Toward more equitable representation in research

New work is supporting important contributions to Canada’s scholarly knowledge

Date published: 2025-02-17 11:30:00

For aspiring researchers looking to advance their academic careers abroad, Canada holds a lot of appeal. It’s recognized for its social stability and multicultural ideals, and as a place where researchers have the freedom to study what interests them. Yet Black, Indigenous and Latinx peoples from Latin America and the Caribbean face significant barriers to contributing scholarly work. Those barriers leave their voices underrepresented in the literature—and deprive Canada of their valuable perspectives.

Breaking down those barriers is a focus for Tameka Samuels-Jones, an assistant professor at York University and co-director of the institution’s Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC). Supported by a grant Samuels-Jones earned in receiving the 2023 Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity from the Canada Research Chairs Program, new work by CERLAC’s Black, Indigenous and Latinx Research Laboratory (BILX-Lab) will empower emerging researchers to make important contributions to Canada’s scholarly knowledge.

“These promising researchers need to understand that the problem isn’t the value of their work, but the unique professional and academic challenges they face,” Samuels-Jones says.

Inequity in knowledge production

Black, Indigenous and Latinx researchers from Latin America and the Caribbean often produce rich cultural insights into the region, and can produce new knowledge that serves their home countries as well as Canada. Such research can also support Canada’s partnerships and initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean, which involve everything from trade and policy to health care and climate action. But students coming to Canada first need the tools to succeed, says Samuels-Jones.

Emerging scholars from Latin America and the Caribbean often struggle with Canada’s higher cost of living, and find themselves ineligible for research grants reserved for Canadian citizens and permanent residents. They lack the connections that create opportunities for mentorship and other career supports, and are unfamiliar with the practices, processes and rituals of Canadian academia.

“Cultural differences also create challenges,” says Samuels-Jones. “Approaching someone uninvited and introducing yourself would be considered rude to a person from Latin America and the Caribbean. But that’s a big part of networking here, so these students are at a disadvantage.”

Giving emerging scholars the tools to succeed

The BILX-Lab is addressing these challenges through supports designed specifically for this population of students. These include professional development workshops that teach about networking, applying for faculty positions and participating in academic job interviews. Other supports include a mentorship program and seed funding for research, as well as a student-led research journal and an international conference students will organize and participate in—giving them hands-on experience in contributing and promoting their work.

Graduate student members of the BILX-Lab, CERLAC, York University, with Professor Tameka Samuels-Jones. Left to right: Roshane Miller, development studies; Tameka Samuels-Jones; and Torrence Bennett, business and society.

Photo: CERLAC, York University

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“By dismantling the barriers these historically marginalized scholars face, we’re not only addressing historical injustices, but also shaping a more inclusive and innovative future for Canadian academia ,” says Samuels-Jones.

The work will also help address gaps in the literature on the experiences of immigrants to Canada who are Black, Indigenous or Latinx. These experiences are distinct and important to study separately from Canadian perspectives, says Samuels-Jones, because they involve discrimination based on race as well as nationality.

Samuels-Jones knows this firsthand. As the only Black scholar from Latin America and the Caribbean at a law conference she attended in 2021, she experienced a strong sense of otherness that left her determined to do what she could to help early career researchers from the region succeed.

“If I could feel this level of being the outsider as a professor, I could only imagine what it would be like for an emerging scholar,” she says.

Building on early success

The efforts of Samuels-Jones and her colleagues are already making a difference. The metrics CERLAC tracks show increases in confidence and academic engagement among emerging scholars from Latin America and the Caribbean at York University, measured by activities such as conference attendance and research publication. The BILX-Lab has also uncovered new needs within the population it supports, through early feedback from participants who are also part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community or living with learning disabilities. The team has since modified certain program elements to ensure these groups are represented and accommodated.

The BILX-Lab team is aiming for their interventions and learnings to support their target population in every research field across the university. Their support model could also empower emerging scholars from other underrepresented regions, including through CERLAC’s collaborations with York University’s Harriet Tubman Institute, which studies the experiences of people from Africa and its diasporas.

“CERLAC is the driving force, but we see this as a York-wide initiative and award,” Samuels-Jones says. “We’ve invited other research units to join us, because they likely have students from these regions. And if not, why not?”