Student EDI Research Projects Focus on Community

While graduate student Farah Ormelet was considering topics for her master’s thesis, she spent some time looking at the TikTok accounts created by members of the Haitian community. They featured content targeting Haitians in Canada, as well as those interested in coming here.

“I realized that the Haitian community was using TikTok to communicate with each other. They were posting ‘life in Canada’ videos, advice for applying for asylum, and even ads for smugglers,” says Ormelet. “I knew this is the topic I wanted to explore.”

Ormelet is one of two recipients of the 2026 FPGA EDI Research Award. She received a grant of $3,000 to pursue her topic, “The Digital Railroad: Haitian Asylum Seekers’ Transnational Journey through TikTok,” which will inform her master’s thesis.

She is joined by Kiran Niet, a student in Communication and Media Studies, who received the undergraduate award of $2,000 for his topic, ““Homeland Tourist/Coming Home: Exploring Japanese Canadian Cultural Identity in the Radical 1960s.”

Niet was inspired by his own family’s experience as Japanese immigrants to Canada in the mid-1900s. His research is considering how Japanese Canadians participated in the radical left politics of the 1960s. The FPGA Student EDI Research Award is an annual award to recognize the importance of, and to encourage student research in, EDI and reconciliation-related topics.