Research
Before being appointed to the Senate in 2018, Senator LaBoucane-Benson worked in the areas of research, training and communications.
Training & Teaching
Senator LaBoucane-Benson is an expert in historic trauma-informed client service delivery. At the University of Alberta, she held the following roles:
- Peter Lougheed Leadership College: Lecturer and Mentor
- Alberta School of Business Executive Education Lecturer
- Faculty of Native Studies and Alberta School of Business: Aboriginal Industry-Partnership Certificate Lecturer
She was also the Director (Principle Investigator) for BearPaw Research at Native Counselling Services of Alberta. BearPaw Research was committed to engaging in research activities that benefit Indigenous people of Canada by effecting change in programs and services provided for Indigenous people. Projects are grounded in an Indigenous, interconnected worldview, and focus on collaboration, ethical knowledge generation, Indigenous community capacity building and the generation of action-oriented research results.
Projects
Trauma, Child Development, Healing and Resilience: A review of literature with focus on Aboriginal peoples and communities. PolicyWise for Children & Families. Edmonton, Alberta.
The purpose of this literature review was to surface common ground between the neuroscience of building healthy brains in children, and Indigenous science of healthy child rearing from an interconnected worldview.
The Four Dimensions of Historic Trauma: This project (funded through PolicyWise: Government of Alberta) for the ministry of Child and Family Services contains a literature review, a key message statement for Ministry executives, a training module, and a training-for-trainers session for Ministry staff.
Water: The Sacred Relationship: For this project, we worked with Elders, knowledge holders and Western scientists to understand principles, values, beliefs and relationships to water.
Are We Seeking Pimatisiwin or Creating Pomewin? Implications for Water Policy. Published in the International Indigenous Policy Journal.
Home Fire: Ending the Cycle of Intergenerational Domestic Violence. Two-year research project on best practices for addressing domestic violence. The final deliverable of this project is this evidence-based documentary video.
Publications
Pilon, A.J.M., Jewell, L.M., Wormith, S.J., & LaBoucane-Benson, P. (2015). Buffalo Sage Wellness House (BSWH) Process Review. (Research Report R-371). Ottawa, Ontario: Correctional Service of Canada.
Buffalo Sage Wellness House (BSWH) was (at the time) the only Section 81 Healing Lodge for Indigenous women. It is a 16-bed, minimum/medium security facility for federally-sentenced offenders and also serves as a community residential facility for women on conditional release. The purpose of the study was to provide the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and the Native Counselling Services of Alberta (NCSA) with an understanding of the implementation, processes, and where applicable, the measurable outcomes of BSWH.
LaBoucane-Benson, P. & Van Dieten, M. (2013) Glube and Panel Recommendation Review (Internal Correctional Service of Canada Document).
An independent review of actions taken with respect to women’s corrections in response to the recommendations made in the Glube Report (Moving Forward with Women’s Corrections: The Expert Committee Review of Correctional Service Canada’s Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections, 1996-2006) and the Panel Report (Report of the CSC Review Panel: A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety, 2007).
LaBoucane-Benson, P. & Hossack, F. (2013). The Mamowichihitowin Community Wellness Program: Cost- Benefits Analysis. Unpublished report for Public Safety Canada.
The purpose of this research project was to estimate and compare the costs and the benefits (tangible and intangible) of the Mamowichihitowin Community Wellness Program.
LaBoucane-Benson, P, Hossack, F, Ericson, K, and Grunland, M. (2009). Soccer moms are Part of the Solution: A Cost-Benefits Analysis of Community-Based Gang Crime Prevention. Ottawa: Public Safety.
The research project began with a case study of community mobilization that took place in Edmonton, Alberta in 2008, using narrative methodology. Then, a cost benefit analysis of this narrative was conducted, relating the community-based actions taken to the research on risk factors associated with gang recruitment, particularly for vulnerable children within the Aboriginal and Refugee community.
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