Nisga’a professor Amy Parent says the government should scrap its current report and start over.
Katie Hyslop YesterdayThe Tyee
Katie Hyslop is a reporter with The Tyee
The Tyee: Before the federal government announced “a new capstone research funding organization” as part of its 2024 budget, Amy Parent, an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous governance and education at Simon Fraser University, was unaware the government had appointed an advisory panel to “strengthen and modernize” national research funding.
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The Advisory Panel on the Federal Research Support System, assembled by the Health and Innovation, Science and Economic Development ministries in October 2022, released its report in March 2023 with recommendations for how Canada should organize and dole out future science, health, social sciences and humanities research funding.
But Parent, who co-chairs the Indigenous Leadership Circle in Research, an advisory body to the three federal research granting councils — the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council — says the circle wasn’t briefed on the report until June 21 this year.
That’s the same day Canada marked National Indigenous Peoples Day, noted Parent, who is Nisga’a from the Nass Valley in B.C. “That was quite the colonial gift we got from Canada,” she said.
The circle and the granting councils were given just three weeks following the briefing to gather feedback from their members and respond to the federal government.
In an emailed statement to The Tyee, a Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development spokesperson said they recognized the timeline was tight but said there will be other opportunities to provide feedback “to ensure that the new organization is positioned to respectfully and meaningfully support Indigenous research and priorities.”
“This would include how the government can ensure Indigenous representation in potential governance models is being considered, and ensure sustainability of Indigenous research.”
Parent is concerned the proposed capstone program’s focus on “internationally collaborative” and “mission-driven” research is in direct contradiction with Indigenous research goals like building relationships with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities and supporting Indigenous research priorities, as outlined in the federal government’s “Strengthening Indigenous Research Capacity Strategic Plan to 2026.”
“We are at risk of losing the last 40 to 50 years of hard work that has been progressively achieved for Indigenous research in this country,” Parent said, by moving forward with the advisory panel’s vision for the capstone funding program.
That includes research into Indigenous languages and cultural revitalization, and sustainability and environmental protection.
It may also negatively affect the prioritization of federal funds for Indigenous research training and development.
“I can’t and don’t want to imagine what our collective future will look like if Canada pulls the plug on Indigenous research through the development of this new capstone agency without us,” she said.
No Indigenous participation on the panel
Parent is concerned the new capstone recommendations are too focused on science at the expense of other research disciplines. Five of the seven panel members have a background in science, engineering or computers.
The Tyee requested an interview with a representative from the three research granting councils but was referred to the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development instead.
The advisory panel, assembled by the federal government without input from the tri-agencies, included only one member with a connection to Indigenous communities, noted Parent: former Memorial University of Newfoundland president Vianne Timmons.
Five months after her appointment to the panel in 2022, Timmons clarified publicly she does not identify as Mi’kmaw, despite allegedly previously claiming membership in an unrecognized Mi’kmaw band.
Timmons was removed as the president and co-chancellor of Memorial University in April 2023.
“To think that this person has helped shape the massive reorganization of one of Canada’s leading research institutions in this country is appalling,” said Parent, who is also the inaugural associate director of the Cassidy Centre for Educational Justice at Simon Fraser University.
The advisory panel consulted over 1,000 people. A ministry spokesperson told The Tyee the panel consulted with “equity-seeking and rights-holding groups, such as racialized and Indigenous researchers.” But Parent says no members of the Indigenous Leadership Circle in Research were consulted.
Parent believes the government violated federal legislation affirming the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People by failing to adequately consult with Indigenous researchers on the formation of the new capstone research funding organization.
She wants the government to scrap the advisory panel’s report and start over with the granting councils and the Indigenous Leadership Circle in Research consulting on a peer-reviewed report about the future of federal research funding.
Government says it’s committed to ongoing engagement
In separate statements emailed to The Tyee, both Timmons and a ministry spokesperson denied Timmons was appointed to the panel to provide an Indigenous perspective.
“The members served in their own right, not as representatives of any particular organization, area or special interest,” read the ministry spokesperson’s statement, adding the granting councils were not involved in panel selection “to ensure the independence of the advisory panel.” The councils were consulted by the panel, the ministry spokesperson said.
Timmons additionally denied she had ever identified as Indigenous. “I assume was asked as I was the only University President and Atlantic Canada representative” on the advisory panel, she told The Tyee via email.
While the ministry will take the March 2023 report’s recommendations into account, it is not the final word on the new capstone organization.
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“The government has asked the granting councils to provide a joint report on their engagement findings,” the spokesperson’s statement read. “Further details will be provided in the government’s 2024 Fall Economic Statement with the expectation of ongoing engagement opportunities throughout the development and implementation of the new organization.”
The government is committed to ongoing engagement with the Indigenous Leadership Circle in Research, as well as Indigenous communities and organizations, the statement added. And implementation of the Strengthening Indigenous Research Capacity Strategic Plan will continue under the circle’s oversight.
The federal government recently pledged an additional $30 million over three years for First Nations, Métis and Inuit research.
Parent says the additional short-term funding is good, but she wants to know how sustainable long-term funding will be.
“I would have hoped the process would have been done better to begin with,” she said. ![[Tyee]](https://i0.wp.com/thetyee.ca/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png?resize=16%2C16&ssl=1){kind=small}
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