Turning the walls that divide us into bridges of communication

Walls to Bridges is a community-engaged learning program that began in 2011 as a partnership between Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario and the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University. For the past three years, the program has also been connecting Queen’s students with currently incarcerated students in Kingston.

The 400-level activity-based course is available to students in philosophy and sociology at Queen’s, with classes held in both the minimum-security and medium-security units of Collins Bay Institution. 

As an experiential learning program, Walls to Bridges promotes active learning and deep engagement with course content in a way that many traditional course structures cannot. The added dimension of students’ lived experiences ensures exposure to differing perspectives, an important aspect of both philosophy and sociology – subjects that are centered on critically understanding what it means to be human. Considering that the course operates within a prison, students are given the opportunity to envision how philosophical and sociological concepts may operate within different institutional contexts.

Poster by Walls to Bridges students in Winter 2024.

“The goal of the course is two-pronged: to provide “inside” students with access to higher education, and to develop “outside” students’ understanding of the city and country they live in,” says Lisa Guenther, Queen’s National Scholar in Political Philosophy and Critical Prison Studies, and a professor for the Walls to Bridges philosophy course. “The principle on which the whole program is based is the idea that everyone has something to teach, and everyone has something to learn. Justice doesn't just mean punishment--it might not mean punishment at all--but for justice to truly be served, relationships between people need to be addressed, restored, and repaired.”

Openness to a multitude of perspectives is necessary for achieving the principles of radical pedagogy and restorative justice that the program is based upon. Communication between community members and incarcerated citizens is necessary for healing – not just for people in prison, but for everyone.
Interest in the course has grown exponentially, with the number of applicants tripling since its inception. Dr. Guenther attributes the course’s popularity and success to its alternative format and pedagogy.

Students meet each week in a circle, where they are encouraged to share ideas, ask questions, and engage in conversation - ensuring that everyone joins as equals, and that there is no beginning or end to the conversation, nor a specific direction. Not only does this format promote active learning, but also a decolonial orientation to education, as it is based on Indigenous ways of gathering – an important component considering Indigenous peoples are currently incarcerated at disproportionate rates. 

The circle also provides incarcerated students with a chance to reconceptualize the classroom and their experience of education. Guenther explains that “current incarcerated students may not envision themselves in a lecture hall, so providing them the opportunity to learn in an environment that operates outside the traditional format is critical for everyone to thrive, even if their experience of formal education has not been very positive.”

The courses operate through a pedagogy that is process-based rather than outcome-based, where grading is grounded in the level of thought and care brought to the process. Students are encouraged to be creative in their work and to delve into the content through alternative methods. The semester concludes with a collective project where students express the significance of their conversations throughout the semester. 

These unique aspects of the program culminate in developing skills of listening and responding in an active way: tangible skills that are valuable in all aspects of life, not just in academic contexts. “This course provided me an opportunity to truly engage with and learn through others, to deeply listen to and to be heard – a practice I have brought into my personal and professional life,” says Walls to Bridges ‘outside’ student Laavannya Navaratnam (Arts ‘24). 

There are plans to expand the course offering to students in other departments at Queen’s, so students from a variety of disciplines can partake and contribute to this rewarding experience, and in turn this would provide more opportunities for currently incarcerated students to access higher education, for which there is a high demand. 

To learn more about this program visit the Walls to Bridges website, and for Queen’s specific information visit A New Beginning, A New Understanding on the Faculty of Arts and Science website.

For other stories about community-engaged learning opportunities at Queen’s and their impact, visit the Office of the Principal and Vice-Chancellor’s website.