Toward an Indigenous Women Community-Based Research Network:
A Training Toolkit for Researchers
Kaianishkat (in Innu: from one generation to the next) is a project developed by Quebec Native Women (QNW) and UQAM’s Service aux collectivités. It is financed by the ministère de l’Éducation et de l’enseignement supérieur.
The Kaianishkat project has two components:
- To train community researchers in order to set up a network of active women equipped to document issues that concern their communities. They will be able to call upon QNW or be called upon by the organization on relevant issues. They will also be able to give each other support, share their successes and overcome obstacles together.
- Case Study: Identity. While the Canadian government has decided through laws who is, or is not, Indigenous, it is important to know the perspective women from communities have on this issue. What makes me Innu, Abenaki, Mohawk?
The hoped-for results of the project:
by the end of the (2-year) project, QNW has set up a network of women capable of documenting the challenges faced by their communities. The objective is that QNW be more deeply rooted in communities, and that women’s concerns and questions be more easily forwarded to the organization. On their end, communities will be better equipped to set their own research agenda based on their needs.
The training will be given within the scope of a research project on the identity of Aboriginal women. We hope the results will provide another lens through which to view identity that differs from the criteria imposed by the Canadian legal framework (The “Indian Act”).
