RDP Library: Research Common: Research with Indigenous Peoples

Research with Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Research with Indigenous peoples in Canada has a complicated and problematic history. The following resources can provide useful context and guidance for doing research in partnership with indigenous peoples and communities:

Pulling Together: A Guide for Researchers, Hiłḵ̓ala
A Guide for Researchers looks at systemic change of research by exploring research practice and process with Indigenous Peoples and knowledge. The Guide for Researchers also includes a planning tool (Appendix B) which can help determine parameters and influences of a research project within a community and a second one to guide dialogue with Indigenous community authorities.

The guide is part of a learning series for public post secondary staff. It's developed through a collaboration between BCcampus and the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training. The project was supported by a steering committee of Indigenous education leaders from B.C. universities, colleges, and institutes, the First Nations Education Steering Committee, the Indigenous Adult and Higher Learning Association, and Métis Nation British Columbia.
Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities
Researchers need to change the discourse of research with Indigenous populations from “damage-centered” to “desire-based.” Unangax author Eve Tuck provides three goals to strive for to help shift the discourse.
Nothing About Us Without Us: An Inuk Reply to Exploitative Research
An essay from Inuk researcher, ethicist, and poet Julie Bull.
People to People, Nation to Nation: Highlights from the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
An introduction to the main themes and conclusions in the final report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, published by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The resolution lists 46 Articles which clearly define “the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a standard of achievement to be pursued in a spirit of partnership and mutual respect.”
Collaborative Indigenous Research Digital Garden
A virtual visiting place designed to bring together the fields of participatory research and Indigenous research, created by Dr. Eve Tuck and Graduate Student Researchers in the Tkaronto CIRCLE Lab.

Indigenous Research Methodologies

These resources can provide useful guidance for using Indigenous methodologies and doing research in partnership with Indigenous peoples and communities:

Research Is Ceremony by Shawn Wilson
Call Number: GN 380 W554 2008
Portraying indigenous researchers as knowledge seekers who work to progress indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing in a constantly evolving context, this examination by Opaskwayak Cree author Wilson shows how relationships both shape indigenous reality and are vital to reality itself.
Indigenous Research: Theories, Practices, and Relationships by Deborah McGregor, Jean-Paul Restoule, Rochelle Johnston (Editors)
Call Number: E 76.7 I53 2018
Edited collection exploring "how we practice Indigenous research in Canada ethically and respectfully."
Research As Resistance: Revisiting Critical, Indigenous, and Anti-Oppressive Approaches by Lesley Brown (Editor); Susan Strega (Editor)
Call Number: H 62 R422 2015
ISBN: 9781551308821
This book brings together the theory and practice of anti-oppressive approaches to social science research.

Anti-Colonial Methodologies and Practices for Settler Colonial Studies
Elizabeth Carlson provides research methodologies, principles, and applications from an anti-colonial viewpoint and encourages researchers to conduct their research in a relational and contextual manner.
USAI Research Framework, Second Edition
Developed by the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres. (pdf)
Intercontinental American Indigenous Research Association
An independent organization whose mission is to "promote, foster, and apply Indigenous Research Methodologies."

Indigenous Research Ethics

These resources can provide useful guidance for doing research in partnership with indigenous peoples and communities in an ethical way. For more information and resources, please see the Red Deer Polytechnic Research Ethics Board website.

Blue Quills University Research Ethics Policy
Cree ethics policy.
Ethics of Aboriginal Research
Mohawk author Marlene Brant Castellano proposes a set of principles to help develop ethical codes for research within Indigenous communities.
Ethics Hub
A platform for sharing tools and experiences related to research involving indigenous and local communities.
Indigenous Research Agreement
Template from Memorial University.
Indigenous Research Ethics Institute
From Carleton University.
Inuit Perspectives on Research Ethics: The work of Inuit Nipingit
An article outlining the work of the Inuit Nipingit (National Inuit Committee on Ethics and Research) during the development of the TCPS2.
National Inuit Strategy on Research
From Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
The First Nations Principles of OCAP
From the First Nations Information Governance Centre.
Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP) or Self-Determination Applied to Research: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary First Nations Research and Some Options for First Nations Communities
Author Brian Schnarch offers a critical analysis of current colonial research practices and suggests changes to improve ethics for Indigenous research.
Principles of Ethical Metis Research
From the Metis Centre @ NAHO (National Aboriginal Health Organization).

Walking Together: Applying OCAP® to College Research in Central Alberta

Walking Together: Applying OCAP® to College Research in Central Alberta, is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada-funded Knowledge Synthesis project conducted by Krista Robson (Research Ethics Board), Michelle Edwards Thomson (Library Information Common and Research Common) and Vickie Cardinal-Widmark and Lloyd Desjarlais (Indigenous Student Services). The project involved a scoping review of academic, government and community knowledge about the role of institutional Research Ethics Boards in advising both Indigenous and non-Indigenous academic researchers working with Indigenous individuals and communities in Central Alberta on the OCAP® Principles (ownership, control, access, possession). The results of a thematic analysis of the literature were validated through a consultation process with local organizations, researchers and other college research offices.

Walking Together Complete Report