Moving from research ON, to research WITH and FOR Indigenous communities: A critical reflection on community‐based participatory research

Research projects conducted on Indigenous communities have largely been developed within a dominant Western research paradigm that values the researcher as knowledge holder and the community members as passive subjects. The consequences of such research have been marginalizing for Indigenous people globally, leading to calls for the decolonization of research through the development of Indigenous research paradigms. Based on a reflexive analysis of a five‐year partnership focused on developing capacity for tourism development in Lake Helen First Nation (Red Rock Indian Band), we offer a way of understanding the connection between Indigenous research paradigms and the western construct of community‐based participatory research as a philosophical and methodological approach to geography. Our analysis shows that researchers should continue to move away from methods that perpetuate the traditional ways of working ON Indigenous communities to methods that allow us to work WITH and FOR them, based on an ethic that respects and values the community as a full partner in the co‐creation of the research question and process, and shares in the acquisition, analysis, and dissemination of knowledge. Our reflection also shows that when research is conducted on a community, the main beneficiary is the researcher, when conducted with, both parties receive benefit, while research for the community may result in benefits mainly for the community. We further contend that any research conducted within a community, regardless of its purpose and methodology, should follow the general principles of Indigenous paradigms, and respect the community by engaging in active communication with them, seeking their permission not only to conduct and publish the research but also with respect to giving results of the research back in ways that adhere to community protocols and practices.