Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

This presentation will describe Indigenous principles and values enacted in several community driven and participatory research and evaluation projects in which the author held leadership roles over the last decade in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The presentation will outline processes incorporated to ensure a participatory framework, the Indigenous principles that provided the foundation for these frameworks, and ongoing activities that contributed to the participation of families as critical voices directing research across various health priorities in the city. Lessons learned include: how to hold space for families to lead the projects, whose voice is being heard, and what resources are being used to support the equitable participation of community members in designing strategies for knowledge gathering, production, and mobilization. Much of this work as used many arts-based methods including photo voice, a tile mosaic, and a starblanket, poetry, mandalas, and collages. These methods have been centred as mechanisms for sharing stories that facilitate connection and understanding. This is a key aspect that can contribute to social change. Reflections on the strengths and challenges posed in using Indigenous methodologies in participatory research in this context will be discussed and opportunities for future learning will be highlighted.