Mi’kmaq & the OCAP Model

Mi’kmaq & the OCAP Model Dr Niall McElwee CCYCL, Athlone Institute of Technology Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

A Quote that Sparked my Interest “Perhaps the most intriguing and controversial of all issues dealing with Canada’s native people are questions of origin” (Douglas and McIntyre, 1988: 19). Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

The Alogonquins • The Alogonquins (which includes the M’ikmaq peoples) were the first native peoples to come into contact with the white man. First Nations Peoples comprise some 1% of the New Brunswick population and 4.8% of the Canadian population. Today there are some 15,000 Mi’kmaq, divided into 27 Bands, living in the three Maritime Provinces and in Quebec (with about 600 living in Newfoundland). Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

A Cursed Peoples? • “Indians have been cursed above all other peoples in history. Indians have anthropologists” – (Vine Deloria, Jr. in Custer Died for your Sins) Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

Relational Child & Youth Care Research • This study is relational because we are interested primarily in relationships within and between children, youth their families and their environment Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

The Research Team has Responsibilities… • We are conscious of the fact that both populations of Mi’kmaq in Canada and Travellers in Ireland have had researchers and academics come in ‘from the outside’ in the past and, at times, their approach and resultant reports, studies and books have been less than helpful in adding something positive to the story of these cultures. Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

Genuine Involvement • The Australian Indigenous research guidelines state that at every stage, reasearch with and about Indigenous peoples must be founded on a process of meaningful engagement and and recriprocity betweent he researcher and the Indigenous peoples. Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

Proof One’s Material • It is now accepted that one should ‘proof’ material on marginalized populations with representatives from marginalized populations prior to publication. Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

Our Research: The Canadians • Over an eight week period in July and August 2005, we interviewed 25 persons living on, or connected to, a Reserve in New Brunswick called Elsipogtog Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

The OCAP Research Model • There is an increasing amount of material around ethical research such as the OCAP model (ownership, control, access and possession) which has come about due to a perception that marginalised communities have been over-researched by ‘outsiders’. Many within the First Nations communities feel that they have been “researched to death” (Schnarch, 2004: 3) Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

A Lost Culture • There were, to take but one example, approximately 30,000 aboriginal Canadian cultural objects on display at a recent exhibition at the Museum ofEthnology in Berlin. Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

The Duty to do no Harm • Our study has adhered to the six ethical principles discussed by Parahoo (1997) namely, beneficence (duty to do good); nonmaleficence (duty to do no harm); fidelity; justice; veracity and confidentiality. Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

Permission to Carry out the Research • Social Work Consultant Elsipogtog First Nation Health and Wellness • Chief of the M’ikmaq band in Elsipogtog • International Committee for Local andRegional Development, Ireland/US Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

Ownership • The idea that a community owns infromation collectively as an individual owns their personal information. It is distinct from stewardship. Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

Control • That…First Nations communities are within their rights in seeking to control all aspects of research and information management processes which impact on them…. Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

Access • The right of First Nations Communities and their representatives to manage and make decisions regarding access to their collective information…achieved through standardised formal protocals… Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

Possession • Possession (of data) is a mechanism by which ownership can be asserted and protected Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

To Sum up the OCAP Thinking • The issue lies around who is fundamentally in control, what research is done and is not done, who soes this research, how it is approached and who knows about it. Dr Niall McElwee/IASCE Presentation/Oct 2005

Mi’kmaq & the OCAP Model