Community Service-Learning (CSL) offers University of Alberta students the opportunity to work and make a difference with a local community group, while reflecting and putting their experiences in context within a university course. These community partnerships provide opportunities for students to gain valuable experience, and to contribute and increase their awareness of the social and political life of their community.

CJSR provides CSL students the opportunity to learn how to produce an audio documentary on a topic related to their course.

Community Service Learning Documentaries

This week on Terra Informa, stories about being exposed – on your bike and where you live. Musician Ben Caplan walks us through how organized Halifax’s naked bike ride. Then, Calgary resident Tamara Lee tells us about the surprising bonds revealed by the floods that devastated her neighbourhood in June.

Terra Informa: Exposed

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the entire globe shift online, whether it's for school, work, or socializing. But what about those individuals who need to access resources that affect their quality of life? How do we build a community online for those with disabilities to be able to access the support they need in their lives and thrive during this digital shift during the pandemic? This interview features Sahana Parameswara, the executive director of the Gateway Association, a family and employment resource centre, where she spoke about how the Gateway Association adapted to work with and serve individuals with disabilities during the pandemic, and work to create and maintain equity and inclusion in a digitalized world. She also discusses their new app which serves as a source of digital literacy for the community of individuals with disabilities. 

Simran Pherwani is a 2nd year MSc student at the University of Alberta and an incoming Medical Student at the University of Calgary. She has been volunteering with CJSR-FM in Edmonton since June 2020 and has been part of multiple projects including the "That's Food" Podcast and weekly 1-minute COVID-19 News Updates. She is passionate about working with children, as well as the issues of inclusion and (dis)ability, especially with the intersection of race and gender. 

Original broadcast: 20 May 2021
Music: Bountiful by Podington Bear from the FreeMusicArchive.org

Building Community and Maintaining Equity in Digital Literacy for Individuals with Disabilities

Christian Zyp interviews Rebecca Sadowski and Tamarra Lessard about their shirt film THE SASH MAKER. It streams as part of FAVA Fest from May 24th - 29th at fava.ca

THE SASH MAKER is based on a choreographer performance based on the work of Rebecca Sadowski. The film is designed to be an act of decolonization in which  Sadowski and Lessard put Métis and contemporary dance, Cree poetry, and traditional finger - weaving on the screen as a cinematic Lesson in Canadian History.

FAVA Fest 2021 - Rebecca Sadowski and Tamarra Lessard - THE SASH MAKER

This is the first of a two-part miniseries on the relationship between the communities of Morinville and Alexander First Nation. This episode is meant to provide insight and context that has been lacking in other media coverage of the St. Jean Baptiste church fire. These episodes contain difficult subject matter, and include references to residential schools, missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, and racism. I look into the way that these communities have been shaped by colonialism, the way that politicians ascribed blame, and the response from both Indigenous and settler community members.
 On the morning of June 30th, 2021, the historic St. Jean Baptiste Church in Morinville burned down. Politicians and some community members quickly placed the blame on Indigenous people. I spoke with Paulette Houle, president of the Morinville Historical and Cultural Society, to learn more about the history of the town, as well as Brooks Arcand-Paul, someone who grew up in Alexander and Morinville, to get his input on the fire and the events since. I also spoke with a community member from Morinville, Vera Sandercock, about an event held by parishioners and community members after the church had burned. 
This episode is by no means meant to stand alone- it provides context to the second episode in this series, which will examine the real consequences of assumptions, as well as the way these communities were shaped by colonialism and the role of the church. Please consider that none of the people I spoke to are representatives of their communities, but rather people who grew up in them.

Acimowin: The St. Jean Baptiste Church Fire Part 1: Context & History

Christian Zyp interviews the owner of the last video store in Edmonton, Kevin Martin. The man I call the Sommelier of Celluloid discusses some of the more obscure films to grace the racks of the The Lobby DVD Store on Whyte Avenue like Ticks, Phantom of The Mall and Homebodies.

Kevin Martin of The Lobby DVD Shop - Phantom of the Mall, Ticks and Homebodies

CJSR 2014-09-30 12-00-00

All That Matters tells stories about arts and culture around Alberta. Each week we take small bites out of a big question. This week: Boot Camp Poets. How could rap or poetry help inmates at the Edmonton Remand Centre find a different life, and what roadblocks might be in their way? This is the second half of a two-part documentary speaking to inmates in the Edmonton Remand Centre's Boot Camp unit.

In this episode, John Howard Society's Howie Hoggins speaks to us about what's ahead for men in the Boot Camp unit transitioning out of prison. Métis writer and researcher Patti Laboucane-Benson tell us what her graphic novel The Outside Circle has to say about why so many Aboriginal people end up behind bars. And we hear more poetry from Boot Camp unit inmates Joshua Charles Thom, Michael Nelson, and Nathan Laboucan.

All That Matters - Boot Camp Poets Pt 2

This documentary was created by Victor Eguren-Echiaz, Avishta Seeras and Jayde Roche for Latin American Studies 330, The Latino Experience Abroad. Through this documentary we wish to explore how the portrayal of Colombians in North American media has affected the identity of Colombians living abroad and how they are perceived by others. We hope to change some perspectives on the topic by hearing from a few Colombian speakers as well as a masters student doing her research on narcoculture.


Over the years we have seen a rise in the North American fascination in Colombian drug culture, in this documentary we are going to take you into the drug culture of Colombia through the TV show Narcos.  We will be hearing from some Canadians as well as Colombian Canadians as they talk about the stereotypes they have faced while living abroad and discuss the inaccurate representation of many Colombians in the media. Many Colombians find themselves being associated with the dark history of violence in the country, in many cases these people are victims themselves trying to escape. This can all have a strong impact on Latin American identity by assuming that narcoculture is central one's identity and reinforcing these stereotypes through the media. For many Colombians living abroad, as we will explore through this documentary, the stereotypes also create a sense of national pride and wanting to change the perception people have of the country and its citizens.

Drugs, Violence and Pablo Escobar: The Colombian Experience Abroad

When faced with political rhetoric that seeks to potentially further the divide between nations, we take the time to examine the things that bring us together in the face of our differences, rather than separate us. In this radio doc by Mahad Omar, we look at the efforts being made by a local NGO here in Edmonton called Sombrilla, that brings youth together from Canada and Peru, to build a basis for the future generations interest in international development and relations.

Music Credits: Arturo 'Zambo' Cavero - Contigo Peru

What Brings Us Together

Jennifer McFarlane is an Elementary Music Teacher in Edmonton, Alberta. She had a strong desire to highlight First Nations, Metis, and Inuit music in her classroom lessons, but hesitated because of concerns of cultural misappropriation and lack of personal experience with these cultures. So she reached out to artists and culture bearers in Alberta and British Columbia to find out what resources were available to her, and what pitfalls should be avoided. The conversations exposed a whole collections of knowledges, experiences and issues surrounding this complex topic. This podcast contains excerpts from four of Jennifer’s interviews, and features a full spectrum of opinions on two questions: Should First Nations, Metis and Inuit music should be taught in a mainstream school system, and if so, how?

This podcast features music by the four artists and used with their permission:
When the Sun Sets Over the World by Winston Wuttunee
Throat singing and drumming by Jenna Broomfield, recorded with the artist’s permission on February 4, 2017, in Edmonton Alberta.
Mountain Metis  by Laura Vinson
Ninestosin by Winston Wuttunee
Nicimos (Sweetheart) featuring Wayne Lavallee by Sherryl Sewepagaham
Indian Alphabet by Winston Wuttunee

Indigenous Music In Education

Safe injection sites to Edmonton, with plenty of controversy in their wake. In this radio documentary, Nika Henderson explores why. This documentary was produced as a part of a Community Service Learning placement with CJSR 88.5 FM.

Why Are Safe Injection Sites Coming to Edmonton?

Why do Edmontonians love Latin music so much? What does it mean to non-Latin American people? This radio documentary was produced by Avishta Seeras, Jayde Roche, and Samantha Lopez as part of a Community Service Learning placement at CJSR 88.5 FM.

Edmonton Loves Latin Music

In this documentary, University of Alberta student Andrea Wiebe follows a group of high school students from all over the world who came together through a common passion: climate change. For two months leading up to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change conference in Edmonton, the students had been preparing themselves by participating in an online classroom sharing blog posts and video conferences related to the theme of "Cities and Climate Change." Andrea follows the stories of Sofia Velez, Suhanee Giroti, and the rest of their classmates as they write a paper together and present it to policymakers and researchers at the IPCC conference. 

The students' IPCC white paper can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ociumVehIHhw96hQdFANCbfluJ2okL8k/view

This documentary was produced as part of a Community Service Learning project.

Terra Informa - Youth Voices and Climate Change

Helen Kwan Yee Cheung, a 2013 M.A. University of Alberta graduate, pursued studying the Chinese community history in Edmonton through the lens of Cantonese Opera. She found that Cantonese Opera had elements of several social functions: cultural entertainment, philanthropy, and homeland politics. In this audio story, Helen talks about Cantonese Opera being used as a platform for the politics in China.

Interview and editing by Scott Bell. This documentary was produced as part of a Community Service Learning project at the University of Alberta. It is part of a multimedia project capturing the history of Edmonton's Chinatown, called Figure 一，二，三，六，八.

This piece features a public domain recording of "White Hibiscus at Night," performed by Cantonese Opera star Peony Su. More info: archive.org/details/Peony_Su_Wh…e_Hibiscus_At_Night

Photo: Chan Shu Liu in a costume adorned with propaganda in support of the Nationalist government in China (City of Edmonton Archives, EA-600-1559b).

Propaganda - Helen Kwan Yee Cheung On Cantonese Opera And Homeland Politics

In this interview, author and culture activist Stephen Jenkinson speaks with Terra Informer Dylan Hall about death, grief, and his new book, ‘Come of Age: a case for elderhood in a time of trouble’, particularly in view of this troubling time we are in. Stephen will be on tour through Canada and the U.S. this fall with the Gregory Hoskins band, performing ‘Nights of Grief and Mystery’. For information, go to https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/nights-of-grief-mystery-concert-edmonton-tickets-47027994999

Terra Informa - Stephen Jenkinson on Death, Grief, and the Withering World Tree

We are Edmonton's independent, volunteer-powered campus & community radio station!

Broadcasting from the basement of the Students' Union Building at the University of Alberta located on Treaty 6 land, CJSR operates as a non-profit society and registered charity. 

Our mission is to “enlighten and entertain our audience through high quality and diverse programming that constantly challenges the status quo”. We do this by amplifying voices and perspectives often underrepresented in mainstream media. We provide a safe and inclusive (and fun!) environment for folks to learn the ins and outs of audio production, as well as educate listeners on local issues and stories.

Drugs, Violence and Pablo Escobar: The Colombian Experience Abroad

CJSR Radio

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