Towards Reconciliation in Research: Ethical Approaches to Research and Engagement with Indigenous Peoples

By: Jazlyn O'Bonsawin

November 2024

Introduction: A History of Unethical Research

The history of research with Indigenous Peoples has been fraught with unethical and exploitative research practices. These practices are a manifestation of colonization that often prioritized the goals of researchers over the rights and needs of Indigenous communities, leading to mistrust, cultural harm, and the appropriation of knowledge. Research has generally been conducted on Indigenous communities instead of with Indigenous communities.

This research conducted on Indigenous communities was often deficit-based and focused on describing all the things wrong with Indigenous communities while neglecting to account for the strengths of Indigenous communities and the ways they have been impacted by colonialism. In addition to negative portrayals of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Peoples and communities have not had ownership, control, access, or possession of their data. This has resulted in Indigenous communities' data being disseminated and sold without Indigenous communities' knowledge or consent, causing further harm to Indigenous communities through research processes.  

This history of unethical and extractive research has led Indigenous communities to lack trust and to be hesitant when it comes to research. This was summed up well in a quote by Linda Tuhiwai Smith that states the word itself, ‘research’, is probably one of the dirtiest words in the Indigenous world’s vocabulary.

Recognizing this fraught history, the need to approach Indigenous research in a new way becomes apparent. This includes paying particular attention to methodological decisions and Indigenous data sovereignty and governance. Data sovereignty refers to the right of Indigenous Peoples to govern the collection, ownership, and use of data about themselves, their lands, and their cultures. This movement challenges the extractive research practices of the past, and advocates for a different way of doing research with Indigenous communities.

Principles for Ethical Research with Indigenous Communities

When engaging in research with Indigenous communities, several key principles must guide the process:

1. Respect for Indigenous Knowledge and Protocols: Researchers must understand and respect the cultural protocols, worldviews, and ways of knowing that guide Indigenous communities.

Within Canada, there are 630 First Nations communities that represent over 50 Indigenous languages and nations. Across these communities there are many similarities and differences that researchers should be aware of. For example, sharing circles are a common practice in many Indigenous communities. Indigenous Peoples often gather in circles as everyone is equal in a circle, this provides the opportunity for community members to share and connect with one another in a comfortable and respectful environment. Although many Indigenous communities utilize circles, they may go about them in different ways. In Cost Salish tradition the circles go clockwise to follow the path of the sun while in Iroquois circles, the circle goes counterclockwise to follow the path of the moon. Understanding and accounting for these cultural protocols is essential to ethical research with Indigenous communities.

In addition to respecting cultural protocols, it is also essential to recognize that Indigenous Peoples have their own knowledge and ways of gathering knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is often rooted in the land and takes a more holistic interconnected approach that accounts for the mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional dimensions of life. Recognizing this different approach to knowledge entails adopting a different approach to research. This approach should be based on relationality and collaboration with the community at all stages of the research process.

2. Community Consent and Collaboration: Research must be done with the full, informed, and ongoing, consent of the community. This means that Indigenous communities must be involved in every stage of the research process—from the formulation of research questions to the dissemination of findings. True collaboration ensures that the research is reciprocal and aligns with the communities' priorities.

Collaboration and relationship building are central to research with Indigenous communities. All decisions should be made together to ensure that methodological and research decisions are in the best interest of the Indigenous community. Relationality is paramount to this collaborative approach to research. Relationship building is necessary to build trust

3. Long-Term Relationship Building: Ethical research is founded on meaningful, long-term relationships, rather than short-term, extractive endeavors. It requires time, trust, and a commitment to reciprocity, ensuring that the community benefits from the research in ways they find valuable. However, this approach can be challenging in today’s fast-paced society, where the time needed to build genuine relationships may not always align with the deadlines imposed by funders. It is important that researchers are aware of this and find ways to build meaningful relationships within the timeframe.

Taking time to understand and respect the community’s cultural protocols is an essential part of the relationship building process. The gifting of semma (tobacco) is a common practice that signifies gratitude in many Indigenous communities. Offering tobacco ties is often a very important cultural protocol that researchers should be aware of and practice when asking Indigenous Peoples for knowledge or help.

4. Strengths-Based Approaches: Rather than focusing on deficits, research with Indigenous communities should adopt strengths-based approaches that highlight resilience, cultural knowledge, and innovative solutions. These approaches respect the inherent strength and agency of Indigenous Peoples and emphasize the ways they are actively addressing challenges, often drawing on traditional knowledge.

Historically, research on Indigenous Peoples tended to focus on the deficits or negative aspects of Indigenous communities. This type of deficit-based research has caused harm to Indigenous communities by perpetuating negative stereotypes and portraying the idea that Indigenous communities are inherently pathological. This type of research overlooks the ways colonialism has impacted Indigenous communities and the ways they have survived and persisted throughout these negative experiences of colonialism.

5. Data Sovereignty: Indigenous communities must have control over their data. This includes deciding how data is collected, stored, shared, and used. The OCAP® principles (Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession) created by the First Nations Information Governance Centre, provide a clear guide for ethical data management to ensure that Indigenous Peoples retain sovereignty over their information.

a. Ownership: The community owns the data. This prevents exploitation or misuse of Indigenous data as the data collected from an Indigenous community cannot be used without their explicit consent.

b. Control: This refers to communities' ability to retain control over how their data is used and disseminated. This fosters transparency and accountability by allowing communities to prioritize their own needs to ensure that the research aligns with their goals and values and is beneficial to the community.

c. Access: Communities must have access to their data and any research findings that arise from their data. Access is crucial to fostering trust and creating a collaborative process where communities can make important decisions about their data.

d. Possession: Also known as stewardship, possession refers to physical control of the data. This is a mechanism through which ownership can be established and includes the ability to store and manage the data.

CCFSC’s Approach

The Community and Urban Safety monitoring (C&USM) project at the Canadian Centre for Safer Communities (CCFSC) includes an Indigenous component to recognize that Indigenous peoples are distinct and as such, have unique safety concerns and needs. To ensure that Indigenous voices are included in the C&USM tool, CCFSC is consulting the literature and engaging with Indigenous communities across Canada with the goal of integrating Indigenous indicators into the broader C&USM tool. Community consultations have been carefully designed to ensure that the research is ethical and does not repeat the past harms done to Indigenous communities by researchers.

The engagement process begins with relationships, CCFSC has established relationships with many communities across the country and we have been able to draw on these relationships to work with Indigenous communities. We begin by reaching out, explaining the work and determining if the community is interested in working together. If there is interest, we provide some options for engagement – individual interviews or sharing circles – while also being open to other methods if the community wishes to approach the work in a different way. Throughout this process, the community is an equal partner in the research with the power to make major decisions about the research and how it will be conducted.

Our research aims to gather safety indicators that are relevant and meaningful to Indigenous communities with the ultimate goal of creating a tool that communities can use to monitor safety in their community. Through our engagement process, we invite community members to share their stories and highlight what they feel is most important to their safety as Indigenous Peoples. While some of these indicators reflect negative experiences with Canadian institutions (e.g., police, child welfare services) and the ongoing impacts of colonialism, we are equally committed to a strengths-based approach. Alongside identifying challenges, we also focus on positive indicators that showcase the strength and resilience within Indigenous communities.

After the research is complete, all results are shared with our point of contact in the community. This ensures that the OCAP® principles are respected by giving the community ownership, control, access, and possession of their data. In addition to giving the data back to the community, CCFSC communicates how we would like to use the date on our end to ensure that there is full informed consent regarding CCFSC’s usage of the community’s data.

Reciprocity is also an essential component of research with Indigenous Peoples and thus, CCFSC’s work. Reciprocity is practiced by gifting all participants a tobacco tie and adequately compensating them for their time and wisdom. In addition to this, reciprocity is also practiced by giving the data back to the community. Data from our engagements is not only helpful for our C&USM project but can also be helpful information for the community as well. For example, our engagement in Kenora coincided with the development of their Community Safety and Wellbeing (CSWB) plan; data collected from CCFSC’s engagement was shared with the community and used to inform the development of their CSWB plan. Additionally, the C&USM tool will be available for communities to use upon completion.

Conclusion: Toward a Future of Ethical Research with Indigenous Communities

The history of unethical research with Indigenous Peoples cannot be undone, but we can recognize this history and shift towards a future where research is decolonized and collaborative. By centering Indigenous data governance and adopting ethical methodologies, we can foster a research environment that respects the sovereignty, knowledge, and rights of Indigenous communities so that research benefits rather than harms Indigenous communities. This shift is not only necessary for healing historical wounds but also an essential part of reconciliation and healing for Indigenous communities.

Resources

Research with Indigenous communities requires an understanding of the history of Indigenous research and an openness to new ways of approaching research. There are many resources that one should consult prior to engaging in research with Indigenous communities to ensure that the research is done in a good way. Some helpful resources to consult about Indigenous research and methodologies are:

• Research is Ceremony by Shawn Wilson
• Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
• Indigenous Methodologies by Margaret Kovach

Lastly, The OCAP® principles were created by the First Nations Information Governance Center (FNIGC). FNIGC offers a paid course that gives an in-depth explanation of the OCAP® principles and provides a certificate upon completion. The course can be found here.

About the Author

Jazlyn has a masters degree in Community Psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University. As an Abenaki woman, Jazlyn has experience doing research with Indigenous communities in a way that ensures reciprocity Indigenous people and communities. She joined the Canadian Centre for Safer Communities (CCFSC) in June of 2023 and has been working on the community and urban safety monitoring project, specifically working on identifying indicators of safety that are relevant to Indigenous people and communities. Jazlyn uses a culturally sensitive community-based approach that ensures that Indigenous voices are heard and represented in the community and urban safety monitor.