Indigenous Research Methodologies

From the nineteenth century to the present day, external peoples, companies, and governments have perpetrated disrespectful attitudes and behaviours toward Amazonian Originary Peoples. In response, Originary Peoples have increasingly adopted their own protocols of respectful interactions with external actors. However, research on the development and implementation of intercultural understandings of “respect” in pluri-cultural interactions has been scarce. Drawing on findings from collaborative research in the Peruvian Amazon, this article explores how Asheninka and Yine perspectives and practices of “respect” inform and could transform euro-centric conceptions and hegemonic consultation processes based on “mutual respect,” proposing instead a practice of “intercultural respect.” The study was initiated at the invitation of Asheninka and Yine community members themselves. Long-term relationships catalysed an invitation to co-design a community-based collective endeavour, which began in 2015. The discussion and findings presented in this article are part of a larger project that attempts to portray how Asheninka and Yine collaborating communities want to be respected under their own terms. This collaborative work proposes: 1. An Originary methodology; 2. A paradigm-encounter frame; and 3. Ten principles to guide “intercultural respect” for the Peruvian Amazon.

This is a qualitative study that investigates how culture and race impact the college experiences of PI football players, how those experiences enhance or inhibit their persistence in higher education, and to introduce Pacific Islander Cultural Racism Theory (PI-CRiT) as a guiding framework for the research. The methodology for this study weaves three Pacific Islander cultural constructs together to ensure that the research process is respectful of each participant, their community, and their gift of mo'olelo (story). This PI methodology disrupts dominant research paradigms by suggesting that data collection, analysis and interpretation should align with its participants' ontology, epistemology and axiology. That is, the methods to gain more knowledge about reality (methodology), should align with the participants' views about reality (ontology), their ways of thinking about reality (epistemology), and their ethics, morals and values that guide their interaction in that reality (axiology).

"There are well-established ethical standards that apply to the conduct of research in Australia, including research within Indigenous contexts. Ethics committees oversee academic or institutional research design and practice to ensure that methods are culturally appropriate and that the rights of individuals and communities are respected and protected. NHMRC guidelines specifically address the issues of Aboriginal and Torres Strait  Islander participants. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies has produced a set of research  Ethics guidelines, structured around 14 principles.
Evaluation is a form of research which provides particular ethical issues. As well as being guided by the ethical guidelines set out above, the Australasian Evaluation Society’s guidelines for ethical conduct of evaluations also provide a standard that Australian evaluators in general would adhere to.
But do these ethics processes and guidelines take into account the complete array of issues that arise with program evaluations? The authors’ experiences and observations suggest that they do not, and they are supported by much of the international literature. After detailing some of the challenges faced by the authors and by others working in the northern Australian context, four potential areas of improvement are detailed. The seminar will be of particular interest to research and evaluation practitioners, commissioners of evaluation and organisations/agencies that are subject to evaluation. "

By presenting Shamanism as a form and tradition of indigenous knowledge, this paper aims to reduce the uncertainties attached to the concept in common approaches to indigenous research. Most indigenist researchers, who are working to blend western and non-western ways of knowing, have inadequately explored indigenous research procedures. In order to understand indigenous research procedures in the Nepali multi-cultural context, using interpretive, critical and postmodern research paradigms, the authors engaged with indigenous elders and traditional healers, and observed cultural events like shamanic performances. This paper reveals how achieving a profound understanding of indigenous knowledge traditions will be an integral part of how researchers approach indigenous communities in future studies.

Faculty members in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines are typically expected to pursue grant funding and publish to support their research or teaching agendas. Providing effective professional development programs on grant preparation and management and on research publications is crucial. This study shares the design and implementation of such a program for Native STEM faculty (NAF-STEM) from two tribal colleges and one public, non-tribal, Ph.D. granting institution during a 3-year period. The overall development and implementation of the program is centered on the six R’s Indigenous framework – Respect, Relationship, Representation, Relevance, Responsibility, and Reciprocity. The role of NAF-STEM and their interactions with the program, as members of the community formed by their participation, impacted the program. Their practices and the program co-emerged over time, each providing structure and meaning for the other. Through such reciprocity, NAF-STEM and the program research team continually refined the program through their mutual engagement. They took on the shared responsibility of the program while they participated in and shaped its practices. The process and results of formative and summative assessment and the impact of COVID-19 on the program are reported. Results of the program offer lessons on the implementation of six R’s framework in professional development at institutions of higher education.

Statistics about Indigenous peoples are a common feature of Anglo-colonizing nation states such as Canada, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the United States (CANZUS). The impetus for the production of most Indigenous statistics is the shared position of Indigenous disadvantage in health and socioeconomic status. In this chapter, we contrast statistics about Indigenous peoples with statistics for Indigenous people and statistics by Indigenous people. There are very significant differences between these categories of Indigenous statistics. At the heart of these differences is the methodology that informs the research processes and practices. Statistics about Indigenous peoples often reflect the dominant social norms, values, and racial hierarchy of the society in which they are created. In the CANZUS states, these statistics are deficit focused and, at times, victim blaming. Also missing from these statistical portrayals is the culture, interests, perspectives, and alternative narratives of the Indigenous peoples that they purport to represent. We contrast these statistics with those from statistical research using processes and practices that are shaped by Indigenous methodologies. Indigenous methodologies are distinguished by their prioritization of Indigenous methods, protocols, values, and epistemologies. We conclude with two examples of what Indigenous quantitative methodologies look like in practice from Aotearoa NZ and Australia.

While Indigenous peoples have long urged attention to Six Rs (respect, relevance, reciprocity, responsibility, relationality, and representation) that are important to community-engaged work, application of these principles has been sporadic within the filmmaking industry. Many Indigenous communities do not have the technical expertise and/or resources needed to support professional quality audiovisual production. As a result, they rely on predominantly White filmmakers from beyond the community. Unfortunately, mainstream filmmaking practices have historically demonstrated a disregard for Indigenous ways of knowing, and a scarcity of meaningful relationships between filmmakers and community members has further contributed to a legacy of insensitive filmmaking within Indigenous contexts. In addition, internet-based distribution of cultural content raises questions about post-production sovereignty. In this project, Tribal College (TC) students and faculty partnered with students and ...

Se analiza el universo de ideologías, prácticas y representaciones cosmológicas asociadas por los chané del noroeste argentino con el ámbito del monte. Se describen etnográficamente fenómenos como la división conceptual del espacio; la relación de la categorización espacial con la división sexual del trabajo y las relaciones de género; el protocolo ritualizado de conducta para con los seres del monte y los dueños tutelares de las cosas; la ambigüedad simbólica del ámbito del monte; el juego de analogías y paralelismos entre las representaciones montaraces y la estructura social (redes de parentesco, alianza, reciprocidad y redistribución, ideologías del liderazgo y la propiedad, etc.). Se discute la discriminación analítica de matices exegéticos en diversos contextos simbólicos, semánticos y experienciales en los cuales las acciones y los enunciados de los chané adquieren cotidianamente su sentido y su inteligibilidad. Se demuestra, finalmente, que el conocimiento del monte no conforma un registro abstracto de datos espaciales, biológicos o geográficos sino una auténtica percepción cultural de la realidad.

I found myself nodding in approval as I read this book. Smith has a sufficient understanding of the intricacies of options in research methodology to titillate the experts. I found myself thinking that her level of understanding was impressive for an indigenous Maori. My joy was dampened when I realised that underlying her text is really a clear message: ‘you Western researchers aren’t helping us. Get out of the way, and let us indigenous people research ourselves’. My heart sank. I would love for there to be more intimate involvement of Western people with indigenous minorities and majorities. Smith tells us repeatedly that indigenous people are tired of being abused by Western people in the name of ‘research’.  Westerners should read this book. It declares a failure of the West.

Sustainability science offers an alternative space for research that challenges colonial histories of western science, especially in its orientation to interdisciplinarity and for addressing complex problems through equitable knowledge co-production processes. However, the justice-oriented commitments within sustainability science remain underdeveloped, in particular for centering Indigenous Research Methods (IRM) and promoting decolonization of academic institutions. In this paper, we draw from more than ten years of experience across three cases of conducting sustainability science in Indigenous homelands. The cases focus on (1) adaptive responses to the Emerald Ash Borer insect which threatens black ash basketmaking cultures and economies; (2) efforts to link science with decision making to protect public health and reduce shellfish bed closures; and (3) collaborative research to support dam removal and river restoration. We identify tensions in science as a discourse, including how sustainability science is uniquely shaped by practices of naming and social constructions of time. We then describe how we engage these tensions through four main commitments to critical praxis, or tailored practices that respond to emergent problems and systems of power. These commitments include centering Wabanaki diplomacy and IRMs, redesigning all stages of research for inclusivity and dialogue, attending to multiple temporalities, and supporting Wabanaki and Indigenous students as leaders and researchers. To conclude, we reflect on how these practices may be adapted to other contexts, histories, and sustainability-related issues.

Dr. Carolyn Ellis is a sociologist and communications scholar whose major contribution to anthropology is her originating development of, and research in, autoethnography. Ellis describes autoethnography as “a reflexive approach to research, writing, and storytelling that connects the autobiographical and personal to the cultural, social, and political”. She applies an ethnographic, literary, and evocative writing approach to research articles, short stories, and documentaries to present and understand lived experience in a cultural context.  Her research centers on how individuals negotiate their identities, emotions, and meaning making through their close relationships with the people in their lives.
Autoethnographic methodology has gained much momentum in current academic discourse due, in part, to the use of the method in research conducted by Indigenous scholars who resonate with the recognition by qualitative research that the researcher is not a neutral, unbiased instrument of the research process.

This paper discusses an indigenous Māori approach, named Thought Space Wānanga, for sharing knowledge and accelerating the translation of research into practical outcomes through transformational practices, policies, and theory development. In contexts such as New Zealand, there is an increasing demand on all publicly funded researchers to demonstrate the impact of their research and to show pathways for achieving social and economic outcomes from single, focused projects. Knowledge translation is the most common term used to describe the link between research and impact and the process of turning research into results. While it is highly debatable whether planning for this at the front end of research will necessarily lead to such high-level outcomes being achieved, many indigenous researchers aim for their research to be translated into real world positive outcomes for indigenous communities. Thought Space Wānanga is a facilitated process framed within Māori cultural protocols, de...

Quantitative methods, especially when used on large-scale data sets such as NATSIS and census collections, are powerful analytical research tools. Yet the use of such methods is relatively rare among Indigenous Australian researchers. Reasons for this limited engagement include the fraught relationship between Indigenous peoples and research, the lack of an established Indigenous presence within quantitative research practice, and the paucity of relevant Indigenous quantitative data. Three arguments for the greater use of quantitative methods and techniques within Indigenous research practice include the research power available through the use of such methods, the need for an Indigenous presence in this field of research, and the capacity of an Indigenous research framework to transform quantitative research practice.

Four stars in the night sky have been formally recognised by their Australian Aboriginal names. The names include three from the Wardaman people of the Northern Territory and one from the Boorong people of western Victoria. The Wardaman star names are Larawag, Wurren and Ginan in the Western constellations Scorpius, Phoenix and Crux (the Southern Cross). The Boorong star name is Unurgunite in Canis Majoris (the Great Dog). They are among 86 new star names drawn from Chinese, Coptic, Hindu, Mayan, Polynesian, South African, and Aboriginal Australian cultures.

Research norms in the social sciences and humanities have also undergone significant transformation in the past two decades—owing mainly to the pressure of Indigenous communities and Indigenous scholars demanding researchers adopt collaborative approaches to produce relevant scholarship in partnership with communities. These practices, now increasingly institutionalized, have led in many cases to fundamentally different kinds of academic research projects—research that has community-defined research questions, community oversight, and community engagement and underlying values. But, as the benefits of Indigenous community-engaged research become clear, I contend that researchers must also push themselves to a deeper form of engagement with community, one that further empowers Indigenous research practice and supports Indigenous peoples in creating research self-sufficiency in our communities.

Viewing Métis identity not as a natural, essential, or fixed phenomenon, but as an experience formed through internal and external factors, this article examines the mechanisms by which people residing in British Columbia identify as Métis. Through interviewing Métis People and engaging in critical discourse analysis and narrative analysis, this research demonstrates how Métis narratives centre on and replicate three hegemonic discourses based on racial mixedness, Métis cultural values, and Métis nationalism. The "Métis subject" is then not an easily described coherent subject, but rather a co-constructed description based on transient identification with multiple and sometimes contradictory texts, which are themselves made meaningful through discourses. Understanding "Métis" in this way allows for an exploration of the role of power in producing meanings of "Métis" and how individuals, groups and institutions can strategically mobilise particular meanings and resist definitions of Métis prescribed by Eurocentric perspectives embedded in colonial institutions.

Howard Gruber, a founder member of Psychologists for Social Action, reviewed the dissertation. His review, dated May 7, 1978, as Parkovnick (2015) points out, "... is worth quoting in full, as it captures the very essence of the dissertation":
“This is an effective dissertation and could become an important book. I began reading it very favorably disposed to it. Then I got more and more riled up, made many hostile notes. By the end I found myself almost won over, certainly illuminated. Francks [Gruber’s spelling] has a style that gets under your skin and stays there. This is a good thing and should not get lost in the process of expansion, rewriting, and editing. It will take some work to make it a persuasive book to a less sympathetic reader, and to reduce its present excessive vulnerability to academic criticism. Its very sweep opens many avenues to criticism, crit. of a kind that detracts the reader and potential reader from the central ideas. But all this can be worked out. As an academic type, I often find myself cringing, wanting things toned down. But by the time I finished, I felt that the direction of the change should be to strengthen the tone of the book, to make its central, disturbing message more apparent, bring it more up front.”  Gruber, H. (1978). Review of A history of American social psychology up to the Second World War by Peter Francks [Gruber’s spelling] for Ablex Publishing Corporation, May 7.

Readers should also look at: https://www.academia.edu/60033912/The_Psychology_of_Participation_Revisited_1984_2021

This article will discuss the theory and the research design used in a study as partial fulfilment of completing a Master of Social Work degree. The research design consisted of a Maori centred approach, drawing strongly from Kaupapa Maori theory and principles, using qualitative methods. It presents the authors research journey and discusses the practical tasks involved in doing research, as encouragement and support for other Maori  practitioners thinking about doing a Master of Social Work.

MacLeod, K. (2016). Leslie Brown and Susan Strega. Research as
Resistance: Revisiting Critical, Indigenous, and Anti-Oppressive Approaches,
Second Edition. (Toronto, ON: 2015, Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Pp. 269, ISBN: 978-1551308-82-1.). , 38(1-2)

The purposes of education, while varying with both time and place, are generally understood to be of progress, betterment and full participation in a democratic society (Calma, 2006; Schofield, 2010). Yet schooling is not working for increasing numbers of young people, particularly for many living in disadvantage (Smyth, McInerney & Hattam 2003, p. 178). This " not working " for Aboriginal 1 students is well documented, and was revealed in my research as a crucial secondary theme. This paper draws on the findings of doctoral research that investigated successful teaching of Aboriginal students. The research took place in two metropolitan high schools and was framed by the theoretical framework of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy infused with the tenets of Critical Race Theory. A key finding of this ethnographic study was that for Aboriginal students the continued hidden purpose of schooling is that of assimilation. if schooling is to be of benefit for Aboriginal students, families and their communities, then the purpose of assimilation needs to be 'repurposed'. In this paper, I will examine the three identified key purposes of successful Aboriginal education and offer Culturally Responsive Schooling as a means for achieving Aboriginal student success.

Some researchers suggest we develop an understanding of disasters as relational events between the natural, environmental, and ecological on the one hand and the political, sociological, and cultural on the other. In this paper, I develop a historical, environmental, and cultural sociology of disasters through the case of Japan within the context of its colonial relations, integrating social justice and decolonization into my analysis of disaster as a social process. Using online archival materials and employing autoethnographic accounts, I briefly trace the history of post-disaster nationalism in Japan and examine the relief work of grassroots community organizations after two major disasters in Japan in 1995 and 2011. Extending the discussions on environmental justice, I propose the concept of disaster justice, a process of bringing together struggles for social justice on the one hand and efforts into disaster preparation and response on the other. As the cases of disaster nationalism in Japan indicate, disaster justice calls for not only structural changes but also epistemological changes, or shifts in the ways in which we create and legitimize knowledge. This can be achieved through the framework of research justice, which holds that people who are most impacted by a particular issue must be recognized as the experts of the issue, and their knowledge must be recognized as community expertise.

This chapter focuses on Pacific island ways of negotiating knowledge. It begins from the premise that the researcher as learner, seeking knowledge (data), needs to learn how to negotiate access to a particular knowledge base in various indigenous contexts. Numerous Pacific island scholars assert that a decolonisation of research is needed to cater for the fact that Pacific indigenous peoples view and engage in the world differently.

A growing amount of research is being conducted on racial diversity in college football head coaching positions in the United States. However, very little has been conducted on the entry-level positions in college coaching: Graduate Assistants (GAs), Quality Control assistants (QCs) and restricted earnings coaches. These positions represent natural professional trajectories for student-athletes, who constitute the future pool of applicants for college coaching positions. In the United States, the majority of student athletes are nonwhite, but white coaches still dominate the world of college athletics. This paper investigates the pipeline issues that obstruct the matriculation of nonwhite student-athletes and produce what I call the diversity deficit in college football coaching. Existing analyses of empirical data from member institutions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) demonstrate the existence of racial inequality in the profession of coaching. This paper will explain the perpetuation of the diversity deficit by employing Critical Race Theory (CRT) to illustrate how whiteness, color-blindness and tokenism structure college football coaching. The paper then presents new research data that illuminate how power shapes NCAA member institutions and that can aid participants in addressing pipeline issues and the diversity deficit.

Indigenous and allied scholars, knowledge keepers, scientists, learners, change-makers, and leaders are creating a field to support Indigenous peoples’ capacities to address anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change. Indigenous studies often reflect the memories and knowledges that arise from Indigenous peoples’ living heritages as societies with stories, lessons, and long histories of having to be well-organized to adapt to seasonal and inter-annual environmental changes. At the same time, our societies have been heavily disrupted by colonialism, capitalism, and industrialization. As a Potawatomi scholar-activist working on issues Indigenous people face with the U.S. settler state, I perceive at least three key themes reflected across the field that suggest distinct approaches to inquiries into climate change: 
1. Anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change is an intensification of environmental change imposed on Indigenous peoples by colonialism. 

2. Renewing Indigenous knowledges, such as traditional ecological knowledge, can bring together Indigenous communities to strengthen their own self-determined planning for climate change.

3. Indigenous peoples often imagine climate change futures from their perspectives (a) as societies with deep collective histories of having to be well-organized to adapt environmental change and (b) as societies who must reckon with the disruptions of historic and ongoing practices of colonialism, capitalism, and industrialization.

In engaging these themes, I will claim, at the end, that Indigenous studies offer critical, decolonizing approaches to how to address climate change. The approaches arise from how our ways of imagining the future guide our present actions. The article is forthcoming in English Language Notes.

The use of a context-specific research model is critical when undertaking research that involved Pacific people. This article discusses the use of a Kuki Airani | Cook Islands research framework known as the Tivaevae Model in a PhD study. This model first introduced by Maua-Hodges borrows from the traditions of creating a traditional tivaevae | handmade quilt. The tivaevae represents Kuki Airani epistemological and ontological worldviews. Utilising the processes used to create a tivaevae as a metaphor and guiding process, the research was stitched together to develop a metaphorical tivaevae symbolising aronga mapu | youth views of sexuality. This article discusses the research process and how the tivaevae model was used through data collection, analysis, findings design and the educational “project.” In doing so, this article examines the research process that is contextually and culturally appropriate to better understand the nuances of what indigenous research methods can potentially offer, both conceptually and methodologically to critical researchers.

Drawing on the work of Martin Nakata, this paper brings into focus the everyday complexities involved in the cultural interfaces that educators, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, negotiate in order to promote children’s engagement with formal education processes. Analysis of emergent data from a recent evaluation of a preschool education programme operating in 35 rural and remote Indigenous communities in Queensland, Australia, revealed that educators struggle to situate their own knowledge and experiences in relation to the knowledge and experiences of others in both the educational and cultural contexts in which they work. A series of composite vignettes reporting the experiences of early childhood educators across these communities is used to examine the pedagogical opportunities available to educators when they are able to recognise the value of the knowledge and experience of all those involved in a child’s educational success.

A new paradigm of Indigenous research is emerging, one that is linked into a broader movement of Indigenous resurgence and decolonization. As the first generation of scholars who have had regular contact with Indigenous professors, and belonging to a critical mass of educated, politically aware, and activist young people, new research principles are emerging that pose a challenge to the conservative academic status quo. Insurgent research is based on four key principles:

1.    Research is grounded in, respectful of, and ultimately seeks to validate Indigenous worldviews.

2.    Research output is geared towards use by Indigenous peoples, and in Indigenous communities.

3.    Research processes and final products are ultimately responsible to Indigenous communities, meaning that Indigenous communities are the final judges of validity and effectiveness of insurgent research.

4.    Research is action-oriented and works as a motivating factor for practical and direct action among Indigenous people, and in Indigenous communities.

This article discusses the role of research within Indigenous communities, grounded in an Indigenous knowledge system, and proposes an alternative to traditional extraction-oriented research methods that form the basis for mainstream academic research protocols.

Drawing upon Indigenous ways of knowing and the revitalization of Indigenous education, the author, as Anishinabekwe,1 ‘‘storysharer,’’ and drummer, explores the relationship between song and story in Anishinabe hand drumming and how this relationship both guides and reveals Anishinabe knowledge. To decolonize the research journey, the author turns to her relationship with her drum and its teachings of holism, relationality, and
interconnectedness. The author explores how the teachings and interpersonal relationships centred around the drum help direct the production of a short documentary film. What ensues is a project that honours the ways
Anishinabeg create and share knowledge and draws on performance (auto)ethnographic techniques to show rather than tell, thereby engaging both the hearts and minds of the audience. The author highlights conceptions of care, faith, and thanks in articulating a creative Indigenous methodology that is about ‘‘doing good work.’’
Keywords: Anishinabeg, hand drumming, decolonial

This research note is part of the thematic section, Giving Back in Solidarity, in the special issue titled “Giving Back in Field Research,” published The  Journal of Research Practice 10(2).  LINK TO PAPER: http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/405/371

For nearly 150 years, Canada’s Indian Act has been an impetus of assimilation, dispossession, and cultural genocide of First Nations peoples. Today it continues its reign as the arbiter of First Nation-Settler Canadian relationships despite its sordid history of upholding racist asymmetrical power dynamics. Vexingly, in the absence of original governance order, the Indian Act’s legitimacy is also upheld by the very First Nations it has oppressed. Using Participatory Action Research, this dissertation explores community support of a customary governance structure that departs from the Indian Act. Quantitative data collected from a survey produced in partnership with the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation (Deshkan Ziibiing) Governance Committee showed that a majority of respondents support customary dodemiwan (clan system) governance. Using logistic regression to analyze support for custom governance on full, female, and male models, this research finds that those with higher reported Anishinaabe Values are more likely to support dodemiwan governance, making an inextricable link between lived Anishinaabe ways of life and Anishinaabe political order. Qualitative data collected from participants in Deshkan Ziibiing’s 2016 Clan Gathering art table features a selection of diverse perspectives showing the rich expressions that dodemiwan resurgence invokes.

The purpose of this study was to understand how the unique social, historical, cultural, and Indigenous knowledge contexts of Aboriginal communities in British Columbia shaped high school to university transitions for Aboriginal youth. To this end, the Northwest Coast bentwood box acted as a metaphor that framed the theoretical inquiry and methodology for this study, which examined four Aboriginal Early University Promotion Initiatives (AEUPI) and three Aboriginal University Transition Programs (AUTP) in British Columbia. In addition, I utilized Archibald’s (2008) storywork and Kirkness and Barnhardt’s (1991) 4Rs of Indigenous methodologies, with an additional 5th R (relationships). The study also drew upon Martin Nakata’s (2007) concept of the cultural interface, to analyze 32 interviews conducted with Aboriginal youth, and faculty and staff from the AEUPIs and AUTPs.
Key findings from the Aboriginal youth in this study suggest that learning about university through real-life experience offered by the initiatives/programs was meaningful. Second, both the AEUPIs and AUTPs provided youth with concrete opportunities to explore future academic and career pathways. Third, ensuring that the youth were provided with opportunities to develop relationships with positive Aboriginal role models in the university was seen as a success factor. Fourth, the AEUPI youth shared stories about the important leadership skills they developed as role models and mentors to younger youth in the initiatives, which in turn assisted them with their visioning process for university. Fifth, the students’ sense of belonging at university was fostered by relationships with AEUPI and AUTP staff, Indigenous student support staff, Elders, and faculty. Sixth, the AEUPI youth overwhelmingly agreed that the experiences they had in these initiatives led them to feel wholistically successful. However, the AUTP youth had a conflicting experience. Ultimately, insights from the youths’ stories suggest that the future of AEUPIs and AUTPs is a promising one if universities take heed. To this end, all participants in the study critically detailed how Canadian universities can apply a wholistic conception of the 5 Rs to Indigenous high school to university transition programs.