Recognizing the Need for a Trauma-Informed Approach in the Evaluation of an Indigenous Program in British Columbia

Trauma is prevalent in our society. As culturally responsive evaluators, we often engage with Indigenous peoples to discuss issues that are traumatic. While we have been trained as culturally responsive evaluators to create safe spaces, build relationships, use collaborative and dialogic approaches, and ensure that our methods and methodologies are culturally commensurate with the community’s cultural context, we can still cause harm. If trauma is not addressed and processed appropriately, our work can leave participants with heavy and unprocessed emotions, exemplifying what is essentially an extractive approach inconsistent with the principles of culturally responsive practice. In this practice note, we describe a culturally responsive and Indigenous-focused evaluation we conducted of an Indigenous program housed within a non-Indigenous government organization. Our experience during data collection underscored the need to understand the influence of historical trauma on Indigenous individuals and communities ethically.