator Susan O’Donnell had worked with Jesse on Susan’s previous project, First Nations Innovation. We are pleased that Jesse created a beautiful design capturing various aspects of rural New Brunswick and RAVEN, including a trickster image. We are using the logo starting today. Thank you Jesse!

The RAVEN research team at the University of New Brunswick wants to collaborate with rural champions working on land, water and air protection; clean and renewable energy; regenerative farming; and sustainable forestry and fishing. We are looking for rural New Brunswickers who are interested in telling the stories of their communities as part of a research and media production project. As a participant, you will receive training on creating and editing photographs, cellphilms and/or video; learn how to tell effective stories about your communities; have your media showcased on the websites of the NB Media Co-op and RAVEN, Youtube and on social media; and have opportunities to collaborate with rural advocates and media-makers from across New Brunswick. For more information, contact: raven.unb@gmail.com.

The NB Media Co-op will be producing a series of videos with land defenders, woodlot owners, farmers and rural champions, in collaboration with RAVEN. Want to go on camera and highlight your work on making rural New Brunswick a thriving place to live? If yes, the NB Media Co-op can work with RAVEN to produce a video at the UNB Media Lab in Fredericton. Contact us: raven.unb@gmail.com

The UNB news blog featured our RAVEN project today. Quotes from RAVEN partners:

“The NBMC looks forward to its collaboration with this project, which will certainly have a great impact on the production and dissemination of news stories on and about rural communities in our province,” says Sophie M. Lavoie of the NBMC Editorial Board.

“The goal is to create and share media relating to those residing in rural communities,” says Lynn Poole-Hughes, CEO of JEDI. “The content developed aims to shed light on the challenges, successes and everyday life of those whose voices are not typically heard. Some of the voices will be Indigenous Peoples. JEDI is proud to partner on and support this initiative. We are certain that Dr. O’Donnell will do great work in realizing her project’s goals.”

[Note: we’re looking forward as well to working with the NBMC and JEDI!]

The full blog is here.

Almost 60 people participated in the RAVEN launch event on September 13. RAVEN team members, our project partners JEDI and NBMC, Indigenous and rural champions and collaborators, as well as researchers from Université de Moncton and Dalhousie University, spoke during the event. The food table included traditional bannock from St. Mary’s First Nation and fresh produce from the Hayes Urban Teaching Farm.

The RAVEN launch was part of the Rural Issues Workshop series hosted by Daniel Tubb (UNB Anthropology and RAVEN co-investigator) and Tom Beckley (UNB Forestry and Environmental Management). Tom was also the discussant for the paper we presented at the workshop.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the launch! Speakers included…

Wolastoq Grand Council Chief Ron Tremblay who opened the launch event,

Edee Klee, New Brunswick Community Harvest Gardens,

Raissa Marks, NB Environmental Network; Rick Doucett, NB Federation of Woodlot Owners; Shawn McGrath, YSC Forest Products Marketing Board,

and David Perley, UNB Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre, RAVEN collaborator.

At our first RAVEN meeting, the team agreed on a statement of principles and actions that you can read here. The statement also includes the RAVEN objectives and how we are defining a rural community.

RAVEN hired two new students for the Autumn term:

• Shanthi Bell, a fourth-year student in Psychology and Media Arts and Cultures
• Mary Aspinall, a PhD candidate in Sociology.

Welcome Shanthi and Mary!

In addition, Tracy Glynn, a member of the core research staff and PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies, will be returning for this term.

Today the UNB Research Ethics Board (REB) gave RAVEN its approval to conduct the research outlined in our application for funding to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). We are pleased that we can start the research work in September.

RAVEN is pleased to announce that the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF) has awarded our project with a grant that will allow us to conduct additional work, including with our new partner, the Joint Economic Development Initiative (JEDI). Thank you NBIF!

RAVEN’s first staff member, Tracy Glynn, began work today. Tracy is a doctoral candidate in the UNB Interdisciplinary Studies program. We are pleased to have her on the project. Tracy is an expert on photovoice and has extensive experience in the environmental movement in New Brunswick. Tracy will be working part-time during the summer to speak with social justice and environmental groups in the province and share information about the RAVEN project. We are starting to build the RAVEN network. Welcome Tracy!

RAVEN principal investigator Susan O’Donnell chaired the panel session “Journalism, Protest, and Public Opinion” at the Canadian Communication Association (CCA) annual conference at the University of Regina on May 31. As part of her panel presentation: “Indigenous Resistance to Resource Extraction in New Brunswick’s Monopoly News Environment,” Susan announced the RAVEN project due to start the following week.

You can download Susan’s slides for her 2018 CCA presentation here.

The RAVEN project received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council from 2018 until 2022, with partner the NB Media Co-op. Thank you SSHRC! The funding will allow us to build capacity for alternative digital media production and distribution by rural champions. Based at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, the new team will formally launch RAVEN in September 2018.