Strategic Research

In regular strategic planning, CUISR has affirmed its mission and principles and adopted five interdisciplinary strategies in settings ranging from the local through regional and national to international levels.

1. Community Sustainability
2. Social Economy and Social Relations
3. Rural-Urban Community Links
4. Indigenous Community Development
5. Community-university partnerships

These strategic directions build on and extend our research on healthy, sustainable communities—quality of life indicators, community health determinants and health policy, and community economic development— that led to the formation of CUISR to build capacity among researchers, CBOs, and citizenry.

CUISR research projects are funded largely by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), local CBOs, provincial associations, and municipal, provincial, and federal governments. CUISR’s reputation for high quality community-based participatory research (CBPR) has enabled us to diversify our funding by responding to requests from community organizations to conduct research projects for them for a fee.

Projects must fit within CUISR’s strategic directions and we generally follow the same approach as for our SSHRC projects. CUISR staff create a research team involving a student (either paid or as a practicum), a faculty advisor, and representative(s) of the community partner. The relative involvement of staff, faculty, and community partner varies project to project, but we encourage collaboration of all parties in carrying out the research from developing the research question and methods, through data collection and analysis, to dissemination. We have completed projects in a wide variety of areas including evaluations of social programs and collaborative governance initiatives; policy implementation and change tracking; poverty and quality of life indicators; and homelessness and housing.

• Community Sustainability – This is a continuation and broadening of our work on the quality of life (QoL) in Saskatoon and district. Our strategic partnerships here continue to strengthen.

The Saskatoon Quality of Life Roundtable (including City of Saskatoon, Regional Intersectoral Committee on Human Services (RICHS), the United Way of Saskatoon, and the Saskatoon Health Region) emerged out of community needs. The Roundtable had a broad governmental, public service, and NGO membership interested in developing indicators to guide public and private actions to improve the quality of life for people living in the Saskatoon area. They drew on frameworks, including a modified version of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (1996) Community Oriented Model of the Lived Environment, a web-based, software package of indicators released by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (1999) (based in part on the CMHC work), and the framework of population health indicators developed for Health Canada by Hancock, Labonte and Edwards (1998), which is premised on "quality of life" outcomes.

Today many non-governmental organizations and community groups continue to express concern over trends in poverty rates, homelessness, un/underemployment and other "markers" of declines in social program expenditures from different government levels. Recent governmental shifts of responsibility make the need for this study even greater. As well, new policies and programs can be enhanced by a scientific treatment of various QOL indicators.

We have completed six iterations of data collection (2001, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2019) to develop reliable and long-term measurements of QoL indicators for Saskatoon. To better reflect the populace, the research has consistently used three clusters of participants representing areas of High, Middle and Low socio-economic status (SES). This study represents one of the most comprehensive and detailed time-series studies of QoL at the neighbourhood level in Canada. Furthermore, the research is unique in that it has successfully employed a mixed-method approach (quantitative and qualitative). In each of the study years, data collection has involved a telephone survey, face-to-face interviews, focus groups and discussions with key policy informants. In addition, we have hosted a series of community policy fora which have informed both the research process and have initiated policies and strategies aimed at improving QoL in Saskatoon.

In 2014, CUISR hosted a national conference Quality of life: Towards sustainable community futures (see CUISR Events page). In Fall 2015, CUISR board members and researchers Nazeem Muhajarine and Isobel M. Findlay co-edited a special issue (Quality of Life: Towards Sustainable Community Futures), Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-engaged research, teaching, and learning, Vol. 1 (2)  available here: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/esj/issue/view/Fall%20Issue%202015

• Social Economy and Social Relations – This is a continuation of CUISR’s foundational work on community economic development. It was this work that largely inspired a CURA application on the social economy submitted to SSHRC by the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives in partnership with CUISR. This project, “Linking, Learning, Leveraging: Social Enterprises, Knowledgeable Economies, and Sustainable Communities” (LLL), covers Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and northern Ontario and is linked to four other Canadian community-university research nodes as well as an international network of scholars. As a key partner, CUISR was responsible for the Saskatchewan research.

Social economy enterprises (co-operatives, community economic development organizations, not-for-profits and other voluntary sector initiatives) are flexible tools for individuals and communities to address poverty, social and occupational exclusion and to produce new wealth. This is done by pursuing sustainable livelihoods, place-based redevelopments, and building local capacity and social supports. CUISR’s research considers what Canada can learn from the social economy’s contributions to date and how we can use this knowledge in public policy.

Traditional economic development initiatives have not served the inner cities and other marginalized communities of Saskatchewan. Too often "success" is defined in a narrow, short-term manner. When success is defined in the longer-term and using a variety of indicators, the links between economy, society, and environment within the community become inevitable. Critically examining success allows partner organizations to more accurately evaluate the effectiveness of their own programs. Evaluation of the consequences of economic investment also shows where partners make unique contributions to economic development, and where their contributions share common ground. Not only does this contribute to building consensus among development agencies, but it also constitutes a valuable research program for both faculty and a platform to train students to analyze, understand, and contribute to economic development.

CUISR research studies the relationship between the local context (social, demographic, economic and political) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and beyond and the global, structural forces affecting the communities of the province. The role of government programs (and particularly the creation of microenterprises and entrepreneurship) is also an important focus of study, especially the extent to which policy and programs help or hinder community ownership and development—and with what implications for social relations.

• Rural-Urban Community Links – The purpose of this strategy is to explore the interdependencies and contradictions between urban and rural areas in Saskatchewan and beyond so that both can remain sustainable and citizens can choose whether to remain, relocate, or even move repeatedly between the two as many Indigenous people do. This strategy was developed as a response to the rapid changes occurring in the makeup and character of rural and urban communities, and in the social and economic links between them.

Internationally, there has been an increased emphasis on territorial-based development initiatives. This approach includes the development of more—and more mutually beneficial—linkages between rural and urban settlements and populations. While the primary residence of most Canadians is urban, the quality of life of urban-dwellers depends a great deal on opportunities to visit, travel, and recreate in rural places. Moreover, these regions are important for the resources and environmental services that they provide. At the same time, the wellbeing and prosperity of many rural residents depends on access to, and appropriate links with, urban services, markets, and opportunities. Successful regions are those that more fully develop potential synergies and complementarities among enterprises, communities, and organizations. This requires suitable networks and venues for democratic dialogue, participation, and knowledge creation and exchange.

While this phenomenon is not restricted to Saskatchewan, aspects of our geographic, historic, and cultural context are unique. One characteristic of Prairie and Northern communities is the relatively large and growing Indigneous presence, which has strong historic and contemporary links with rural and urban Saskatchewan. Some Saskatchewan communities face choices related to rapid growth even as others confront the difficult tradeoffs associated with decline. Agricultural, forest, and mining communities continue to be pivotal in terms of sustainable resource use and landscape management. The social and economic wellbeing of those most directly connected to these sectors remains a key component of—and condition for—sustainable regional development.

While demographic changes, economic indicators, and commuting and migration patterns offer clues as to the changes that are taking place, we also need to study economic relationships, social perceptions, and motivations; to understand the institutions, organizations, and networks that support livability and vitality; and to learn about communities’ social infrastructure and ways in which different sectors and home-places connect and interact.

• Indigenous Community Development – Indigenous peoples have survived “globalization” for millennia. For most, the struggle to achieve rights over lives, lands, labour, and knowledge is still ongoing. The current version of globalization is creating new threats to Indigenous women (and children) who are often at the bottom of the chain of development, though they remain important stewards of the world’s linguistic and biodiversity. But economic globalization also offers spaces where Indigenous peoples can define their own development based on cultural affirmation and decolonization and build alliances for mutual assistance.

This strategic direction built on an existing collaboration among colleagues in Western Canada and Costa Rica who were maintaining local and national networks with community-based women and seeking to bring Indigenous women in Canada, Central, and South America together to explore successes and barriers to community development, a key element of which is understanding how the local and the global can be mutually supportive as well as destructive to subordinated populations. See the report on Roundtable on Indigenous Women’s Community Development in Western Canada, University of Saskatchewan, 21-22 October 2005, co-sponsored by CUISR.

Respecting and recentring the knowledge of grassroots men women, the strategic research represents a holistic view of sustainable community development typified by the medicine wheel. Consistent with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action and the United Nations Sustainable Human Development precepts and practices, it aims to connect micro and macro processes, participatory and policy approaches, in exploring elimination of violence against women and children; education, health, and other capacity-building; economic and business development for well-being and sustainability; and justice and governance.

• Community-university partnerships – As a pioneer in such partnerships, CUISR is ideally placed to be a leader in this important work with other community-university partnerships locally, across Canada, and internationally. The purpose is to assess the impact of community-university partnerships in any or all of the strategic directions and, through meta-analysis of such partnerships, identify and develop effective practices within and across various contexts. To pursue this strategic direction CUISR led a broad-based community coalition in submitting a CURA application to SSHRC on “Learning Local Governance: Reimagining Sustainable Communities” in September 2010. The SSHRC review committee praised the proposal, reviewer 1 stating, “It is probably one of the best, if not the best, research proposal involving university and community that I have ever had to assess.” Despite being approved, the proposal was not funded, but we are exploring resubmission to the SSHRC partnership grants competition.

From the development of the first CUExpo in 2003 to our book in collaboration with Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU)—Journeys in Community-based Research, ed. Jeffery, Findlay, Martz, & Clarke (University of Regina Press) to our participation in the SSHRC-funded Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE)—we have been committed to authentic partnerships as process and product of research. University Co-Director and CFICE researcher Isobel M. Findlay co-edited with CFICE principal investigator Peter Andrée and academic co-lead David Peacock a special issue (Transformations through “Community-First” Engagement), Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-engaged research, teaching, and learning, Vol. 4 (2) (Fall 2018).

Research outcomes in each strategic direction will include standard products such as publications, reports, grants applied for and secured, and contracts signed. Equally important are measures of research uptake and influence in the community, which could include an increase in the number of research projects commissioned or contracted specifically for policy-making purposes, enhanced utilization of research findings in community-based programming and policy making, and an increase in community agencies' commitment to research.

The following are some examples of outcomes related to knowledge sharing, training, and policy-making:

• Establishment and strengthening of on- and off-line networks of local CBOs and university researchers to enhance communication and information sharing
• Development of a clearinghouse where community needs and interests and university-based expertise and resources can be matched
• Development of a web-based mechanism through which community partners can post research-related queries and comments, with responses provided by university researchers
• Development of a mechanism for on-going communication between researchers and decision-makers (e.g. health authority members, chief executive officers, senior administrators) to enhance implementation of research evidence;
• Development of mechanisms to improve the research and utilization skills of CBO staff through strategies such as university-sponsored workshops, research fairs, seminars, and summer schools
• Research-practice colloquia, where local organizations and the university can showcase research interests, successful partnerships, and research findings and their use.

Reimagining Sustainable Communities

This exciting research project is building on CUISR’s foundational work, proven research capacity, extensive networks, infrastructure, and shared community-university governance model. It aligns as well with CUISR’s own strategic research directions—Saskatoon Community Sustainability, Social Economy, Rural and Urban Community Links, Indigenous Women’s Community Development, Partnership Meta-analysis—as with the University of Saskatchewan’s commitment to a sense of place and to becoming a fully engaged university, integrating teaching and research, community and university, students and faculty in collaborative work.

This innovative, interdisciplinary project tackles critical issues facing society, engaging diverse stakeholders in reimagining how we can create local governance models for sustaining and sustainable communities. It is a collaboration:

• Faculty from ten units across the University
• Community researchers representing ten different organizations
• Over twenty community partners (from local to national)
• Advisory Council representing local, regional, national, and international interests

CUISR Leads Prairie Region Research on Affordable Rental Housing Funded by a Major National Award

CUISR is pleased to announce the award of a SSHRC-CMHC Partnership Grant valued at $1,308,314, March 2020 to March 31, 2025, on People, Places, Policies and Prospects: Affordable Rental Housing for Those in Greatest Need.  The Partnership Grant involves three regions--Atlantic Canada (Cape Breton Regional Municipality; Principal Investigator Dr. Catherine Leviten-Reid, Cape Breton University), Central Canada (Ottawa), and the Prairies (Saskatoon) in  one of the research nodes within the Collaborative Housing Research Network—with a shared goal to understand the roles and effects of affordable rental housing in the lives of marginalized individuals and families.

The Saskatoon project team will use a GBA+ lens to assess the following:

• To what extent programs achieve intended positive social and economic benefits or outcomes? 
• In what ways different programs may result in distinct shelter (affordability, security, quality) and non-shelter (safety, health and well-being, social capital, access to amenities and employment) outcomes—and differential impacts on women, men, non-binary individuals?

Three projects will be conducted in this city:

• The first looks at tenant outcomes and experiences among those living in affordable units provided through Saskatchewan Housing Corporation’s Rental Development Program.
• The second study will compare the experiences and outcomes of tenants living in subsidized, non-profit housing versus market rentals. This project also uses a socio-legal lens to analyze how affordable housing providers and market-based landlords interpret and apply eviction legislation, how they negotiate with their tenants, how they perceive the costs of eviction, and their experiences with housing tribunal and enforcement processes—and with what consequences for those in greatest need.
• The third project examines how well rental housing providers work together, and with other human service systems, and under what circumstances to house those in greatest need.

Co-investigator(s)

Brenda Parker University of Illinois at Chicago
Isobel M. Findlay Edwards School of Business and CUISR University of Saskatchewan
Jacqueline J. Kennelly Carleton University
Larissa R. Silver Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa
Margaret K. Dechman Cape Breton University
Nazeem Muhajarine Community Health and Epidemiology College of Medicine University of Saskatchewan
Penelope C. Gurstein The University of British Columbia
Sarah M. Buhler College of Law University of Saskatchewan
Xavier Leloup Institut national de la recherche scientifique

CUISR Partners

City of Saskatoon (Michael Kowalchuk, Senior Planner II Research and Mapping)
Quint Development Corporation (Len Usiskin, Executive Director);
Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership or SHIP (Colleen Christopherson-Cote, Community Partnership Consultant—HIFIS)
Camponi Housing Corp/ SaskNative Rentals Inc (Ruebecca Fiddler, Project Manager)
Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership (Colleen Christopherson-Cote, Coordinator)
Community Legal Assistance Services for Saskatoon Inner City (CLASSIC; Chantelle Johnson, Executive Director)
Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan (Patti Tait, Cultural Advisor and Knowledge Keeper, and Sydney Wouters, Women Services/Social Worker)  
Saskatoon Society for the Protection of Children (Dionne Miazdyck-Shield, Executive Director)
Saskatchewan Office of Residential Tenancies ( Hannah Gregory, Deputy Director, Administration and Andrew Restall, Deputy Director, Adjudication)
National Affordable Housing Corporation (Alan Wallace, Municipal Housing Specialist)
Cress Housing Corporation, Saskatoon Tribal Council Inc. (Ian Bear, Director)
Saskatoon Local Immigration Partnership, City of Saskatoon (Jasmine Calix, Coordinator)
Saskatchewan Landlord Association Inc. (Cameron Choquette, Chief Executive Officer)

In March 2023, SSHRC announced that the application for the SSHRC-CMHC-funded Partnership grant entitled A Safe and Affordable Place to Call Home: A Multi-disciplinary Longitudinal Outcomes Analysis of the National Housing Strategy was fully funded at $4.8M over 5 years. The Principal Investigators at Carleton University are Drs. Liam o'Brien and Jackie Kennelly; the CUISR researchers and co-applicants are Dr. Isobel M. Findlay (Edwards School of Business), Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine (College of Medicine), and Professor Sarah Buhler, College of Law. 

CUISR community partners include: 

• City of Saskatoon

• CLASSIC

• Cress Housing Corporation

• Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan

• Haven Family Connections

• National Affordable Housing Corporation

• Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership

• Office of Residential Tenancies Saskatchewan

Dr. Muhajarine will continue to be a co-lead on the analysis of the Canadian Housing Survey, while Dr. Findlay is leading the national theme,  Health, Social and Economic Outcomes. Other themes include: 

• Climate impacts and mitigation

• Indigenous and Northern housing

• Alternative housing solutions

• Housing financing

Overall study objectives include these: 

• Assess effectiveness of approaches to housing as a human right

• Investigate the three major funding vehicles outlined in the National Housing Strategy (NHS)