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In 2014, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) senior administration established reforms to the Open Suite of Programs and Peer Review processes (OSP), implementing changes that it claimed would improve its funding and peer review structures. The purpose of the research reported in this paper was to investigate how CIHR reforms to the OSP were poised to negatively affect Indigenous health research. We found that the reforms were guided by a governmental and institutional trajectory of methodological conservatism that (a) privileged commercial research over projects that focus on social determinants of health and community relations, and (b) created a peer review system re-designed in ways that reduce inclusiveness. Interventions by the CIHR Institute of Indigenous Peoples Health' Advisory Board and an ad-hoc Indigenous Health Research Steering Committee (kahwa:tsire) were urgently organized and mobilized to reverse the CIHR decisions that were being made under the guise of so-called 'consultation.'

Ethical standards of conduct in research undertaken at Canadian universities involving humans has been guided by the three federal research funding agencies through the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (or TCPS for short) since 1998. The statement was revised for the first time in 2010 and is now commonly referred to as the TCPS2, which includes an entire chapter (Chapter 9) devoted to the subject of research involving First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of Canada. While the establishment of TCPS2 is an important initial step on the long road towards decolonizing Indigenous research within the academy, our frustrations—which echo those of many colleagues struggling to do research "in a good way" (see, for example, Ball & Janyst 2008; Bull, 2008; Guta et al., 2010) within this framework—highlight the urgent work that remains to be done if university-based researchers are to be enabled by establishment channels to do "ethical" research with Aboriginal peoples. In our (and others') experience to date, we seem to have been able to do research in a good way, despite, not because of the TCPS2 (see Castleden et al., 2012). The disconnect between the stated goals of TCPS2, and the challenges researchers face when attempting to navigate how individual, rotating members of REBs interpret the TPCS2 and operate within this framework, begs the question: Wherein lies the disconnect? A number of scholars are currently researching this divide (see for example see Guta et al. 2010; Flicker & Worthington, 2011; and Guta et al., 2013). In this editorial, we offer an anecdote to illustrate our experience regarding some of these tensions and then offer reflections about what might need to change for the next iteration of the TCPS.

Media plays an integral role in (re)producing our social construction of reality. When viewed in light of Canada's colonial legacy, media's power has undoubtedly been implicated in circumscribing Indigenous peoples and Indigenous–settler relations. Employing a discourse analysis of mainstream media covering the recent (2011) implementation of a comprehensive land claims agreement in British Columbia, this study investigates how media has framed contemporary Indigenous–settler relations within the Canadian state. Findings indicate that mainstream media predominantly relies on stereotypes of Indigenous peoples and tends to neglect historical and current political complexities, thereby perpetuating stagnant Indigenous–settler relations. Concluding with empirically derived recommendations, this article points to education reform to create more robust mainstream media able to address stagnated (re)constructions of Indigenous–settler relations.

Social assistance and related programs are an important part of life in the 13 Mi'kmaq communities of Nova Scotia. Given the substantive importance of social assistance and related programs in Mi'kmaq communities, it is surprising how little research has been conducted on the subject. This research aims to understand the origins of economic dependence and the related emergence of social assistance among the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia. We identify key historical periods and processes that have shaped the current policy landscape. A defining characteristic of social policy on reserve has been the fact that First Nations themselves have had very little say in how programs such as social assistance are designed and delivered. There is hope that a more self-determined and holistic approach may emerge.

Ethical tensions exist regarding the value and practice of acknowledging Indigenous contributions in community-based participatory research (CBPR). Semistructured phone interviews with researchers documented their perspectives on authorship in the scholarly dissemination of their community-based participatory Indigenous research. Thematic analysis resulted in four key ideas: (1) current practices regarding methods of acknowledging community contributions; (2) requirements for shared authorship with individual versus collective/community partners; (3) benefits to sharing authorship with collective/community partners; and (4) risks to sharing authorship with collective/community partners. Findings suggest an emerging but inconsistent practice.

This article reports on findings from a study that explored how a group of leading health researchers who do Indigenous community-engaged research (n = 20) in Canada envision enacting ethically sound research with Indigenous communities, as well as the concomitant tensions associated with doing so. In particular, we explore how institutional metrics for assessing merit and granting tenure are seen to privilege conventional discourses of productivity and validity in research and, as a result, are largely incongruent with the relational values associated with decolonizing research through community-based participatory health research. Our findings reveal that colonial incursion from the academy risk filtering into such research agendas and create a conflict between relational accountability to community partners and academic accountability to one's discipline and peers.

The 2010 edition of the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans introduced a new chapter, titled "Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada." The goal of our study was to explore how this chapter is being implemented in research involving Mi'kmaw communities in Nova Scotia. Qualitative data from four groups—health researchers, research ethics board representatives, financial services administrators, and Mi'kmaw community health directors—revealed that while the chapter is useful in navigating this ethical space, there is room for improvement. The challenges they encountered were not insurmountable; with political will from the academy and with guidance from Indigenous community health and research leaders solutions to these barriers can be achieved.

AbstractCanada celebrated its 150th anniversary since Confederation in 2017. At the same time, Canada is also entering an era of reconciliation that emphasizes mutually respectful and just relationships between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown. British Columbia (BC) is uniquely situated socially, politically, and economically as compared to other Canadian provinces, with few historic treaties signed. As a result, provincial, federal, and Indigenous governments are attempting to define 'new relationships' through modern treaties. What new relationships look like under treaties remains unclear though. Drawing from a comprehensive case study, we explore Huu-ay-aht First Nations—a signatory of the Maa-nulth Treaty, implemented in 2011—BC and Canada's new relationship by analysing 26 interviews with treaty negotiators and Indigenous leaders. A disconnect between obligations outlined in the treaty and how Indigenous signatories experience changing relations is revealed, pointing to an asymmetrical dynamic remaining in the first years of implementation despite new relationships of modern treaty.

Current challenges relating to water governance in Canada are motivating calls for approaches that implement Indigenous and Western knowledge systems together, as well as calls to form equitable partnerships with Indigenous Peoples grounded in respectful Nation-to-Nation relationships. By foregrounding the perspectives of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, this study explores the nature and dimensions of Indigenous ways of knowing around water and examines what the inclusion of Indigenous voices, lived experience, and knowledge mean for water policy and research. Data were collected during a National Water Gathering that brought together 32 Indigenous and non-Indigenous water experts, researchers, and knowledge holders from across Canada. Data were analyzed thematically through a collaborative podcasting methodology, which also contributed to an audio-documentary podcast (www.WaterDialogues.ca).

Despite innovative technological "solutions" to address ongoing water crises in Indigenous communities, significant disparities persist in Canada. Financial investment in infrastructure is necessary, but it is hardly sufficient to address the real problem: entrenched colonialism. One of the greatest challenges in decolonizing research is to prevent that research from reproducing the very categories it is seeking to critique and dismantle. We share findings from thematically-analyzed interviews with academic and community-based researchers who conducted water research with a stated intent to implement Western and Indigenous knowledge systems. Findings revealed that while there is co-learning, ontological and epistemological assumptions carried into these relationships often impede truly integrative practice. Respondents shared how they worked through these persistent barriers of a colonial system.