Indigenous-Led Data Research Projects: funding recipients 2021 to 2022

Western research methodologies have harmed and silenced the voice and the true experience of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ and people across Canada. The marginalized voice within the data space seeks to present a process in gathering rich and lived data. Indigenous Data Sovereignty seeks to mitigate these harms and we offer a data governance system and to bring a data ethical approach and to generation knowledge that honor inclusion and diversity. We seek to investigate and articulate a data tool to support National Action Plan, to improve the safety and well-being of the marginalized voice.

The Knowledge Transitioning Data Collection: Atchimostakanna – Story Telling Instrument project aims to develop an exploratory phase in defining a process of collecting Indigenous data; how Indigenous data is approached, produced, treated, extracted and stored. The research space to be examined will be the "Knowledge Transitioning" between knowledge holders and youth.

The Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance (W2SA) is submitting a proposal that will aim to "lay the groundwork for improved methodologies and new approaches to produce better data around safety that are inclusive of Indigenous worldviews and perspectives" outlined by the new Crown-Indigenous Relations program to support Indigenous-led data research projects. The objectives of this project are to:

• develop a Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ Research and Ethics committee and framework to become the single-entry point for all research related to Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ people in the Wabanaki region
• develop protocols for all research and data collection related to Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ people within Wabanaki
• develop and set a standard for all research and data collection related to Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ people on a national and international level
• expand the Research and Ethics committee to include all research in the Wabanaki region specific to the Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ to ensure that any research is conducted in a healthy, safe and culturally appropriate manner, recognizing and respecting the intersectionality of experiences of Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ people and community

This project will complete and catalog an extensive environmental scan across North America of intervention programs that aim to prevent the disappearance and murder of Indigenous women, girls and two spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, plus (2SLGBTQQIA+) people across North America. It will work to determine how to best collect distinctions-based or population-based and disaggregated data.

This work will also expand and build upon a previous augmented literature review the Carrier Sekani Family Services Calls to Justice Program conducted on Highway of Tears and MMIWG references or reports in media, government, non-government organizations and academia. It will further develop evaluative methodologies made by families of MMIWG that are strength based and targeted towards the work of increasing safety, health and wellbeing of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

This project aims to represent the important transformations that occur in both "coming out" and "coming in" as these conceptualizations relate to 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities, in particular, within the overarching context of innovative Indigenous-led approaches to missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ (MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+) people. In particular, at the heart of this project is the importance of "coming in" – coming in is an act of returning, fully present in ourselves, to resume our place as a valued part of our families, cultures, communities, and lands, in connection with all our relations. Specifically, this project aims to:

• create culturally-grounded qualitative distinctions and identity-based indicators
• address existing methodological gaps for groups who are underserviced or underrepresented in data
• work to define safety through Indigenous ways of understanding

Honouring the perspectives and experiences of members belonging to 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities is pivotal in overcoming barriers to holistic health and wellness. To ensure that community voices remain centered in this work, the First Nations Health Authority will form an advisory council to guide this project that includes:

• Indigenous Peoples with lived and living experience as:
  • members of 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities
  • Elders
  • Knowledge-Keepers
  • community-based organizations
  • provincial stakeholders
  • service providers from across British Columbia and the rest of Canada

The Advisory Council will aim to exchange knowledge and explore ways to improve our systems for working alongside and creating safety with 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities. Members of Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities will take an active role in shaping the project deliverables which will enable organizations and service providers to more skillfully meet their needs from a cultural safety and humility and trauma-informed lens.

The project team and its partners will co-design appropriate sharing materials, educational and training resources, and a missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people framework and action plan that is rooted in Indigenous data governance principles. Each will be developed in a manner that ensures relevance and accessibility to 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities as well as the systems and sectors involved in their care. By reviewing systems for collecting data with 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities and addressing system gaps through innovative knowledge gathering methodology, this research will ultimately work to improve existing data and expand data related to missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

In 2016, the Okanagan National Alliance received funding for a pilot project, titled "You Empowered & Strong" focusing on family violence. In the last 5 years, this has expanded to include relationship violence, violence against women, sexual assault responses and human trafficking. The program assists Syilx Okanagan Nation individuals, families and communities who are dealing with the impacts of violence, including and specifically sexual assault/violence and human trafficking. The program utilizes Syilx knowledge and strength-based practice as the foundation of the work that takes place to support the wellbeing of the community and their approach to responding to assault.

This project proposes to:

• utilize current "You Empowered & Strong" programming and staff and enhance nation services through meaningful data management
• identify indicators that support Indigenous families and communities in ensuring safety for women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ populations
• restructure current data management methods in relation to Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ populations experiencing violence within the Syilx Okanagan territory
• better predict and address trends that affect safety and wellbeing for women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ populations residing within Syilx Okanagan territory

Manitoba Inuit Association (MIA) has vowed "never again" will Inuit be invisible in government data as the impacts reach beyond poor health outcomes, as the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us. We learned a lot in the last 2 years and since 2020, MIA has advocated successfully for Inuit to be "counted" in provincial health data but where else are we not present? This project is the beginning of our de-colonization of data and next steps in Inuit Data Sovereignty in Manitoba as we continue to support Inuit missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

MIA has created our Inuit Data Sovereignty Specialist to facilitate and support the creation and navigation of a multi-year Strategic Plan for Inuit Data Sovereignty in Manitoba. This 5-year project will empower Manitoba Inuit in addressing missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people by facilitating our development of Inuit-centered tools and methodologies that support innovative and impactful Inuit-led research and data. The investment is in a multi-year data management strategic plan that is sustainable and looks toward community engagement, organizational engagement and partner/stakeholder engagement to assist in understanding our data gaps and develop Inuit-centered data collection tools and methodologies.

The Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Liaison Unit was established in 2017. It is the only one of its kind in the region and has become the go-to resource for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) and survivors of gender-based violence (herein "families and survivors"). The MKO MMIWG Liaison Unit proposes this project with the future goal to develop a database to track the healing journey of MMIWG2S+ families and survivors of gender-based violence. This would capture a client's journey in accessing services to see how they are positively impacted, from the moment they first access the program, what services they have accessed on their healing and wellness, and outcomes resulting from those services. This innovative project aligns with "Creating New Pathways for Data: The 2021 National Action Plan Data Strategy" provided by the Data Sub-Working Group.

This project proposes the development of a research methodology to measure conceptualizations of safety and wellbeing for status and non-status Indigenous people who live off-reserve. While the report will include more traditional research chapters including a literature review and an overview of research methodology, the real contribution will be in the discussion of concepts or indictors of safety and wellbeing, methods in measuring safety and wellbeing, and what these indicators mean for the safety and wellbeing of the women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ within Congress of Aboriginal Peoples communities. The report will highlight Indigenous identified safety and wellbeing indicators, methods for gathering information and measures for increasing perceptions of safety. It will also provide recommendations for next steps to address gaps and opportunities.

Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak (LFMO) is seeking funding to build the research, data and evidentiary base required to place the issue of missing and murdered Métis women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Métis squarely in the public domain. This project seeks distinctions-based (i.e., Métis-specific) quantitative data on MMIWG from existing governmental data holders, in order to develop culturally competent data indicators supporting the core indicator of "human security", which goes well beyond physical safety from imminent harm or risk of injury or death. Funding is being sought specifically to engage with public safety, policing and correctional authorities, as well as key federal departments working with data obtained from these authorities, in order to extract existing Métis-specific data on MMIWG currently not in the possession or at the disposal of the Women of the Métis Nation. This funding is also being sought to share understandings between Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak and current governmental data holders on how to expand their cultural competency in collecting, recording and sharing data on MMIWG using distinctions-based, gender-disaggregated, intersectional methodologies and indicators.

The Native Women's Association of Canada is proposing engagement with Indigenous women, Two-Spirit and gender diverse community members on how they define safety and wellness and what indicators should be tracked. Discussion will be opened to include broader definitions of safety, or specific intersectional experiences. These may include encompassing structural and systemic aspects like access to transportation (ability to leave an unsafe situation) isolation, access to employment (financial security as a protective factor against violence), community connections, experiences with local law enforcement and the legal system.

The National Association of Friendship Centres is in the process of workplan development and plans to engage with the Friendship Centre Movement (FCM) in future in-person events and webinars. This data and research community-led and -driven initiative will facilitate the creation of an MMWIG2S+ Data Strategy Working Group that will highlight best practices and recommendation.

The MMWIG2S+ Data Strategy Working Group will create and deliver a data strategy to collect and analyze success factor indicators for policy and programming, through Friendship Centres and other urban Indigenous organizations as appropriate, that prevents and addresses missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGTBQQIA+ people.

The purpose of this study is to close the existing data gap by developing mixed methods to produce family/domestic violence indicators specific to the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. The project will be designed and led by Inuvialuit Regional Corporation's Innovation, Inuvialuit Science and Climate Change division (ISCC) with partnering support from the Health and Wellness division and advisory support from other organizations. The objectives of this mixed methods study are twofold:

1. To develop small area methods and baseline family violence/social determinant indicators specific to the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. The study will utilize various available data sources. Potential sources include RCMP, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics and other Statistics Canada data, Government of the Northwest Territories and others to be determined. Small area methods (type to be determined) will be developed to be able to produce reliable indicators at the community level.
2. To incorporate qualitative information from frontline and support workers about their perspectives on the family/domestic violence in their respective communities. Short virtual (or in-person interviews) will be conducted on tablets to assess community perspectives, complement indicator development and to inform future data collection.

Organizations and service providers across the Territory of Treaty #3 have minimal services that are specifically designed for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people, their families or those impacted, or those at risk. Gaining access to proper mental health or cultural supports poses difficulty in jurisdictions of service and the continuation of care, which can be referred to as the blanket of care. In order to service Indigenous people, you need to be for Indigenous people, actively learning about the true history and where traditions, cultures and teachings come from in order to truly help.

Grand Council Treaty #3 (GCT#3) guided by the Resolution CA-13-01 and direction from the Women's Council, will research and begin to conduct and overview real information, from real women, families, and individuals with engagement from Traditional Knowledge Keepers, Leadership from the 28 First Nation Communities and all GCT#3 Councils as well as on the urban areas of Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Kenora, Fort Frances and Dryden. The scope of work will involve four gatherings, in each direction, specific to missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit individuals, their families, those impacted and those at risk. These gatherings include open dialog, creating safe spaces, cultural ceremony, and traditional teachings. The information gleaned at the four gatherings will include important and vital information to target any gaps in services to mitigate the victimization of Indigenous women, girls and the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community in Treaty #3.

There are many survivors throughout the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) territory who can attest to the fact that their loved women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people have been murdered, gone missing or have been subjected to violence. However, there currently exists no empirical data or database that holds this information. Having a NAN-specific database available would assist in uncovering truths, accessing services, advocating for improved and increased services and programming, and set a path for healing. The task of collecting this data is daunting given the large geographic area that is Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the fact that most of our communities are isolated and remote. However, the need for data is acute and the NAN organization is well-versed in developing effective frameworks and models in collaboration with its members.

Data collection has been primarily rooted in academia utilizing western Euro-centric tools and methods. This approach will not be successful when endeavoring to document the experiences of missing, murdered, and vulnerable Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in NAN. The extremely sensitive nature of the issue requires a decolonized approach, one that is community-centered, culturally appropriate, and safe. The knowledge that is translated will assist NAN and government in better understanding the issues surrounding missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people and in prevention which will be valuable to informing strategies, both within and outside of the NAN territory.

The Knowledge Translation & Policy Analyst will lead the work with the NAN advisory councils, Elders, Leadership, and small groups of community members to gather knowledge about tools and methods that will be successful in constructing a future database. By consulting our members, the tools, and approaches in the "knowledge basket" framework will ensure the inclusion of relevant information, the proper observance of cultural or community protocols and the appropriate interpretation of findings and sharing of those findings.

Indigenous-led data governance frameworks, culturally grounded data collection approaches, and access to quality data are integral components in addressing the systemic barriers experienced by urban Indigenous communities in Ontario. Currently, there are glaring gaps in consistent, reliable and comprehensive data regarding the needs and experiences of Indigenous women, girls and members of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community. This project addresses these gaps in quality data and responds to goals 3 and 7 (and associated short term priorities) set out in the 2021 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan.

Through a community-driven research process, the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) will co-lead and support data gathering, knowledge-sharing sessions, and the creation of 2SLGBTQQIA+ Praxis Networks. This approach is aligned with the principles of utility, self-voicing, access and inter-relationality that inform the OFIFC's USAI Research Framework, as what is learned and shared collectively will be implemented by participants within their own contexts in meaningful and useful ways. Project findings will:

• inform and mobilize culture-based models of data collection regarding notions of safety, and the lived realities and needs of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ community members
• identify cross-sectoral wise practices for service delivery and programming that adequately respond to disclosures of gender-based violence and promote more inclusive spaces related to diverse gender expressions and sexualities

A focus on improving data collection will lead to the identification of more relevant and more culturally responsive supports needed to help survivors of gender-based violence and their families. Similarly, meaningful, useful and accurate data on the needs, experiences and priorities of 2SLGBTQQIA+ community members will inform life-saving programming and service offerings and policy approaches.

Through this community-driven research project, the OFIFC will support the 2SLGBTQQIA+ Committee to gather and mobilize existing knowledge and share promising practices regarding data collection and research within 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities, while building relationships to support 2SLGBTQQIA+ people across Canada. Findings and activities generated through this project will help to amplify and mobilize recommendations from the previous 2SLGBTQQIA+ Sub-Working Group within the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people National Action Plan regarding violence prevention support for 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

This project will provide opportunities for Ontario Native Women's Association (ONWA) to expand on earlier efforts to create a data governance structure while continuing to develop internal research practices. Funding will provide support for the completion of ONWA's R.A.T.T.L.E.S. (Responsibility, Alignment, Techniques, Tools, Language, Evaluation, Storytelling) research framework, which establishes the over-arching principles for how to engage in research, and implementation of the framework into our existing systems. Funding through this project would support increasing staff capacity to collect, analyze, and store data in a culturally safe and ethical way and be used to evaluate programming to increase safety for Indigenous women and girls. To increase safety, it will be necessary to assess how ONWA has been defining and measuring safety over our 50-year plus history. This will further the understanding of what safety means and looks like to Indigenous women and girls over time, and most significantly, aid in developing a new and innovative methodologies that capture the intersections of a multiplicity of identity indicators, such as nation, gender, sexuality, social location, physical location, spiritual affiliation, ability and age.

The purpose of this project, in conjunction with existing efforts to finalize and implement Ontario Native Women's Association (ONWA) R.A.T.T.L.E.S. (Responsibility, Alignment, Techniques, Tools, Language, Evaluation, Storytelling) research framework, is to create a formalized methodology for knowledge sharing and dissemination, that becomes an ingrained mechanism to refine how we define, discuss, and develop safety responses and prevention policies. This framework, "Connecting for Change" seeks to build within ONWA's internal networks by first, establishing a safety table that begins to review, guide, and offer insight into information collected and presented by the research department, and secondly, create linking mechanisms to external research networks that are looking to review, develop and/or expand data related to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. ONWA recognizes that any work to define safety through Indigenous ways of knowing and understanding cannot be completed by one organization in isolation and that respect for the principle of community consensus-based decision making is paramount. In acknowledgment of this principle, coordinating internal networks within the organization, which provides service delivery across Ontario, will provide a greater ability to inform and participate in National efforts to address safety issues impacting Indigenous women and girls through the sharing of a regionally focused perspective.

The intent of this project is to collect data and information that will support the development of a missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG), MMIWG 2SLGBTQQIA+, and missing and murdered Indigenous men and boys Database specific to the Anishinabek Nation. The database the Anishinabek Nation is hoping to develop will provide regional understanding of the issue. The data will be disaggregated for Indigenous women, girls, men, boys and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people separately. Sources that will inform the database are the input from impacted families, loved ones or survivors. Requesting the sharing of information from their truths, legacies or lived experiences of the issue and its impacts. The process of collecting such Indigenous specific data will be through mixed methodological approaches.