Ova Obscura
This research project is the first large scale study of egg donation in Canada. Led by Alana Cattapan, the study is focused around interviews with 53 egg donors, exploring their experiences and their interactions with agencies, clinics, lawyers, intended parents, and other egg donors with a goal of improving policy and practice. This research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and is resulting in a range of outputs, including academic articles, public presentations, advice documents for professionals, blog posts, and an interactive story about the experience of egg donation.
Towards Reproductive Justice and Health in Saskatchewan
Led by Holly McKenzie, this project aims to develop a community-engaged research agenda focused on reproductive justice and health in Saskatchewan. The team, which includes Cassandra Opikokew Wajuntah, Elder Betty McKenna, Alana Cattapan, Karen Lawford, Cheryl Ahern, and Maggie Coupland is focused around having conversations about strengths and challenges–what we already know needs to change, and what we need to learn more about to support women, Two-Spirit and Trans and Gender-Diverse people in their reproductive decision-making.
surrogates’ voices
This project builds on Vanessa Gruben, Angela Cameron, and Alana Cattapan’s previous collabortion on the state of surrogacy in Canada to explore the experience of surrogacy, focusing on their voices and interests of surrogates. Led by Vanessa Gruben, this mixed-methods study (including a survey, interviews, and a review of policy and administrative data), is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and aims to address long unanswered questions about surrogacy in Canada and to improve related law and public policy.
Elective Egg Freezing in Canada
This study, led by Kathleen (Katie) Hammond, is using interviews to gather people’s experiences with elective egg freezing in Canada. It is the first interview study focusing on people’s experiences with elective egg freezing in Canada and is the first Canadian study investigating the consent process in elective egg freezing. This project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada.
COMMUNITY ENGAGED RESEARCH WITH SANCTUM 1.5
Sanctum 1.5 is a 10-bed prenatal care home which supports high-risk and HIV positive pregnant women at risk of having their infants apprehended at birth. In addition to a one-year narrative project reporting on experiences at Sanctum 1.5 in its first year (see report here), Cattapan is collaborating with an interdisciplinary team in Saskatoon including health care providers, community members, researchers, Sanctum staff members, and others to continue reporting on the outcomes for women and babies living at Sanctum 1.5. Team leads include Sithokozile Maposa, Alexandra King, Amanda Froehlich Chow, Alana Cattapan, Erika Penz, and Katelyn Roberts. This work is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
OF SKIN, SPERM, AND BLOOD
This project–funded by the James Kreppner Award from Canadian Blood Services— interrogates the origins of tissue exemptions in Canada, identifying the discourses and arguments that led to their passage in provincial and territorial legislatures. Through a study of relevant legislation, legislative debates, minutes of relevant Uniform Law Conferences, media reports, and existing scholarship, it provides a comparative, analysis of the impetus for the varied tissues exemptions. In doing so, it reveals the historic intent of these exemptions, their contemporary status, and their relevance to current concerns about commercialization, including recommendations for potential harmonization and reform. (with Barbara von Tigerstrom, Erin Nelson, and Rosanne Dawson).
Apihkatatan
Apihkatatan is a Cree word that roughly translates to “weaving our baskets”. This project–led by Alexandra King–is organized around delivering a land- and culture-based healing curriculum for Indigenous women who have recently been released from the carceral system. It aims to be an inclusive, gender-affirming, trauma informed and strength-based project that aims to support people with experiences with incarceration to enable wholistic healing.
Alana Cattapan 