Ours to Tell: Ethics of Research in Indigenous and Japanese Canadian Communities

For many years now, discussions have taken place between academics and community leaders on the ethics of research in racialized and Indigenous communities.

Ours to Tell is a collective of Japanese Canadian scholars, community leaders and allies joined in pursuit of change. Racialized researchers have faced longstanding marginalization, are often tokenized and treated as “native informants” in collaborative research rather than scholars in their own right. As well, those outside the community often claim information provided by community knowledge keepers as their “discovery” with no credit given to independent scholars and storytellers. “Unbiased research”, “academic detachment” and/or “objectivity” have all been invoked to discount the work of racialized and Indigenous scholars who have chosen to conduct research within their own communities. This form of devaluation privileges research conducted by non-racialized researchers.

A dynamic group of panelists discussed the ethics of research in Asian communities, with a focus on, but not limited to Japanese Canadians. Participants included prominent Japanese Canadian scholars, junior Japanese Canadian researchers, and one of the country’s most dynamic leaders in Asian Canadian Studies. The discussion began with a keynote presentation by Dr. Margaret Kovach, an influential and highly regarded Indigenous scholar who has written extensively on the topic of Indigenous Research Methodologies.

Community leaders asked what strategies universities and government funders can employ to ensure that histories and stories told about us acknowledge and fully include our voices and research contributions.

Sponsored by the Asian Institute, the National Association of Japanese Canadians, Greater Toronto Chapter, Canadian Race Relations Foundation, SunLife. Co-sponsored by Canadian Studies at University College, University of Toronto, Asian Canadian Studies, University of Toronto, and Centre for Indigenous Studies, University of Toronto.