Who are we?
The Indigenous Health Research Advisory Committee (IHRAC) is a working group of the Chronic Pain Network, comprised of community members, Elders, patients, clinicians and health researchers from across Canada. Our work is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research under Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research.
We are striving to facilitate authentic partnerships between Indigenous communities and researchers using a Two-Eyed Seeing Approach (Etuaptmumk; Marshall & Marshall, 2008). The resources on this page were compiled by the Indigenous Health Research Advisory Committee and are meant to guide researchers and ensure ethical and just research is completed.
Why is this work important?
A legacy of disrespectful treatment from external research teams has led to an atmosphere of caution, uncertainty, and distrust among many in the Indigenous population. As such, researchers wishing to include Indigenous participants in their studies have an ethical duty to build more inclusive partnerships with Indigenous communities. Research projects that are founded on a relationship that is reciprocal and trusting are more likely to be productive for all parties involved.
Despite this, practical resources to guide communities and researchers through the logistics of the engagement process are limited, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. IHRAC was established to allow stakeholder groups to explore best practices in this area.
What are we looking to accomplish?
The primary goal of this work is to facilitate the development of authentic partnerships and enhanced understanding between Indigenous communities and researchers. We intend to share the knowledge that we gather using this online resource available to communities, researchers, policy makers, and the wider public.
*All of the information contained on this page is freely available on the internet – we’ve simply compiled the resources into one database to help facilitate meaningful research partnerships.