The Path of Creating Co-Researchers in the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council

Abstract

Currently, there is a need for implementing ethical, culturally safe practices when engaging in research with Indigenous communities. As a result, best practices in culturally-safe Indigenous health research have been created to mitigate the existing barriers in health and health research stemming from Canada’s colonial history. This article includes a brief examination of those best practices, including community-based participatory research, OCAP® principles, knowledge translation, and positioning communities as co-researchers. Furthermore, it provides an overview of a community-based research project that examines community members’ knowledge of and experiences with dementia. The central themes that emerged during this project are also discussed, reaffirming the need for a culturally safe dementia research model in Indigenous communities.