How Indigenous female academics are reshaping northern research

Researchers in the North say they’re noticing more and more Indigenous women doing field research — and that it’s inspiring a new generation of female scholars.

“In the last two to three years, there’s just been this explosion of female Indigenous students in masters programs and PhD programs,” said Nicole Redvers, an associate professor at Western University and member of the Deninu Kue First Nation in the N.W.T. “It’s just been amazing to see.”

According to Statistics Canada, between 2016 and 2021, there was an increase in the number of Indigenous women entering post-secondary education in Canada, and in the proportion of Indigenous women who have a bachelor’s degree or higher — though there are no readily available statistics on Indigenous women involved in field research in the North.

Redvers says a centralized university in the North would make it easier to track this information across all territories.

Redvers believes there are several factors behind the trends she’s seeing: geopolitical interest in the Arctic, new funding streams, and especially increased visibility of female Indigenous researchers — something she said was “a real challenge before.”

“If you can’t see yourself reflected in the spaces like research, it’s really difficult to think, ‘Well, maybe that’s something I want to do.’”

Nicole Redvers, an associate professor at Western University and member of the Deninu Kue First Nation in the N.W.T., says the real driver of change is Indigenous people continuing to push for new approaches to research. (Submitted by Nicole Redvers)

Education and funding inequalities are at the heart of many of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) 94 Calls to Action. While those calls forced some academic institutions to reckon with systemic barriers that historically affected Indigenous students and researchers, Redvers said the real driver of change isn’t just institutional goodwill — it’s Indigenous people continuing to push for change.

Reconciliation through academia 

Ashley Ens, a PhD student and member of the Nihtat Gwich’in in the N.W.T., said Indigenous women have always been knowledge holders.

“What is changing is that more women are asserting the legitimacy of Indigenous methodologies, community knowledge, oral histories and responsibilities to the community,” she said.

Female Indigenous researchers are shaping how academic spaces function, Ens said, by creating supportive environments where women can pursue degrees without having to forgo their responsibilities to their family and community.

Ens said she experienced that firsthand when she started pursuing her PhD as a mother raising a young child.

“I would often take her and be in these spaces with her. And it was a very accepting space,” she recalled.

Still, Ens said, institutions need to do more to create change — such as by providing more long-term funding for community-led projects and more support for northern students to travel to southern universities. 

Female Indigenous researchers are shaping how academic spaces function, says Ashley Ens, a PhD student and member of the Nihtat Gwich’in in the N.W.T. (submitted by Ashley Ens)

“When we talk about reconciliation through research, it’s not studying Indigenous Peoples or adding Indigenous Peoples or perspectives to existing projects,” Ens said. 

“It requires changing who determines the questions, who controls the information, who receives the resources and who benefits from the findings.”

How Indigenous women are changing research

By anchoring their work in traditional knowledge and including community members, northern researchers are building trust within communities, said Redvers.

“Indigenous communities have been getting relatively tired of sort of the old pattern of research,” she said. “Which tends to be … researchers popping in and kind of popping out.”

Laurie-Ann Lines, a senior researcher with the Yellowknife-based Institute for Circumpolar Health Research, said she is “amazed” to see an “influx” of Indigenous female graduate and post-doctorate students.

“It really is happening because of the elders and community members that have partnered in research, that have stood up and shared our Indigenous research methodologies,” she said.

Lines, a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, said when she first entered academia in 2015, there were few Indigenous academic mentors who understood both community-level research and Western academic structures.

Today, Lines leads the Northwest Territories Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research, a project bringing together elders, researchers, community members and learners in the N.W.T. This growth, she says, is a testament to how research is shifting in the North.

“Research won’t just be about us anymore,” she said. “It will be conducted with us and by us and for us.”