Previous projects
UMITEMIEU
An initiative developed by the McCord Museum, UHU Labos nomades, and the OCE, UMITEMIEU brought together Indigenous youth and Knowledge Keepers to share knowledge and tell stories using digital arts and innovative technologies through engaging with objects from the McCord Museum collections.
Park-Extension Community-Based Action Research network (CBAR)
The OCE was a founding member of this network of academic and community-based researchers. In their work in Park-Extension, they applied the principles of community-based action research, with a commitment to equity, social justice and resident engagement in all aspects of the research.
Digital Divides
A project that emerged from the work of the Park-Extension CBAR network, this community-led research endeavor documented the housing crisis in the neighbourhood, the real estate development dynamics that influenced it, and the impact that the emerging artificial intelligence hub in the neighbouring Marconi-Alexandra district hub was having on housing in nearby neighbourhoods.
Park-Extension Community Power Map
This map offered a portrait of community-led projects, actions and organizations seeking to meet the needs and aspirations of Parc-Extension residents, to challenge the housing crisis in the neighbourhood and to put forward solutions reflecting local priorities.
Park-Extension Evictions Map
The Park-Extension Evictions Map, created by the Park-Extension Anti-Eviction Mapping Project with support from the Office of Community Engagement, highlights the distribution and evolution of evictions in Park-Extension since 2017, based on data collected by the Comité d’action de Park-Extension (CAPE), the tenants' rights association of neighbourhood.
Living Labs at Bâtiment 7
The OCE partnered with Concordia’s Sustainability Action Fund to support student leadership in community-based sustainability projects at Bâtiment 7, a heritage industrial site located on former CN lands at the southernmost tip of Pointe-Saint-Charles. More than 20 student-led initiatives were realized on the site which presents a unique model of collectively governed, citizen-led urban design projects.
Canadian Roots Exchange Youth Gathering: For(a)ging our Paths
During this event held in February 2020, more than 350 Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth gathered to reflect on the meaning of reconciliation. The event was a space for learning, discussion, celebration and connection.
Enable Montreal
Enable Montreal was a non-competitive design challenge hosted by Concordia in 2018 through a partnership between the Office of Community Engagement, the Critical Disability Studies Working Group, District 3, Independent Living Montreal, and the Maison de l’innovation sociale. Teams made up of community members, students, researchers, activists, engineers and design professionals worked together to co-create solutions to make Montreal more accessible and inclusive for people living with physical disabilities.
StartUP Nations
In 2017 and 2019, Concordia hosted StartUp Nations, an Indigenous social innovation challenge where participants from diverse First Nations develop skills and network to grow their collective project and impact the social, cultural and economic development of their communities. The initiative’s primary goal is to promote social and collective economy among First Nations youth in Quebec, a model of development rooted in democracy, cooperation, creativity, and local thinking.
Next City Vanguards
Concordia, in partnership with Next City, hosted an experiential leadership conference from May 31 to June 3, 2017. Six community partners were invited to participate alongside the Next City Vanguards to co-design solutions to challenges faced by the partner organizations.
