Beyond the Rhetoric: Implementing a Culturally Appropriate Research Project in First Nations Communities

In the fall of 1991, members of the Child and Family Services Research Group, Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba and the Southeast Resource Development Council (SERDC) began meeting to plan a response to a special competition established by the then National Welfare Grants (NWG) of Health and Welfare Canada to conduct research on social service issues. At this meeting, SERDC identified the needs of adolescents as a priority concern because of rising teenage suicide rates, increasing numbers of young people coming before the courts, and possible high rates of adolescent addiction. The groups held further meetings and submitted a joint proposal to NWG in early 1992. Research was subsequently conducted under the auspices of SERDC, a tribal council organization formed by nine Ojibwa First Nations communities in the southeastern part of Manitoba. This article describes the realities involved in such a research project, discusses the efficacy of participatory research with First Nations communities, and illustrates the phenomenon of contracting with First Nations organizations, or structures, that are external to the communities they serve.