Reflections on the actions of researchers at one university to promote inclusion within their community

Abstract

The University of Quebec in Rimouski is located in a region remote from major urban centers. In the 2012 census, only 1% of the population in this region was not born in Canada. The purpose of this article is to understand how teachers act as persons to promote the inclusion of immigrants in this peripheral region. Using autopraxeography, it presents three experiences engaging these researchers in the community. They concern involvement in the reception of international students within an association whose mandate is the inclusion of immigrants and refugees, and research and actions with employers. The analysis of these experiences has shown both the importance of the people being willing to get involved with vulnerable people, the peripheral and homogeneous aspect of the region in which the university is located, and the context of labor scarcity.