​ENACTING INTERSECTIONALITY IN SPORT AND RECREATION

The purpose of this project is to offer practical, accessible, context-specific processes that aim to (re)build sport and recreation systems in ways that rigorously counteract decades of exclusion and inequitable access. Working with a curated group of practitioners, policy-makers, and equity-advisors, this three-year project is exploring the following question: "What new recreation policies and practices might emerge if we focused less on including particular 'kinds of people' and more on removing the structural and administrative barriers that currently shape our movement cultures and ambitions?"
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2024/2025 Curriculum

This 12-month curriculum is intended to redefine how participants practice JEDIA (justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility) in sport and recreation environments. 

*Please Note: Applications for the 2024/2025 cohort are currently closed. Session recordings and resources will be posted here when they are publicly available. Members of the 2024/2025 cohort can access session resources using THIS LINK.
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Diasporas and Sport (September 19, 2024)
In this session, Dr. Janelle Joseph will discuss the concept of diasporas (dispersal from/ongoing connection to homeland) and why it is important to consider for participation in recreation, leisure, sport, and physical activity in Canada. We will discuss what diaspora has to do with race, racialization, and anti-racism in sport.

Applying Your Learnings (October 17, 2024) 
In this session, participants will apply their learnings about diasporas and sport. Specifically, they will discuss how the information made them feel implicated and/or affirmed, how these learnings might shift their personal and professional activities, and what organizational changes could be made to better address race and racism in recreation and sport settings.  

Indigenous Health Resurgence and Settler Allyship (November 21, 2024)
In this session, Dr. Tricia McGuire-Adams will speak about what Indigenous health resurgence is and why it matters to recreation, sport, and physical activity. She will also discuss what roles non-Indigenous settler allies have in Indigenous resurgence.

Applying Your Learnings (December 19, 2024) 
In this session, participants will apply their learnings about Indigenous health resurgence and settler allyship. Specifically, they will discuss how the information made them feel implicated and/or affirmed, how these learnings might shift their personal and professional activities, and what organizational changes could be made to strengthen settler allyship and better support Indigenous health resurgence. 

Anti-Trans Participation Policies and Protecting/Policing Women's Bodies (January 23, 2025)
In this session, Dr. Danielle Peers will offer intersectional research-based understandings that will support practitioners to respond to the recent wave of trans-exclusive questions, demands, and policies. We will introduce affirming terminology, discuss research-based responses to common claims, and demonstrate how trans-exclusive sport legislation is an extension of historical and contemporary attempts to control women’s bodies, rather than an attempt to protect women. We will conclude with discussion of how recent anti-trans legislation, inside and outside of sport, is likely to impact recreational participation, and brainstorm creative practices and responses for the range of situations experienced by participants.

Applying Your Learnings (February 20, 2025) 
In this session, participants will apply their learnings about non-punitive approaches to participant safety. Specifically, they will discuss how the information made them feel implicated and/or affirmed, how these learnings might shift their personal and professional activities, and what organizational changes could be made to better support participant flourishing.

Anti-Racism and Coaches/Student-Athletes (March 20, 2025)
In this session, Dr. Janelle Joseph will share cross national research on anti-racism in college and university sport. Specifically, she will share findings from four studies indicate common themes of experiences of racism at interpersonal and structural levels and discuss recommendations for anti-racism at team and organizational levels.

Applying Your Learnings (April 17, 2025) 
In this session, participants will apply their learnings about anti-racism in college and university sport. Specifically, they will discuss how the information made them feel implicated and/or affirmed, how these learnings might shift their personal and professional activities, and what organizational changes could be made based on the interpersonal and structural recommendations.

Indigenous Gikendaasowin (Knowledge) About Physical Activity (May 15, 2025)
In this session, Dr. Tricia McGuire-Adams will discuss the importance of physical activity from Indigenous perspectives (focusing largely on the results from a study done with Maskwacis Nations on Nehiyaw understandings of disability, health, and wellbeing).
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Applying Your Learnings (June 19, 2025)
In this session, participants will apply their learnings about Indigenous perspectives related to physical activity. Specifically, they will discuss how the information made them feel implicated and/or affirmed, how these learnings might shift their personal and professional activities, and what organizational changes could be made using Indigenous gikendaasowin.

Disability "Inclusion" in Canadian Sport and Recreation Contexts  (July 17, 2025)
In this session, Dr. Danielle Peers will offer a complex story of historical and contemporary disability inclusion in sport and recreation.  We will discuss disability-affirming terminology and offer an overview of some of the most common contemporary stories used to frame disability (e.g., medical, rights, justice). We will discuss what Canadian disability demographics can (and cannot) tell us about (possible) disabled participants. We will trace some historical trajectories of disability inclusion/exclusion in and through sport and recreation that remain deeply relevant, and discuss how all of this can inform changes in how we can meaningfully welcome disabled people into our sport and recreation programs.

Applying Your Learnings (August 21, 2025) 
This session will provide participants with the opportunity to further apply their learnings and continue to collectively build promising policy alternatives.  

Keynote Presentation


​Keynote Citation: Eales, L., Fawaz, N., Joseph, J., Peers, D., McGuire-Adams, T., Gaudet, J. C., Bridel, W., Hall, L, Chen, C. (October, 2022). "So what do we do now?" Putting intersectionality into action. Keynote presentation at the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association Annual Conference. 
This research is supported by the SSHRC's Race, Gender, and Diversity Initiative