About Fictive Kin
Rewriting Societal Narratives
My name is Dr. Dominique Riviere, and I am the Founder and Principal of Fictive Kin Equity Lab.
In the summer of 2020, I watched the gross inequities being revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the vicious rise in anti-Black racism, with a broken - but unsurprised - heart.
I also watched the reactionary, largely performative responses to these events with a growing sense of frustration, dismay, and anger.
And I spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out why it was so difficult for organizations to sustain their commitments to equity and social justice.
Then one night, I sat bolt upright in bed and thought:
“The reason it’s so hard to make equity ‘stick’ in organizations is because their institutional narratives don’t align with the goals of equity and social justice.
And the reason for that is because our societal narratives are at odds with equity and justice.”
From there, Fictive Kin Equity Lab was born.
“All that we are is story. From the moment we are born to the time we continue on our spirit journey, we are involved in the creation of the story of our time here. It is what we arrive with. It is all we leave behind.”
—Richard Wagamese
Uncovering Invisible Stories of Injustice
I have been learning about and doing equity work, across multiple sectors, for over 20 years.
I have also been a Black, female, Canadian for over 40 years.
This means I possess a unique combination of lived experience, intellectual rigour, and determined idealism.
All of which have led me to the realization that the best way to sustain equity is to rewrite the stories we tell and that we treat as true.
Why is this important? Because stories = power.
More specifically, stories = emotion + power.
They combine the weight of our deepest, most profound emotions with the power to create and amplify a particular perspective over space and time.
That’s why, when it comes to equity work, we need to first uncover the stories that are sabotaging our best efforts to create a society that is more inclusive, humane, and just.
Fictive Kin helps equity professionals to disrupt dominant narratives by focusing on the systemic, structural patterns that reinforce exclusion, and delimit peoples’ access to safe, stable, and successful lives.
Our Services take an inductive, inquiry-based approach, based on research methodologies that are designed to highlight, and then rectify, injustice.
BUILDING A SOLID FOUNDATION
“Dominique has been critical in forming a solid foundation based on professional experience and her understanding of concepts, constructs and best practices in equity and inclusion.”
– Kevin Garcia, Head of Diversity & Inclusion / IT Director, Futurpreneur Canada
More About Me
I earned my Ph.D. in 2006 from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, at the University of Toronto. Since then, I have applied the strong equity lens I developed in academia across multiple sectors, including government and technology / innovation.
My academic research training, specifically in critical ethnography and narrative inquiry, also helped to show me the importance of storytelling in defining who an organization is, how it operates, and what it values.
I am an avid reader, unabashed chocoholic, formally-trained dancer, mother to the world’s most energetic 6-year-old, and wholly determined to someday live in a country where winter does not exist.