I would like to thank the organizers of this conference for asking me to participate this evening. Please join me in thanking the drummers from the Songhees First Nation for bringing us in on such a beautiful song. I would also like to thank the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations for welcoming us into their traditional territory.

I am very pleased that this conference is being held here in Victoria. I trust that you will enjoy your stay here in what is judged to be the second best city to reside in all of Canada…second only to Ottawa.

In the material provided about this conference it says, “Community-university research partnerships provide the opportunity for community members to work directly with experienced researchers to define a problem, conduct research, interpret findings and apply results to bring about positive change in their communities. This approach involves new and creative methods of research to meet community needs and produce results that are important and useful to community, academics and policy makers.”

I think that traditionally research has tended to be driven by governments who were seeking answers to particular issues. Sometimes education institutions would define some issues of concern and seek out people to conduct specific research projects. Often this would involve going to groups inside particular communities with this research agenda and seeking co-operation, input, and participation. The research topic, methodology and objectives would have already been established beforehand. Once the research was complete, the academics would leave and so would the research findings and analysis - nothing would be left with the community and no follow up reporting would be done. This left communities out of the loop, feeling robbed of their knowledge, and used by the institutions who conducted the project.

The obvious benefit of this community-based approach is that communities become part of the project much sooner because they are designing the project objectives with the experts. The co-operation that sometimes has become problematic is now much more easily obtained because the community feels a part of the project, not apart from it. The researchers get the much needed community support and the community gets the research results. The project becomes much more useful and relevant to communities, not just the institutions that instigate research.

I think the challenge, aside from maintaining objectivity perhaps, is raising the expectation that things can change by doing research. Most major community problems, such as housing for the homeless, pollution in the drinking water, the need for friendlier infrastructure, will cost money to implement. Government involvement and buy-in are essential to the end game or implementation stage of these projects. The other challenge I see is the question of consultation. Who represents the community? Is it the city council? The community council? The Elders’ council? Should the youth be consulted? When is consultation broad enough so that the end product is truly relevant and reflective of the community? It is essential for any project to know the community well enough to avoid problems of credibility and implementation at the later stages of the research project.

I am no expert, but I can see that this approach will bring about an end product that is by far more relevant, more useful, has more buy-in, and is more likely to be implemented if the community is involved from beginning to the end.

Thank you.

LOCATION:1401 Rockland Avenue
Victoria, British Columbia
Canada V8S 1V9

PHONE:(250) 387-2080

FAX:(250) 387-2078

EMAIL:ghinfo@gov.bc.ca

TOP OF PAGE