University of Victoria Indigenous Law Program engages nationally during a pandemic
2020 was a year of pivoting, and that was no exception for the Castlemain Team. In early 2020, the team was working with the University of Victoria Indigenous Law Program to host five in-person National Conversations and community engagements across Canada. As the engagement team was working to finalize workplans, the global COVID-19 pandemic was declared and all in-person gathering, and travel was restricted.
“This conversation, hosted during a global pandemic, did not happen the way it was originally envisioned. The engagement did, however, continue to support an important dialogue regarding the National Centre of Indigenous Laws.”
Being the nimble and adaptive team, Castlemain’s engagement team quickly pivoted to look for ways to encourage virtual and online engagement tools. This led to:
- Development of the National Engagement Hub, which enabled a safe and inclusive space for national and international engagement, debate, learning, and public education regarding Indigenous laws.
- Hosting of a three-hour forum in November 2020 with a select group of Indigenous experts, scholars and leaders currently engaged in work relating to Indigenous laws.
- Developing a two minute video to promote the engagement which received more than 400 views.
- Hosting four House Post virtual engagement events and posting videos on National Engagement Hub:
First House Post event included more than 900 registrants and approximately 200 participants via Zoom and 30 via YouTube live stream. The video posted to the Hub was watched more than 800 times.
Second House Post event included 450 registrants, and 74 video reviews.
Third House Post event included over 200 registered participants and 100 people watching the event live over Zoom, and 47 views of the video.
Fourth House Post event included over 500 registered participants and 150 attending, with an additional 65 online views of the video.
