3rd Annual Conference on Ethical Communications: Panel & Workshop on Indigenous Professional Communications Practice

Chaseten Remillard et al. was awarded funding from the SSHRC for the Third Annual Conference on Communication Ethics, involving hosting a sharing circle and a practitioner workshop.

As part of the Royal Road Third Annual Conference on Communication Ethics, two face-to-face sessions on Indigenous Professional Communication Practice are planned. Both sessions will be held at Royal Roads University on February 24 2023.

The first session will be a Sharing Circle with four Indigenous professional communicators. The objective of the Sharing Circle is to encourage a community of practice amongst Indigenous professional communicators, as they share experiences, knowledge, and expertise. Indigenous communication infrastructures create spaces for Indigenous voices to counter stubborn colonial discourses. Professional Indigenous communicative practices unsettle, resist, and stand unique from those existent and colonizing communicative practices that constrain dialogue.

The second session will be a Practitioner Workshop led by Indigenous communication professionals and will be open to professional communicators, academics, students, and the public. The objective of the Practitioner Workshop is to provide opportunity for Indigenous and non-Indigenous practitioners, academics, students, and the public to discuss practical solutions to communication challenges and opportunities for collaboration related to professional communication and Indigenous communities and organizations.

Creating a community of practice amongst Indigenous and non-Indigenous communication professionals working in government, health, and corporate (amongst other) organizations may more readily promote better dialogical communication that supports cultural safety for Indigenous people and counter anti-Indigenous racism.

There are four main audiences for the project.

The public will gain insight on how anti-Indigenous racism is supported and challenged through communication practice.

Undergraduate and graduate students of professional communication will have the opportunity to critically assess their own prejudices, biases, and assumptions about what constitutes true and equitable dialogue in professional communications.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous academics can form partnerships; conversations between researchers and practitioners and new approaches to training and teaching can be fomented.

Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous professional communication practitioners will have the opportunity to discuss and reflect on their own practice. A strong community of practice can potentially be developed, one that encourages respect and co-creation.

The project has six expected outcomes: 1) An expanded public engagement on ethical communication for an audience of 500 to 1000 (or more) of Indigenous and non-Indigenous professional communication practitioners, students and academics of communication studies, and the public. 2) An online graphic recording of the Sharing Circle that provides a timely overview of the collaborative conversation on Indigenous professional communication practice. 4) Online recordings of all sessions, including the Practitioner Workshop. 5) An enriched set of organizational practices through which participants will leave with ideas of how to positively transform their communication practices for better ethical results. 6) An enhancement of communication pedagogy towards better inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and communication practice. 6) New ways of thinking about communication practices within Indigenous and non-Indigenous contexts and between Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations.