There has never been an Inuk who has sat on any of the governing bodies of the three federal research funding agencies. This exclusion is unacceptable, writes Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
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Sound research can be an effective building block for strong public policies, programs, and initiatives that help create prosperity for Inuit. However, colonial approaches to research continue in Canada, characterized by uncoordinated and ad hoc federal research policies that circumvent Inuit governance mechanisms and marginalize Inuit from the benefits of research.
The National Inuit Strategy on Research Implementation Plan provides details for shared action to occur and serves to coordinate implementation of NISR by rights holders and stakeholders involved in Inuit Nunangat research.
“The major concern for us is that our academic partners would use the information, and the data sets, for their own academic purposes. We didn’t ever agree to have a purely academic exercise about particular populations and their health outcomes. We did this to improve the lives of Inuit,” Natan Obed.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) is pleased to release the National Inuit Strategy on Research (NISR), a pivotal document that outlines the coordinated actions required to improve the way Inuit Nunangat research is governed, resourced, conducted, and shared.