Content warning: This post relates to residential schools. A reminder that the Indian Residential School Survivors Society has a 24 hour Crisis Line available at 1-866-925-4419.

As Carlanna Thompson prepares for the next step in her educational journey, she gives credit to the University of the Fraser Valley for getting her ready.

“Without my time at UFV, I don’t think I’d have gotten into my master’s program,” says Thompson, who is studying at the University of Victoria this fall.

Thompson earned a BA in History in 2022 and joined UFV’s Community Health and Social Innovation (CHASI) Hub as a research assistant. Every step along the way, she says she received opportunities she wouldn’t have received anywhere else.

Thompson was one of two students, along with Frankie Fowle, who worked on a major project in 2023-24 with the Haida Gwaii community. The project was overseen by CHASI Faculty Associate, Dr. Sarah Beaulieu, and CHASI Researcher, Lia Bishop. Under their guidance, Thompson and Fowle travelled across B.C. to locate, access, and collect the records of Haida Gwaii children who were sent to residential schools across Western Canada.

Those records were then digitized and organized in an easily accessible database.

“Haida Gwaii children were sent as far away as Edmonton, and it was difficult for the community to access physical records,” Thompson explained. “This community has faced many barriers accessing things that really should belong to them, and the information is now theirs to keep and decide what to do with.”

Thompson said it was deeply emotional and rewarding work.

“We’re really close to Coqualeetza in Chilliwack, which was a residential school that some of the Haida Gwaii children were sent to,” Thompson said. “I drive by it once a week and I look at the building very differently now, knowing that several children died there. Their deaths weren’t reported properly at the time, and we were able to give their families some closure with our archival research.

“We had to go through thousands and thousands of death certificates to find that information, and it was incredibly difficult and emotionally charged, but it was so meaningful being able to give that to the community.”

Sad as the project was,  Thompson said it showed her that research can have tangible impact.

“Last August we got to visit Haida Gwaii and meet some of the families of these children we’d been learning about, and that was incredibly beautiful getting to talk to them about the human side of it,” Thompson recalled. “I never wanted to be that person writing papers that sit on a shelf and gather dust. I want my work to help people, and this project showed me a way to do that and changed my life and my trajectory as a student.”

“There is a way to make research exciting, engaging, and useful for people.”

Thompson is one of four CHASI researchers moving on to graduate school. Fowle is heading to the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Miranda Erickson and Lynsie Pratt are going to Ontario, to study at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, respectively.

CHASI Director, Dr. Martha Dow, knows they are well equipped to succeed and make an impact in their new communities.

“CHASI’s emphasis on pairing students and recent graduates with faculty leads on significant projects prepares students for the next step of their academic and professional careers in an incredibly special and powerful way,” Dow says. “These four research assistants are moving on to graduate school with the knowledge, tools, and experience to excel. We are incredibly proud of their accomplishments and can’t wait to see where this path leads them.”