Research with Aboriginal Peoples: Authentic Relationships as a Precursor to Ethical Research

Abstract

Recent ethics guidelines and policies are changing the way health research is understood, governed, and practiced among Aboriginal communities in Canada. This provides a unique opportunity to examine the meanings and uses of such guidelines by Aboriginal communities themselves. This qualitative study, conducted in Labrador, Canada, with the Innu, Inuit, and Inuit-Metis, examined how communities and researchers collaborate in a co-learning environment whereby mutual interests and agendas are discussed and enacted throughout the entire research process—a process referred to an authentic research relationship. The purpose of this study was to answer the following questions: (1) Why are authentic research relationships important? (2) What is authenticity in research? (3) How do we achieve authenticity in research with Aboriginal peoples? This shift to more wholistic methodologies can be used in various contexts in Canada and internationally. This is the first study by an Aboriginal person to examine the perspectives of Aboriginal people, in an Aboriginal context, using Aboriginal methodologies.