Boyle Street's Partnership with MacEwan

Boyle Street Community Services and MacEwan University signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that celebrates and strengthens our long-standing partnership. The MOU is a formal, non-binding agreement that clearly states our shared understanding of our relationship and its future growth.

We know that change doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens when people, organizations, and communities commit to walking alongside one another. That is why we began this next step of our relationship with a pipe ceremony.

The Pipe Ceremony

The pipe is a central part of Indigenous spiritual practice. Pipe carriers (Indigenous Knowledge Keepers who have their own pipe and lead pipe ceremonies) are found across Turtle Island. Although teachings will vary pipe carrier to pipe carrier, the two parts of the pipe (the stem and the bowl) represent the male and female energy found in nature. For those who have been gifted a pipe it is seen and treated as a spiritual child that needs care, love, and attention. A pipe ceremony is about connecting communities to each other and to spirit. Lonny Potts, Boyle’s Director of sîtôskam iyiniwatisiwin, led this pipe ceremony.

During a pipe ceremony, everyone is seated on the ground connected to Mother Earth. The ceremony is started with prayer and song to connect us to spirit and ask the Creator and our Grandmothers and Grandfathers to come into ceremony. The pipe is filled with tobacco; other medicines may be added depending on the pipe carrier and their teachings.  When the pipe is ready it will be passed around the circle with the oskapios (helper) following it. When the pipe is passed between people, it is cradled like a baby with one hand on the bowl and one hand on the stem. The pipe is passed around the circle until all the medicine is smoked. Then it is returned to the pipe carrier who will put it away through prayer and song.

In that circle, we sat side by side. The ceremony reminded us that partnerships are bound by humility, reciprocity, and respect.

Our Shared Community

The ceremony was held in kihêw waciston, MacEwan’s Indigenous Centre. Beginning our renewed partnership there grounded the event in Indigenous ways of knowing and affirmed that our work together must honour those teachings.

Beyond kihêw waciston lies the neighbourhood we share. Both MacEwan and Boyle Street are rooted in Edmonton’s downtown. We are neighbours, working side by side to shape the city we all call home. MacEwan educates and equips the next generation. Boyle Street provides direct support and care to Edmonton’s most vulnerable. Together, we make downtown stronger and more connected. Both institutions understand that the vitality of a city is not measured only in skyscrapers or profitable businesses but in how we treat the people who live there.

The community we are building is broader than one neighbourhood. For years, Boyle Street and MacEwan have worked together: clothing drives, Life Kits (seasonal backpacks of supplies), student placements, community-engaged research, outreach walks, and more. Many MacEwan graduates now work at Boyle Street, carrying forward their commitment to walk alongside those experiencing homelessness and poverty. This MOU affirms that history and looks ahead to deeper collaboration that weaves education and community service together: applied research, knowledge exchange, new student opportunities, and shared events such as an annual joint ceremony.

Partnership for Change

As our Executive Director Jordan Reiniger said: “This partnership is about committing to walk alongside one another, to keep learning, and to create spaces where everyone belongs. Boyle Street is excited to re-affirm our relationship with MacEwan. Dr. Trimbee and MacEwan have set the standard for what meaningful and sustainable engagement looks like, and we’re grateful to continue building this work together.”

For Boyle Street, the timing is perfect. Later this year, we will move into okimaw peyesew kamik (King Thunderbird Centre), our new downtown home. Like kihêw waciston, it is a place rooted in culture, designed with Elders and Knowledge Keepers, and built to offer dignity, healing, and wraparound care. Our work there will serve thousands of Edmontonians each year, and partnerships like this one make that work possible. MacEwan brings research, energy, and students eager to learn; Boyle Street brings relationships, history, and trust. Together, we create a foundation for systemic change.

This is what the day was truly about - not an ending, but a beginning. A shared promise that MacEwan University and Boyle Street Community Services will continue to learn, to collaborate, and to build community.