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Connecting Capacity Building for Aboriginal People in Québec Cities with the Advancement of Field-Sensitive Research: ODENA’s Co-Creation of Knowledge Agenda
Co-Creation of Knowledge, Interdisciplinary Research, Cross-Sectors & Intercultural Training
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Connecting Capacity Building for Aboriginal People in Québec Cities with the Advancement of Field-Sensitive Research: ODENA’s Co-Creation of Knowledge Agenda
ODENA is an innovative research alliance created in 2008 by the DIALOG network (Research and knowledge network relating to Aboriginal peoples) and the Association of Québec Native Friendship Centers. It is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC-CURA) and its aim is to support the social, economic, political and cultural development of urban Aboriginal people in Québec and to recognize and build upon the value of the collective action of the Native Friendship Centres. This alliance promotes ethical and socially sensitive research, the ongoing sharing of knowledge, and the direct application of this knowledge in individual and collective capacity building initiatives developed by the Aboriginal organizations concerned. It combines collaborative and reflective research approaches with action, intervention, and empowerment practices.
Although the funding for the ODENA research alliance started in 2009, the partnership between the Regroupement des centres d’amitié Autochtone (RCAAQ- Association of Québec Native Friendship Centers) and the DIALOG network has a much longer history. Indeed, DIALOG and the RCAAQ, the acknowledged political voice of Aboriginal people living in Québec urban areas, have been partners since 2004. DIALOG was created in 2001 as a result of a consultation between First Nations and Inuit representatives from Québec and various academics. During this event a consensus on the need to establish a mediating structure in Québec between Aboriginal institutions and researchers emerged. In particular, there was clear agreement in both milieus on the need to: 1) transform Aboriginal-academic relations, 2) support and conduct research in a manner that is meaningful and useful to Aboriginal people, and 3) ensure that the latter’s worldviews are integrated into the development of research methodologies and analytical frameworks. Therefore, right from the start, DIALOG members and Aboriginal partners considered, negotiated, and experienced the different challenges arising with interdisciplinary and community-university teamwork. Together, they innovated by finding ways to conceptualize and frame issues relating to Aboriginal peoples by systematically including the literature produced by Aboriginal peoples and by looking at the various ethical and epistemological challenges of community-based research through Aboriginal eyes. In short, it was through collective efforts deployed to fulfill DIALOG’s mandate to mobilize knowledge relevant in Aboriginal milieus and to contribute to the development of shared research agendas, that the idea to design a community-university research alliance meeting the particular aspirations and needs of Aboriginal people in Québec cities arose. Today, sixteen academics from nine disciplines, representatives of nine Native Friendship Centres and the RCAAQ belong to ODENA, which means “the city” in the Algonquin language.
To collectively design and implement a sustainable research, training, and knowledge mobilization agenda
To produce a comprehensive profile of Aboriginal peoples in Québec cities in order to develop culturally pertinent indicators of well-being and corresponding tools for the development of adequate capacity building approaches, models, programs and practices
To understand the current and future challenges impeding the improvement/ development of public policies and interventions relevant to Aboriginal people
To identify the foundations/practices of a new “citizenship” recognizing and building upon Aboriginal collective action in Québec cities and beyond
ODENA was publicly launched at the First General Assembly meeting on September 19, 2009. The two-day reunion held in Wendake (a reservation on the outskirts of Québec city, Canada) gathered 40 researchers, students and representatives of the RCAAQ and Native Friendship Centers. The goal of this meeting was to give the chance to all members to get to know each other (most of the participants met for the first time) and to collectively review and comment upon the grant application. The outcome of the event was to set up a working committee (where aboriginal and university representatives are equally represented) whose mandate was to elaborate a governance structure that would outline the role of everybody within ODENA. The working group had several working sessions and finally was able to submit a first draft for discussion and approval during the Second General Assembly which took place in Montreal on February 5, 2010. Comments and suggestions were collected and later integrated in what have become ODENA’s terms of reference. These will be submitted for approval during the next General Assembly meeting and will serve as the collective framework guiding the design and implementation of research, training, and knowledge mobilization activities for the next 4 years. Despite its seemingly slow pace, this process is essential to establish the foundations of a partnership that is sustainable and capable of reaching its long term objectives. In fact, ODENA’s approach gives equal, if not more, importance to the collaborative process than to the final results because we believe it is most conducive to stimulate the co-creation of knowledge. Indeed, by constantly seeking to create the conditions fostering the exchange of ideas and by exploring the transformative possibilities flowing from these exchanges, members become ever more competent in hybridizing their own approaches, methods and practices and, through iteration, it becomes possible to identify a new body of knowledge, methods, and practices that is truly unique to our collaborative process. We also invite guests renowned for their expertise and capacities that challenge our working groups to constantly innovate and spark critical breakthroughs. Thus, while documenting the activities of ODENA and therefore the co-creation of knowledge that occurs, it is of crucial importance to construct the ethnography of individuals’ and the group’s evolution. Paying a lot of attention on the process does not mean every member has to be aware at all times of the co-construction of knowledge that is at play. Reflexivity is encouraged but in a non-coercive fashion. Still, being in social sciences research as well as aware of the challenges coming from positivist and fundamental science, ODENA members acknowledge that they have a unique opportunity to contribute to the construction of knowledge mobilization and collective learning theories from empirical observations and they are determined not to miss it.
The sense of belonging and thrust that we have been able to foster in both milieus after only one year in existence
New para- governmental partners have already requested to be part of ODENA’s health dossier, as they see necessary to ensure changes in programs and policy-making along the lines developed through ODENA
A growing body of literature tracing the steps of working committees; essential for an eventual epistemological and theoretical contribution
Sense of empowerment as a result of collaboration among Native Centers and RCAAQ practitioners
Ever wider acknowledgement by researchers of the need to work collaboratively and ethically at all stages of research
Graduate students given the opportunity to broaden their methodological and collaborative competences through their inclusion at every stage of the process
Increased awareness and social mobilization of the general public around Aboriginal issues and about Aboriginal perspectives;
ODENA’s terms of reference are the result of a truly collective enterprise
Every working committee is formed of an equal number of university and Native Friendship Centers representatives
ODENA is democratic and respectful of Aboriginal values in the sense that it is committed to take the time to exchange and deliberate upon every aspect of the alliance, from the governance structure, or networking activities to research design
Day of reflections, workshops and seminars, spontaneously organised as needs arise on behalf of friendship centers and systematic participation of researchers, practitioners and students to these activities
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