76 Kelly Bannister
Indigenous knowledge in all manner of projects, programs and initiatives,
including but not limited to those of an environmental nature. However, while
some Indigenous community protocols are well known and publicly available,
many are not. In some cases, versions of these documents have circulated online
in the past and may be currently posted by third parties, but are no longer available from the original source community for various reasons (e.g. Bannister,
2004, 2009 include examples formerly available online, only some of which are
still available). Documents or processes may have changed or be under revision,
web links may no longer be active or content may be considered proprietary and
only shared within a collaborative relationship directly involving the Indigenous
community. Many Indigenous communities across Canada are at various stages
of considering or developing their own written articulations, sometimes borrowing elements from existing examples developed by other Indigenous communities. Some Indigenous communities may prefer not to have their protocols
codified in writing at all.
The diversity of examples of Indigenous community protocols publicly available in Canada reveal that some Indigenous communities have been in a position
to take the lead on articulating their expectations and requirements on their own
terms, in their own words and languages, according to their own principles,
values and laws to meet their own goals. Other Indigenous communities may
have developed their written protocols to comply with external processes and
templates, presumably as a pragmatic reaction to externally imposed research,
monitoring or development pressures.
Indigenous Community Protocols and Consent
Consent is an element of most (but not all) publicly available Indigenous community protocols. When included, consent is articulated in a wide variety of
ways, sometimes explicitly as FPIC, but more often as a variation of “informed
consent”. The description of consent may be accompanied by a detailed list
of required criteria and processes similar to what is summarized in a previous
section of this chapter, based on TCPS2 Chapter 3 (Canadian Institutes for
Health (CIHR) et al., 2018), along with a template consent form. Or consent
may be referred to only briefly, for example, as an expected part of a research
agreement.
The conception of consent as a principle emerging from Western systems of
ethics and law can lead to articulations of a transactional nature within written
Indigenous community protocols. This is especially the case when a community’s requirements of consent are examined in isolation of that community’s
broader principles and values, which situate consent within the community’s
specific understandings and worldview related to what is being consented to, by
who and how the consenting process should happen in culturally appropriate
ways. Four examples are provided below to illustrate the diversity of how consent
is articulated by different Indigenous communities in Canada. Also included is
Indigenous knowledge in all manner of projects, programs and initiatives,
including but not limited to those of an environmental nature. However, while
some Indigenous community protocols are well known and publicly available,
many are not. In some cases, versions of these documents have circulated online
in the past and may be currently posted by third parties, but are no longer available from the original source community for various reasons (e.g. Bannister,
2004, 2009 include examples formerly available online, only some of which are
still available). Documents or processes may have changed or be under revision,
web links may no longer be active or content may be considered proprietary and
only shared within a collaborative relationship directly involving the Indigenous
community. Many Indigenous communities across Canada are at various stages
of considering or developing their own written articulations, sometimes borrowing elements from existing examples developed by other Indigenous communities. Some Indigenous communities may prefer not to have their protocols
codified in writing at all.
The diversity of examples of Indigenous community protocols publicly available in Canada reveal that some Indigenous communities have been in a position
to take the lead on articulating their expectations and requirements on their own
terms, in their own words and languages, according to their own principles,
values and laws to meet their own goals. Other Indigenous communities may
have developed their written protocols to comply with external processes and
templates, presumably as a pragmatic reaction to externally imposed research,
monitoring or development pressures.
Indigenous Community Protocols and Consent
Consent is an element of most (but not all) publicly available Indigenous community protocols. When included, consent is articulated in a wide variety of
ways, sometimes explicitly as FPIC, but more often as a variation of “informed
consent”. The description of consent may be accompanied by a detailed list
of required criteria and processes similar to what is summarized in a previous
section of this chapter, based on TCPS2 Chapter 3 (Canadian Institutes for
Health (CIHR) et al., 2018), along with a template consent form. Or consent
may be referred to only briefly, for example, as an expected part of a research
agreement.
The conception of consent as a principle emerging from Western systems of
ethics and law can lead to articulations of a transactional nature within written
Indigenous community protocols. This is especially the case when a community’s requirements of consent are examined in isolation of that community’s
broader principles and values, which situate consent within the community’s
specific understandings and worldview related to what is being consented to, by
who and how the consenting process should happen in culturally appropriate
ways. Four examples are provided below to illustrate the diversity of how consent
is articulated by different Indigenous communities in Canada. Also included is