Over the last four years, my growing team and I have been engaged in community-based research with Indigenous youth in remote communities in northern Alberta. We have worked alongside First Nations and Métis leaders, and school superintendents, administrators and educators to deliver on the requests of the youth and priorities of the Nations. Together with school divisions and Indigenous community leaderships, we have been working to realize the wishes of Indigenous youth, in research that asks: What do you enjoy most about school? What cultural teachings would you want, if any? And, what courses would support your goals and dreams for life after high school? From this, the students have been asking for greater opportunities to learn their languages and cultures. As a result, school division leaders have created positions for language and culture teachers within their schools. Educators are listening to youth voice and making change within the systems.

Language is essential to sustaining culture (McAdam, 2015). Indigenous youth are leading in this work and demanding that education systems change accordingly. With the support of innovative educators, youth are re-learning knowledges that have been held in safe keeping through years of systemic attempts to re-form Indigenous people in the image of their oppressors. Despite the significant damage sustained to hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits over generations, the errors of these misguided ways are clear. With the call for reparations and renewed relationships and responsibilities (TRC, 2015), we are entering a new era of public education—one where Indigenous youth see their cultures, languages, and communities, prioritized.

Last spring one of the community-based research coordinators asked if the language and culture teachers from across the partnerships could be brought together to learn from each other about the work they were doing. As the request came from the educators, our research team began planning a gathering for the fall. We started with a list of about 24 people. It quickly grew to upwards of 56 people in attendance when Elder Toni McCune asked, where are the youth in this plan? The youth leaders need to be there. She was right, so we invited Indigenous youth leaders to attend as well. The gathering supported cross cultural dialogue and collaborations. The youth leaders discussed programming needs and a desire to gather in ways similar to the Students’ Commission of Canada (SCC) event some had experienced the previous year. In the youth leadership circle, the youth described their hopes and proposed purpose for coming together. They wanted to: meet youth from other Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities; experience land-based cultural teachings; participate in ceremonies and learn from Elders; gain life skills, such as how to do their taxes; and learn more about different career paths (e.g., trades, post-secondary, and entrepreneurship. These are the educational experiences they are asking for and what we now plan to action.

This research is premised on theoretical underpinning of ethical relationality (Donald, 2012) that builds from a sense of ethical space (Ermine, 1995). Both account for engaging across differing epistemologies and ontologies with respect and a conscious effort to shift power from the dominant culture to create greater balance between groups. As a Métis scholar working with Indigenous community partners and Indigenous youth, I know that my team and I need to put the relationships first. Relationships are central in Indigenous research methodologies (Kovach, 2021; Smith, 2012; Wilson, 2008). With relationships at heart, the partnerships are strengthened through a shared commitment across all parties to ensure that we achieve the goals of improved educational experiences and overall wellness set out by the communities.

For too long, research around the wellbeing of Indigenous youth has focused on disproportionately higher rates of suicide, absenteeism, dropouts, substance use, and other deficit-focused “gaps” in society’s ability to serve Indigenous people. Research that focuses in these areas is reacting to perceived needs, rather than acknowledging the root causes of these population-specific differences. Indigenous communities have been dramatically hindered by assimilatory processes and targeted racism. The settler-colonial goal of wiping out Indigenous people has led to the present-day challenges, discriminatory systems, and oppressive structures that Indigenous youth have faced for generations. To be clear, the failings listed above are not those of Indigenous youth, but of the society they were born into. We utilize a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methodological approach in this Indigenous-centred work to ensure that the communities actively shape the research agenda, interpret the findings, and set the priorities for next steps (Wallerstein et al., 2019). Importantly, CBPR is an insurgent form of Indigenous research that embodies the importance of ethical relationships, community centredness, and leads to action (Donald, 2012; Gaudry, 2011; Kovach, 2021; Smith, 2012; Wilson, 2008). Our work is strengths-based and action-focused. In these ways we are embodying Paulo Freire’s (1970) notion of conscientization that sees education as a reflexive means for identifying individual and societal prejudices and creating awareness that will inform actions towards the emancipatory aim of a more democratic and socially just society (1993/1970). Both critical pedagogy and CBPR allow us to face, name, and address the legacies of colonization head on, while also acknowledging the expertise and power within the communities to lead the necessary changes. Our research team brings the capacities to support and carry out the research that is needed by the community to guide their planning and implementation. These approaches to research require a relinquishing of power in the relationship and can yield strong partnerships and positive outcomes. We do not come in with a set agenda but are responsive the goals and needs of the community. We do not provide recommendations in our analysis; instead, we share back the raw anonymized data for the partners to read and determine what is important to them. Following Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP) principles, the data belongs to the community. Thus, we share the story of the partnership and generalized findings in our presentations. We also seek approvals from our partners before anything goes to press.

Our existing partners are already seeing the benefits of responding to what the youth are asking for, noting that the Cree and Beaver classrooms have become the hearts of the schools. The communities are abuzz with the recognition and valuing of their cultures. The iterative research cycles, supported by long term relationships and commitments towards reconciliation, are yielding desirable results. The youth know what they want, and the communities hold the wisdom and expertise to teach in ways that centre culture and language towards positive identity formation. Students with a strong sense of self and community connection are leaving their time in schools with greater confidence and efficacy. The shift is palpable, even within a short amount of time. Indigenous education practices have been refined over generations. This form of education holds promise to nurture healthier, stronger ways of living in the world.

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