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Research + Innovation

Indigenous Research at the ��

We Are championing Indigenous leadership and self-determination in research and innovation.

Looking to the past.
In-powering the present.
Imagining the future.

Committing to reconciliation In a Good Way.

Beaded Crest

What are we doing at the ��?

We are developing resources to support the work of Indigenous people, communities and organizations in language revitalization.
We are change makers.
We are providing internships that offer opportunities for hands-on training in genomics science and research with Indigenous scientists

We are helping to uphold Indigenous child welfare law.
We are change makers.
We are leading the process to create new guidelines for including Indigenous people in Canadian clinical trials.
We are truth tellers.

We are truth tellers.
We are braiding Indigenous and western scientific approaches to tackling the world’s most pressing challenges.
We are community builders.
We are developing resources to support the work of Indigenous people, communities and organizations in language revitalization.

We are community builders.
We are providing internships that offer opportunities for hands-on training in genomics science and research with Indigenous scientists
We are world shapers.
We are leading the process to create new guidelines for including Indigenous people in Canadian clinical trials

We are Leading with Purpose.
We are helping to uphold Indigenous child welfare law.
We are change makers.
We are braiding Indigenous and western scientific approaches to tackling the world’s most pressing challenges.

We are world shapers.
We are developing resources to support the work of Indigenous people, communities and organizations in language revitalization
We are Leading with Purpose.
We are providing internships that offer opportunities for hands-on training in genomics science and research with Indigenous scientists

We Are

the 1st and only university in North America with a Faculty of Native Studies

Some of the people behind the breakthroughs:

Photo of Grant Bruno

“What I’m trying to do now is take the knowledge that I’ve been gifted through these elders and start to share that knowledge back to the community and say, ‘Hey, you know what? We would have practised full acceptance, and maybe we should get back to that,’ because for me that’s a really healthy way of approaching autism. It allows for healthier connections and healthier relationships.”

- Grant Bruno

Photo of Paulina Johnson

“It’s the Indigenous woman who said the fish look sick, and it turns out they are sick, because when we started to gut them, there was a difference. Their in-depth knowledge through observation is going to inform how climate change is impacting fish”

- Paulina Johnson

Photo of Dorothy Thunder

“The most rewarding part is teaching my language to others that don’t have it, because it’s not an easy language to learn. You start to use the language and share it with the students or participants that want to learn. Just hearing somebody else use the language, I think it’s the most important thing for me.”

- Dorothy Thunder

Photo of Supporting Indigenous Language Revitalization (SILR)

“We have many amazing researchers across this institution who have been working with Indigenous communities for a long time, within the colonial practices. We’re all learning about what it means to decolonize ourselves.”

- Supporting Indigenous Language Revitalization (SILR)

Photo of Kim TallBear

“Too many Indigenous scientists have been raised with the idea that science is separate from their Indigenous culture. And in fact, it doesn’t have to be that way at all.”

- Kim TallBear

Photo of Lana Whiskeyjack

“Innovation means learning from the wisdom of our ancestral past and our future generations to enhance our humanity, or as my Elders would say: “Become better human beings.”

- Lana Whiskeyjack

Photo of Wayne Clark

“My main goal is to elevate the involvement of elders, our own Ways of Knowing and our own self-determination, in order to make decisions and be empowered to participate in trials that we have a right to participate in.”

- Wayne Clark

Photo of Dwayne Donald

“If we really want to make a change, we can't continue to follow the same educational paradigms. It has to do with relationality. Of course, humans are cognitive beings, but meaningful learning also has to do with the holistic complexities of human perception of the world — physically, emotionally and spiritually.”

- Dwayne Donald

Photo of Shalene Jobin

“The dream is to develop a research toolbox with an assortment of Indigenous governance research methods that can be used to assist in the rebuilding of Indigenous nations.”

- Shalene Jobin

Photo of Matthew Wildcat

“I think successful innovation requires navigating the tension of challenging current practices while at the same time drawing on and amplifying the existing practices we want to champion.”

- Matthew Wildcat