Indigenous Research Stories

Dr. Murry experienced challenges in the first few years of moving to Canada and taking up his new roles at UCalgary. He experienced a surge in questions from fellow researchers and students about research in workplace psychology and Indigenous research in general. With the popularity of Psychology, as the most popular major in Canada including at the University of Calgary, he found that more and more students were reaching out to him about doing Indigenous research under his supervision and mentorship Like many Indigenous faculty and research, this can result in significant demands on his time, expertise, and resources. Dr. Murray has worked with IRST since it was first started in 2019 and has witnessed firsthand the need for support in Indigenous research. While Murry has worked with the Indigenous Research Support Team since 2019 and has witnessed firsthand the need for support in Indigenous research.   

In 2018, the Alberta Indigenous Mentorship in Health Innovations (AIM-HI) network invited Adam to help evaluate mentorship within their network. During his search of evaluation tools and frameworks, he found none of the currently used tools centred Indigenous perspectives. As part of AIM-HI, Adam and his team worked to develop a model of Indigenous mentorship that could help align program expectations with what Indigenous mentors do for their Indigenous mentees. The model has received a positive reception for recognizing the, often, invisible labour of our Indigenous mentors, helping to justify mentorship programs for Indigenous students, and advancing research on mentorship in the health sciences. Now under the Indigenous Primary Health Care and Policy Research (IPHCPR) network, Adam, along with PhD candidate Elaine Atay, and master’s student Lena Le Huray, are developing an online training program for mentors based on that model of Indigenous mentorship. The training should be available to UCalgary in the next couple years. 

Adam is most interested in research that supports the work that others are doing. Since coming to the University of Calgary, his work has contributed to community-based advisory committees to city government, on-reserve school-based interventions, provincial mentoring programs, and our Office of Indigenous Engagement and Indigenous Studies program. In 2020, Murry was invited to serve as the evaluator for the IPHCPR network, lead by Dr. Lindsay Crowshoe of the Cumming School of Medicine. Similar to his experience in AIM-HI, Adam found that tools to evaluate what the network was trying to do did not exist, no doubt because Indigenous people and their priorities and interests have been historically excluded from these kinds of spaces. Consequently, over the past three years, Adam and his team have been working to build a model of Readiness to Practice Indigenous health research to help measure IPHCPR’s impact on raising Indigenous health research capacity. To do so, they first had to define what being “ready to practice” meant in non-Indigenous and Indigenous healthcare, and then adapt it to the context of a network focused on enhancing research. 

The model, recently accepted for publication by the International Journal of Indigenous Health, delineates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics required for Indigenous health research, and then locates them within the readiness to practice healthcare framework. Adam says the model helps to link skills (e.g., disruptive approach) or knowledge (e.g., history of colonialism) to domains of readiness (e.g., cognitive aspects and decolonized practice), which helps evaluators interpret change and coordinators plan activities. In addition to tools specific to the network, this work also informs healthcare practitioners who are either entering the healthcare workforce or in their early days of practice working with Indigenous patients. 

In his work, Dr. Murry highlights that the old deficit-focused research on Indigenous Peoples does not focus on challenging political and organizational practices and finds that Indigenous researchers struggle with overly Westernized frameworks. He does acknowledge that efforts are being made to change how Indigenous knowledge is taken in by students and faculty.

Dr. Adam Murry has made way for Indigenous worldviews to be more appreciated and practical for use in workplace psychology and continues to work towards creating awareness of Indigenous affairs and the responsibilities to Treaties for all Canadians, especially those working in healthcare, carried out in a knowledgeable way. 

In 1991, Cunningham began her career in post-secondary education as an Indigenous student recruiter at the University of Alberta. Her responsibilities included travelling to Central and Northern Alberta First Nations, Métis schools, and adult learning centers to offer admissions information. Additionally, she hosted Indigenous youth on campus for tours and information sessions. Her passion for Indigenous education was ignited after a negative comment from a non-Indigenous teacher, which propelled her into a successful career in Indigenous post-secondary education and academic pursuits, ultimately leading to a doctorate. Cunningham then served as an Indigenous Student Advisor at Mount Royal University before assuming leadership roles at the University of Calgary, including director of the Writing Symbols Lodge Indigenous Student Centre and recently as director of the university's Indigenous strategy. 

“Her doctoral research focused on truth-telling, advocacy, and sharing of Indigenous lives and experiences in post-secondary education. The dissertation, completed in Werklund School of Education in the fall of 2022, provides insight into Indigenous experiences at UCalgary and offers a beacon for hope for meaningful Indigenous inclusion in higher education, leading towards a shared understanding of reconciliation, in a good way.” (Fisher, Mike. “Lighting the Way for Reconciliation and Representation.” UToday News, 11 Mar. 2024.)

Her research focused on two primary questions:  of the Indigenous leaders who oversee Indigenous student service centers (places of significance to Indigenous students) in public post-secondary institutions in Canada shape and form an Indigenist praxis? Her second question seeks to understand what the role of Indigenous leaders of Indigenous student service centers has in Indigenization, decolonization, and indigenization of public and post-secondary institutions in Canada. 

Cunningham’s Metis heritage holds a deep importance in her research and has incorporated the sharing of tea and bannock along with gifting in her Sharing Circle. Among the Indigenous storytelling methodologies Cunningham utilizes Dwayne Donald’s (2012) making meaning through Métissage (to weave story threads together) is one of them. She also uses a ceremonial framework with an ethical parallel to Western ethical guidelines, she gathered and shared stories in a Sharing Circle and generated and shared knowledge while holding and building up an emergent role in reconciliation. Cunningham shares the storied experience of nine Indigenous leaders of Indigenous student centres, putting the spotlight on public post-secondary institutions in Canada that are engaging in sustainable acts of reconciliation through education.  “The research offers insight into the roles of the Indigenous leaders at these centres, their experiences, and their perspectives on decolonization and Indigenization unfolding in public post-secondary institutions across Canada.” (Fisher, Mike. “Lighting the Way for Reconciliation and Representation.” UToday News, 11 Mar. 2024.)

In her research, Cunningham found that there were many common challenges that Indigenous centers in post-secondary institutions faced along with current and emerging core issues. Some of the common challenges included a lack of sustainable resources including human and fiscal resources, the honour shown to cultural protocol was often lacking, Indigenous centers had a lack of voice in institutional decisions, and there was a need for culturally appropriate places and spaces. A few of the current and emerging issues include an overshadowing of EDI issues, cultural literacy and pressure for Indigenous peoples to conform to Western systems. 

Through Cunningham’s collection of stories from the Sharing Circle and their experiences within post-secondary institutions, she found many themes that included racism, mistrust of institutions, fatigue and burnout of Indigenous staff, trauma, student successes and reciprocity and resilience.

Cunningham hopes that post-secondary institutions and Indigenous student center take away a sense of reciprocity and responsibility can be found, and the incorporation of Indigenous Communities of Practice be included in the future efforts of institutions to create more culturally appropriate spaces and places. 

Elisa had a sense of loss and displacement from her being away from her home country upon moving to Canada. While studying for her BA in Psychology, she experienced how individualistic counselling psychology was. This realization led her to community- driven spaces. This coincided with learning about Indigenous cultures in Canada and Indigenous history with the Canadian government. Elisa found similarities in the economic disparities and injustices that many Indigenous people face with the societal realities faced in Brazil. She noticed the inhumane ways Indigenous peoples and children in the foster system were being treated.  Elisa felt compelled to work with Indigenous communities on creating opportunities for the communities to thrive with control over child welfare systems. 

Elisa’s proud to be doing work side by side with communities and knowing that the research is for the benefit of the community. It’s not something that happens often in academic research as communities are often looked at as sites of concern rather than sources of wisdom, strength, and capacity to lead their own vision. 

Her research centers on the connection between mental health and child welfare, with a focus on strength-based initiatives that build capacity in Indigenous communities, through Indigenous systems and self-determination. Much of Elisa’s work is a critique of western systems which set up Indigenous families to fail and provide them limited supports to succeed. Elisa turned to community-led Indigenous models of child welfare and has worked with the largest urban Indigenous community organization in Manitoba, Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre. Ma Mawi makes arrangements with Child and Family Services to support Indigenous families thrive. The organization’s family reunification program helps these families reconnect to themselves, their culture and reunify the family. Comparably, 94% of families are reunified by Ma Mawi to about 15% of families in CFS being reunified. The organization also works with Indigenous communities and reserves on building mental health programs to prevent children going into care. Elisa is grateful to be involved in the work with the organization and witnessing Welcome Home Ceremonies in communities for families that have been reunified. 

Elisa’s most recent research is funded by the CIHR Healthy Youth Catalyst Grant. She works closely with Derek Courchene (Sagkeeng First Nation- Treaty 1) who created the Trauma-Informed Care and Practice Program (TICPP). TICPP is a community capacity-building program that adopts an Indigenous lens and experiential practices to unpack issues that impact Indigenous wellness. The project aims to conceptualize how the program originally designed for adults can be adapted to provide culturally safe and relevant mental health and wellness services to Indigenous youth.  The project involves Saint Theresa Point First Nation (Cree) and Pine Creek First Nation (Anishinaabe). In addition to working side-by-side with youth in the communities, she also sees the importance in working with Indigenous grad students, and has four on her research team at Apoema Research Circle. Elisa also sits on the Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board, as an advisor and reviewer on community-based and Indigenous research files.    

When asked about what barriers Elisa has noticed with Indigenous research, she explains that she has seen a lot of improvement and having such amazing leadership in that regard such as the Vice-Provost Indigenous Engagement Office and the Werklund School of Education Elders Guidance Circle that helps advocate for Indigenous culture and provides access to education. The Indigenous Research Support Team has been a great support to her research as well. Elisa finds that one of the barriers in Indigenous research is that many people think they are doing well by Indigenous research but are still married to Western frameworks. She believes that it goes further than academics, the structures that adjudicate Indigenous research rely heavily on Western systems. A parallel path between Western and Indigenous knowledge systems needs to be honoured regarding assessment and we are not there yet. The lack of education on Indigenous frameworks, particularly in community-based research, is a barrier to cultural shifts in measuring impact and the communal ethics of Indigenous and community-based research. More discussion within leadership would be valuable. Elisa recognizes Jennifer Godley, Chair of the Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board (CFREB), as an amazing champion that has pushed for structural changes to recognize Indigenous frameworks in their own right. The Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) is another huge support, but how much it is enacted is a different story; she sees much positive potential for good work when followed. Elisa thinks there is a lot of fear from non-Indigenous people of saying the wrong thing or letting go of ideas of expertise. She believes the way forward is to have the courage to enter spaces with curiosity, accepting that will be mistakes, having humility, and finding beauty in the unknown. 

Elisa shared her suggestions for improvements that could be made in research. She believes that having a strong Indigenous representation in ethics boards would be ideal or even an Indigenous ethics board that connects and shares ways of doing with the non-Indigenous boards. Elisa suggests having more support in terms of Indigenous grant writing would be beneficial. We need to be willing to have dialogue—not discussions—between the community and the University on Indigenous frameworks and ways we can engage in building knowledge and capacity. Dialogue must be accompanied by accountability mechanisms so we, as a University, can use our gifts to meet the aspirations of communities. All too often, we are asking already overburdened Indigenous communities, staff, and scholars to do the educating on decolonization and Indigenization. While engagement with Indigenous peoples is a mandatory step, it is incumbent upon all, especially non-Indigenous people, to do our homework, to learn and find ways we can use our platform and scholarship to amplify Indigenous voices and calls, and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples. We all have a lifelong part to play in redressing colonizing research and practice. 

TRAction was launched in 2019 and, over the past five years, has focused on engaging communities in art-making to address issues of climate justice. TRAction’s projects emerge from and/or are informed by their close relationship with a group of Indigenous artists and knowledge keepers. TRAction’s Indigenous Advisory Council includes Chantal Stormsong Chagnon, Cole Alvis, Sandra Lamouche, Starr Muranko and Jacob Crane.

TRAction’s other co-director is Kevin Jesuino, who is a first-generation settler multi-disciplinary performer, performing arts educator, movement coach, arts facilitator, LGBTQ+ activist, and community organizer of Portuguese heritage. The members of TRAction’s Indigenous Advisory Council include: Chantal Stormsong Chagnon is a Cree/Métis Singer, Drummer, Artist, Storyteller, Actor, Educator, Workshop Facilitator, Social Justice Advocate and Activist, and owner of Cree8 Traditional art and Teachings with roots in Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan. Sandra Lamouche is a Nehiyaw Iskwew (Cree Woman) from the Bigstone Cree Nation in Northern Alberta and is a multidisciplinary creator, artist, writer and storyteller, a Champion Hoop Dancer, an award winning Indigenous Educational Leader, and a two-time TEDx Speaker with over 15 years of dance experience. Starr Muranko is a dancer/choreographer, Mother and Co-Artistic Director with ​Raven Spirit Dance and has toured across Canada and internationally and trained under the guidance and mentorship of the late Elder Margaret Harris. Cole Alvisis a 2 Spirit theatre artist based in Tkarón:to with Métis-Chippewa, Irish and English heritage. They are a leader of LemonTree creations, Manidoons collective and AdHoc Assembly. Jacob Crane is a citizen of the Tsuut’ina Nation and is an Executive Director for the SLC Air Protectors and co-founded and runs a media production company called The Arrow’s Journey. 

Over the past few years, Melanie, Kevin and the Indigenous advisory council have been meeting with one another regarding TRAction’s projects. From these discussions, they realized that it might be helpful to share the learning from such meetings with the wider arts community. Working with four community connectors (Flora Aldridge, Mayumi Lashbrook, Nicole Schafenacker and Jen Yakamovich) from the Climate Art Web (another of TRAction’s projects, co-created with Chantal Chagnon), the group developed, co-wrote and launched the  Decolonial Toolkit for Climate Artists in November of 2023. 

The Decolonial Toolkit is a document that addresses the intersection of colonialism, climate change and the arts. More specifically, the Toolkit aims to help artists consider their own cultural conditioning, confront the inseparability of colonialism and climate change, and develop a decolonial foundation for both the climate art field, and the arts sector more broadly. It outlines twelve guidelines that aim to help artists understand how they can act as allies in decolonization and climate justice. 

Melanie expressed that one of the special aspects of the Decolonial Toolkit is that the guidelines can be directly applied to the work of artists focusing on addressing climate issues. As one example, the Toolkit counsels artists to conceive of their project with Indigenous knowledge keepers and individuals, rather than bringing them in ‘after the fact; likewise, the Toolkit offers significant additional resources to help individual decolonizing journeys.

In conjuction with the creation of the Decolonial Toolkit, Melanie has been collaborating with Cree artist Sandra Lamouche on the Just Breathe, Okâwîmâwaskiy performance project. This project takes participants on an immersive journey that encourages them to consider more deeply the connections between climate change, capitalism and colonialism. The participants’ physical involvement in the journey creates an opportunity to experience the anxiety associated with the climate crisis, while also witnessing solutions that stem from Indigenous worldviews.

Inspired by a video, ‘Stewardess of the Land’, which was created by Sandra for TRAction’s social media project 10 Ways to Fix the Planet, Just Breathe, Okâwîmâwaskiy concludes with a discussion session with a trained psychologist where participants can process the immersive experience. With support from a Catalyzing Climate Action grant and the Canada Council for the Arts, Sandra and Melanie will be continuing the Just Breathe, Okâwîmâwaskiy project, including creating a video experience so more people have the opportunity to engage with the project. 

The Just Breathe, Okâwîmâwaskiy project has deep roots within the Toolkit, with Melanie and Sandra consistently considering how to apply the Toolkit in their working relationship. Other Indigenous-settler collaborations across the country are also putting the Toolkit into practice. One of these includes Yukon-based Gwaandak Theatre and settler theatre artist Nicole Schafenacker, who are involved in a joint project with Melanie and Sandra to assess the Toolkit in practice. These projects have led to a new project where TRAction and members of the Indigenous Advisory Council have joined to create a learning modality associated with the Toolkit; this is expected to launch in 2025.

Pamela earned a BSc in Primatology during her undergrad at UCalgary and earned her PhD in Medical and Human Science at the University of Manchester. Pamela has always worked in community-based research. Her interest in mental health patient and family centered care research began when she was working with postpartum women with addictions. She then started to work with people with mental health conditions diverting out of the justice system. Mental health, at the time, had a great need for support and she wanted to help. Pam worked internationally for a few years during her time at the University of Manchester and to worked as a research assistance with NHS. Pamela found that dementia care was underserved and started working with younger families struggling with mental health and dementia care. She has been working with dementia care for about 20 years, when she came back to Canada, she tried to help her own community with Indigenous dementia care and helped serve in any of their priorities are in health. 

She had initially connected with the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST) when it first formed in 2019. She states, “The fact that we have IRST, is remarkable.” Pamela facilitates faculty development and finds that people are expressing a need for communication and connection and having a group of people that can support Indigenous serving researchers to help the communities in a way that is more beneficial. The Indigenous Community of Practice was designed to provide a space for Indigenous researchers and Indigenous knowledge keepers and community members to communicate and connect about the research they are involved in and any achievements or barriers they are experiencing. 

Pamela has been focusing on a few different research projects. She has been working on a project that focuses on Indigenous centered approaches to dementia care and has been in discussing what mental health and dementia care would look like with the Indigenous communitites of the area. Pamela has also been working on a model of what a dementia care center would look like. She has been working on Faculty development strategies for the Cumming School of Medicine in efforts to build competency in system change and the ability research Indigenous Health.  

Indigenous research at UCalgary has many highlights and has improved immensely over the past decade although, these research projects still face barriers. Pamela explains that the number of Indigenous faculty has grown along with the interest in Indigenous led research and people are working to learn what that means and how to advocate for it. She wants to remind people that there is room for everyone, and that though there is fear of doing Indigenous research wrong, there is a willing and able body of support people. Pamela hopes that researchers engaging in Indigenous research learn how to do that from the start including the importance of relationship building, practicing ethical research, following timelines, ensuring that budgets are present for honoraria and how these aspects differ from non-Indigenous research. And the Indigenous Research Support Team is designed to offer support to researchers through all of these aspects and encourage researchers to reach out when they begin the research process to ensure that no steps are overlooked. 

Norma also works to build Indigenous Community Partnerships on land-based learning and cultural programs with the Indigenous communities of the Treaty 7 and surrounding areas. She has been meeting with staff and faculty members as well to understand what programs can be made for the University in partnership with the Indigenous community members. Norma has been making visits to cultural sites such as Blackfoot Crossing, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, and Writing-on-the-Stone to gather cultural knowledge and understanding for potential land-based programs. 

In supporting other Units at the University, Norma is currently working on establishing an Indigenous student and scholar’s forum to discuss “what does sustainability mean to you from an Indigenous perspective.” Please keep an eye out for invitations to join in the collaborations. 

When it comes to how research with Indigenous communities is conducted with the University of Calgary, Norma has highlighted more focus needs to be placed with the researcher themselves in identifying their positionality, where do they see themselves as they work towards reconciliation. From here, scholars should work on establishing a relationship between scholars, Indigenous people, and the Indigenous communities before engaging in research. 

Norma acknowledges that once a researcher has a relationship with an Indigenous community, the scholar must practice reciprocity and cultural protocol specific to that community. Scholars should be able to identify their position in reconciliation and understand Indigenous ways of Knowing, Being and Connecting. More importantly, she advises scholars to be mindful of the approach and terminology that is being used throughout their relationships and through their community-based projects.

Norma appreciates the desire she sees in scholars and students to learn and understand the world of Indigenous peoples and being open to learn the truth of the Indigenous histories and how it has impacted Indigenous peoples and all Canadians. Her passion to shared in the various committees’ she either facilitates or participates in. She supports research areas, curriculum development and new programs that enhance Indigenous engagement and maintains the parallel path with the ii’taa’poh’to’p strategy.

Gerald is dedicated to working towards increasing recruitment and retention in higher education for Indigenous students and staff through cultural safety and meaningful reconciliation. He has lived and worked in Mexico, Ukraine, and Peru. He has 15 years’ experience working in the areas of justice, child and youth care, youth leadership, and higher education with personal knowledge of Indigenous worldviews, history, treaties, cultural protocols, working with Elders, ceremonies, the legacy of Indian Residential Schools, the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) 94 Calls to Action, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Gerald currently works at the University of Calgary as an Indigenous Intercultural Initiatives Specialist with the Office of Indigenous Engagement. 

Gerald is working on a few Indigenous research projects, one of which is completed and focuses on Achieving Indigenous Cultural Safety in Higher Education with perspectives from Indigenous staff, faculty, and students. Building culturally respectful relationships with Indigenous peoples and communities that are built on an ongoing basis of reciprocity is a highlight that Gerald found important from this project. Gerald is also working on a research project on understanding allyship through an Indigenous lens with Dr. Michael Hart, Dr Kerry Black, and Dr. Reg Crowshoe that identifies what it means to being a good relative and will include treaty seven traditional knowledge keepers and Elders. He is open to working with any Grad Students and Elders who are interested in this work. Gerald is also leading two new workshops that focus on intercultural capacity building on campus and are open to UCalgary staff, faculty, and students. One of the workshops that he is leading is the Anti-Indigenous Racism Workshop Series which is a four-module workshop aiming to address the barrier of racism for Indigenous peoples. The other workshop is the 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act which addresses the history of the Indian Act of 1876 through forced assimilation. 

In relation to Indigenous research, Gerald would like to see that post secondary recognize the underrepresentation of Indigenous methodologies in research. Indigenous oral knowledge is parallel to western written knowledge, and this must be recognized and made accessible to the appropriate communities. Gerald also acknowledges the importance of keeping Elders, Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, and communities involved throughout the entire research project as well as afterwards. Gerald has also highlighted that ceremony has its own place within Indigenous research, projects have spirit and need ceremony to be carried out in a good way. 

His current research interests include religion and music, the historical-comparative study of religion, and near-death experiences. He is active in interdisciplinary research also, serving as a Co-Investigator in a community-based study exploring links between health, spirituality, and wellbeing within the Métis Nation of Alberta – Region 3. Most recently, Craig has been working on multi-media projects including the Songs of Justice Project and the Animal Kinship Project.

The Animal Kinship Project explores the presence of animals and their impact on humans. It is being presented as an album compilation of music videos and oral teachings. One of the many animals the project focuses on is the polar bear. Craig has a personal connection to the presence of polar bears as he grew up in Churchill, Manitoba He will be presenting a music video on the polar bear at an interdisciplinary panel at the U of C this fall. He is currently recording a song about Inuit sled dogs commemorating the slaughter of Inuit sled dogs between 1950-1975. Craig is active with the Bison Working Group and Indigenous Led, groups that are working to restore an intercontinental bison herd.  Craig will be sharing some of his work from this project at the Office of Indigenous Engagement’s Campfire Chats being held at Heritage Park on June 21st along with other artists.

In 2012, Caroline became a faculty member of the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan. In January 2023, she was nominated by the Faculty of Social Work and the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary for a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Health Equity and Inclusion. 

Currently, Caroline’s primary research focus is Indigenous peoples and organ donation and transplantation. This is a field of research which is emerging in Indigenous health and for which Caroline has been a national and international leader. Caroline is a member of the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program (CDTRP) and, also founder of the First Nations and Métis Organ Donation and Transplantation Network and the International Indigenous Organ Donation and Transplantation Network. 

 Caroline is also involved in research focused on Indigenous people living with mental illness who are incarcerated.  This work is in partnership with STR8 UP, a Saskatoon based organization that assists individuals who want to exit gang life. Currently Caroline is working on a case study of a young Indigenous man who committed suicide in early 2020 while incarcerated. This research seeks to honour him by giving voice to his life journey and by identifying and addressing risk factors that contribute to elevated rates of suicide among incarcerated Indigenous people.