Student Project Initiates Online Hub to Encourage Indigenous-led Research & Relationship Building Opportunities
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The Indigenous Strategic Initiatives (ISI) Fund has begun allocating money to successful Stream 3: Student-led Projects that will further the implementation of the Indigenous Strategic Plan (ISP). $500,000 was set aside to fund Student-led Projects intended to advance at least one of the ISP’s 43 actions.
The following article explores details about a successful Student-led Project: Indigenous Collaborative Education, Development, Advocacy, and Research (ICEDAR).
| Funding Cycle | 2021-2022 |
| Campus | Vancouver |
| Faculty | Education |
Indigenous Collaborative Education, Development, Advocacy and Research (ICEDAR) is an online hub that supports the development of Indigenous-led research and collaborative work that are relevant and necessary for Indigenous communities. ICEDAR brings together Indigenous peoples and communities with students, researchers, institutions, and community members willing to enact reconciliation by contributing their services, knowledge, and skills to meet Indigenous needs and priorities. In facilitating these multilateral relationships, ICEDAR provides fertile ground for relationships to be seeded and nurtured as a fundamental priority.
Project Team
Áurea Vericat Rocha, Project Lead, is a Ph.D. candidate in UBC’s Faculty of Education Cross-Faculty Inquiry Program. She was born and raised in México City and is of Spanish and Mexican ancestry.
Dr. Cash Ahenakew is a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous People’s Wellbeing and an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education at UBC. Dr. Ahenakew is a member of the Cree First Nation. Dr. Ahenakew contributes his experience and commitment to supporting the development of Indigenous health, theories, curriculum, pedagogies and mixed methodologies.
Project Overview
ICEDAR will offer an online hub where students, researchers, institutions, and community members interested in enacting reconciliation will be invited to introduce themselves and that which they are willing to gift to Indigenous communities. Its purpose is to support the development of one-on-one relationships and Indigenous-led research, and to facilitate the provision of services and resources to serve Indigenous interests and priorities.
Indigenous CEDAR is a space of convergence, listening and dialogue that invites us all to contribute to reconciliation, based on principles of respect, reciprocity and responsibility (Archibald, 2008).-Áurea Vericat Rocha
Indigenous CEDAR is distinct in that it offers an open space for the development of collaborative, ethical and respectful relationships with members of Indigenous communities. It will support those interested in joining the ICEDAR community to make visible their commitments toward reconciliation and Indigenous autonomy.
Indigenous Strategic Plan (ISP) Alignment
This project is dedicated to supporting research co-developed with and led by Indigenous communities, and the provision of services and resources that advance Indigenous wellbeing and human rights. By inviting the involvement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, researchers and organizations such as UBC’s Indigenous Research Support Initiative, this project supports the Indigenous Strategic Plan (ISP) in promoting research that is ethical, relevant and responsive to Indigenous communities as partners.
| Action 11 | Establish Research Chair positions for faculty who demonstrate excellence in the application of Indigenous ways of knowing in research and advance the implementation of Indigenous peoples’ human rights locally, nationally and around the world. |
| Action 12 | Support research opportunities for students to become global leaders in the advancement of Indigenous knowledge systems in health, governance, education, law, business, the sciences, the arts and Indigenous languages. |
| Action 13 | Co-develop research protocols and community-specific ethical research guidelines with interested community partners to ensure students and Faculties are approaching research opportunities with communities in a respectful and formalized manner. This includes the imperative of free, prior and informed consent and protocols on the ownership, control, access and possession of Indigenous data. |
| Action 14 | Provide Indigenous people who are engaged in research with equitable and timely compensation that recognizes the significant value of their participation to the research process and outcomes. |
Impact
ICEDAR will extend UBC’s commitment to meet the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by providing opportunities to enact reconciliation by supporting the development of Education, Development, Advocacy and Research led, inspired by, relevant and necessary to First Nations children, families, communities, and territories.
By putting the need to build relationships first, ICEDAR echoes and seeks to extend UBC’s Indigenous Research Support Initiative (IRSI) in their support of community-based participatory research that is ethical and supportive of Indigenous priorities.
The cedar tree is an integral part of coastal First Nations cultures, sustenance, spirituality, creativity, traditions and territories.
We honour, celebrate and thank the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) and Syilx Okanagan peoples on whose territories the main campuses of the University of British Columbia have the privilege to be situated.