Cecile Kotyk
Assistant Professor
Dr. Marie (Cecile) Kotyk has over 15 years of experience as a Social Planner in the housing and homelessness sector. She is recognized for her expertise in promoting spatial equity and social justice. Throughout her career, she has led several significant projects by effectively collaborating with various stakeholders, including government officials, private and public organizations, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, Indigenous groups, Black communities, and individuals with lived and living experiences. She has progressed from providing direct service to clients to taking on leadership roles, influencing systems by making policy and service recommendations, aligning community and government strategic plans, and enhancing the professional capacity of community agencies to end homelessness and increase the supply of affordable housing.
For instance, she spearheaded housing procurement for the At Home/Chez Soi project (Winnipeg site), a pioneering national research demonstration project in Canada, which was the catalyst for the housing first model in Canada. She has also collaborated with on-reserve Indigenous communities to develop comprehensive community plans, community housing plans, and strategic plans to address their housing needs and advance self-determination. Recognizing the lack of research on the housing challenges faced by Black and other racialized communities, Cecile founded Kotyk Consulting, a consulting practice to help governmental and non-profit organizations design and conduct community research initiatives to understand the housing and systemic challenges confronting Black, Indigenous, and other racialized groups. In her practice, she prioritizes lived and living experiences and approaches her work from the standpoint of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility to address structural inequities.
Cecile is also an accomplished academic, earning her undergraduate degree in Human Ecology from the University of Manitoba, specializing in Family, Housing, and Communities, and a minor in Psychology. Additionally, she holds a Master's in City Planning from the University of Manitoba, during which she developed a Comprehensive Community Housing Plan for an on-reserve First Nation. She is also a graduate of the Doctor of Design Program in the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture at the University of Calgary. During her program, she developed the first of its kind in Canada, the Black Housing Equity Framework (BHEF), to combat systemic anti-Black racism and advance Black inclusion in the housing and homelessness sector. For her research, she was awarded the Alberta Human Rights and Multiculturalism scholarship for 2022/2023 at the doctoral level. Her doctoral research has gained national and international attention and has been presented at conferences held in Calgary, Toronto, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Hamilton, Vancouver, Halifax, Fredericton, Leuven (Belgium), Budapest (Hungary), and Santiago (Chile).
Contact Info
Research Interests
- Housing and Homelessness
- Design Justice
- Social and Racial Justice
- Anti-Black Racism
- Social Policy
- Spatial Justice
- Racialized Communities and Housing Needs
- Indigenous Planning
- Indigenous Homelessness
- Black History and Urban Planning
- Community Engagement