Digital storytelling & (re)connection
At CIEDAR, our mission is to ensure that Indigenous stories are not just heard, but celebrated. We use digital community engagement, knowledge sharing, and research to reconnect with these invaluable narratives. Join us in this transformative journey to learn more about our social media series, podcast, and online health campaign.
Output Highlights
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@ciedar_7
We ensure that Indigenous stories are heard and celebrated through digital community engagement, knowledge sharing, and research. Via Instagram and Facebook, CIEDAR has amplified Indigenous knowledges and excellence by discussing many themes, such as Ecological Kinship, Language Revitalization, and Indigenous Education, Traditions, and Cultural Wisdom.
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(Re)story Podcast
CIEDAR completed an award-nominated four-part podcast series called “(Re)story Podcast”. It is the storytelling of resilience and thrivance by Indigenous Peoples in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand.
The podcast series is a unique opportunity to share the experiences and stories of Indigenous Peoples in their own words in (re)storying the pandemic. In a time marked by isolation, we witnessed so many Indigenous communities (re)storying their connection to land, to community, and to self. In these podcasts, we take the time to elevate stories of Indigenous thrivance, resistance, and love that happened over the past three years. The (Re)Story Podcast is on major podcast platforms such as Spotify and Apple podcast. CIEDAR’s (Re)Story was a selected audio work finalist for the ImagineNATIVE Films and Arts Festival.
#BeadandThrive Social Media Campaign
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The #BeadAndThrive social media campaign invests in building cultural skills and knowledge among Indigenous Peoples to use as they navigate their lives. CIEDAR has sent out over 700 introductory beading kits to Indigenous individuals and organizations across Canada and has facilitated in-person and online beading workshops by
Partnering with Ottawa Art Gallery Youth Council for a beading event in November 2023;
Leading a workshop at the Gathering Our Voices Indigenous Youth Leadership Training Conference in Vancouver in March 2023;
Hosting Bead in the Park, a beading park event co-hosted with Breanna Dias in August 2022.
CIEDAR submitted a case study manuscript, ‘#BeadAndThrive: Using Social Media for Indigenous Community Engagement’ for a book chapter in SAGE Research Methods Cases: Diversifying and Decolonizing Research.
Bead and Thrive with Ottawa Art Gallery
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CIEDAR collaborated with the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) to host a series of beading workshops and projects, which were led by OAG’s educators in the Studio.
OAG offers subsidized creative workshops and other programming for community groups across the Ottawa-Gatineau region. Their In-Reach program, including the collaboration with CIEDAR’s #BeadandThrive, gives community groups access to their Studio space to host their own events and workshops.
Bead in the Park
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In collaboration with Ulkatcho bead artist Breanna Deis, CIEDAR hosted the Bead in the Park Event at Central Park in July 31st, 2022, offering beading guidance, food and drinks, and community bonding.
Gathering Our Voices
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In March 2023, CIEDAR led a workshop at the Gathering Our Voices Indigenous Youth Leadership Training Conference in Vancouver.
#BeadandThrive Manuscript
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This textbook chapter discusses #BeadAndThrive Indigenous Health Social Media Campaign, an initiative by the Coronavirus Variants Rapid Response Network’s Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research (CIEDAR) pillar aimed at pandemic preparedness and improving Indigenous cultural skills. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many communities were unable to connect in person. CIEDAR identified the potential in distributing beading kits to Indigenous individuals and using social media as a way to connect individuals across the country. Creating a space for Indigenous people to (re)connect to culture-based healing practices can simultaneously improve overall well-being while tackling the harmful impacts of colonialism. #BeadAndThrive initiated as a community engagement project rooted in qualitative research methods, with the intent of conducting thematic discourse analysis after data collection. Community members were asked “How have you thrived during the pandemic?” as part of the campaign. The research team planned to collect data from interviews and surveys from individuals who submitted their thrivance stories to CIEDAR through social media. However, without the team’s having previously established close relationships with Indigenous communities online, very few thrivance stories were submitted, and the research could not proceed as planned. Instead of continuing as a project based in research, CIEDAR transitioned #BeadAndThrive into a community-building project that focuses on strengthening relationships with community members through social media platforms, highlighting the iterative nature of research.
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Click here to read the manuscript.
Land-based Learning with Mary
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During a two-month Instagram series, CIEDAR’s Research Manager, Mary Jessome, invited CIEDAR’s social media community to practice ecological kinship by explaining how introducing oneself to the land allows for connection with oneself, others, and the world around you.
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Visit our Instagram to check out the series with Mary.
Language Revitalization
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Our focus is on the Cree language (N dialect) and the Anishinaabemowin language (eastern dialect from Wikwemikoong Unceded Territory), and sharing the differences between the dialects, consonants, pronunciation, and short and long vowels.
Via our Instagram, we shared how to introduce oneself, count to ten, and describe body parts, animals, months, and days of the week, along with other simple phrases and words in Cree and Anishinaabemowin. We also shared different translations in Cree syllabics, the written form of Cree and Anishinaabemowin, along with the phonetic spelling so that followers can try to speak at home. We aim to engage them by asking what words or themes they’d like to see in the following weeks.
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Outputs
Métis Nation-Saskatchewan Tea and Talks
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In March 2024, CIEDAR partnered with Métis Nation-Saskatchewan to facilitate a Tea and Talks session, inviting participants to explore the therapeutic and cultural significance of beading. Attendees received beading kits and shared personal stories, highlighting how creative practices can foster mental wellness and community bonds.
Stitching Together Knowledges Symposium
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On March 27, 2025, Cluster for Indigenous Engagement Development and Research Pandemic Preparedness (CIEDAR P2) hosted Stitching Together Knowledges: Indigenous Traditions, Stories, and Research. This one-day symposium highlighted how culture keeps Indigenous people healthy by enhancing their individual and collective well-being and connecting them with ancestral practices. Knowledge was shared by Indigenous and allied scholars and community members who have dedicated their careers to understanding and promoting Indigenous health through the revitalization of cultural traditions.
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Read the Symposium Report here.
Watch the Storytelling Video here.