Faculty member recipient of SSHRC Insight Grant

Dr. Hanson is the successful applicant for a SSHRC Insight Grant. Co-applicants on the grant include Dr. Leah Levac (Guelph), Dr. Amy Bombay (Dalhousie), Dr. Raven Sinclair (U of Regina), and Cynthia Stirby (SFU). The study – Reconciling Perspectives and Building Public Memory: Learning from the Independent Assessment Process – received $268,000.

The study proposes to address knowledge gaps regarding the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) – a compensation policy that emerged from the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) signed in 2007. The IAP involved hearings for serious physical and sexual abuse claims that emerged from Indigenous Survivors of Indian Residential Schools (IRS). The Supreme Court voted that month, in a controversial decision, to destroy most of the records of the IAP. The study will use theatre and public pedagogies to make knowledge about the IAP – the largest compensation process in the world – known to a wider public.