Research in Indigenous contexts: rethinking our responsibilities and practices

On November 5, Karine Millaire, professor of Indigenous law at Université de Montréal (UdeM), and Annie Pullen Sansfaçon, associate vice-rector for First Peoples at UdeM, gave a memorable lecture on the ethical and legal responsibilities of research conducted with Indigenous communities.

Their message was clear before an audience of 70 members of the scientific community: conducting respectful research requires us to rethink our research practices, our normative frameworks and our relationship to knowledge.

The meeting was organized by the CRCHUM Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and focused on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to data governance, cultural safety and self-determination.

In this context, the speakers reiterated a fundamental point: university research has long been conducted “on” First Peoples, often to their detriment.

Promoting knowledge

This extractive approach marked by colonial and ethnocentric practices has left deep scars, including a still palpable distrust of research institutions.

But change is underway. Since the 1990s, there has been a shift toward a more collaborative approach that involves the community from the earliest stages of the scientific process.

Indigenous knowledge and its promotion should be at the heart of this process, and are enshrined in Article 24 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“Research cannot be decolonized if Indigenous Peoples cannot set their own research priorities and lead their own research,” Karine Millaire pointed out, citing a Canadian government report.

An ethical and decolonial stance

This paradigm shift comes with many challenges: ethics, methodology, representation, reciprocity and cultural safety. University funding and governance models also reinforce power imbalances.

Cultural safety, inspired by Joyce's Principle and work in New Zealand, aims to transform institutions so that they fully protect the rights, needs and identities of Indigenous Peoples.

It goes beyond mere cultural awareness and calls for the deconstruction of power relations, discrimination and the effects of colonialism.

“Decolonial ethics require us to question our ways of thinking and build relationships based on other understandings of the world,” emphasized Annie Pullen Sansfaçon.

This stance requires meaningful—rather than instrumental—participation by communities at the highest possible level throughout the research process.

“It also requires intellectual and cultural humility.”

Fair and respectful research

In practice, this translates into the importance of prior, free, informed, contextualized and ongoing consent.

Karine Millaire also stressed the need to respect OCAP (Ownership, Control, Access, Possession) principles when it comes to data governance. These principles, developed by the First Nations Information Governance Centre, recognize an inherent right to governance over data and information.

The two speakers concluded by offering those present a powerful and inspiring quote from Lucien St-Onge, Innu: “The researcher must be a NUITSHEUMA, a fellow traveller, a companion in action, one who supports the other.”

An invitation to walk side by side, respecting living knowledge and community priorities.

This conference was part of the Indigenous Health Research series and a continuation of Truth and Reconciliation Week. It was followed by a discussion between the research teams and speakers on the implementation of best practices in both teaching and health research contexts.