Chapter 6: Using Indigenous Methodologies to Evaluate School Community Councils in Saskatchewan

In 2018, the author undertook a learning-oriented evaluation (Dahler-Larsen, 2009) of School Community Councils (SCCs) in Saskatchewan. The evaluation sought to determine the current state of SCCs in relation to achieving their mandate and engaged approximately 120 participants. To achieve a critical analysis of SCCs in Saskatchewan, the author also conducted a culturally responsive evaluation (Hopson, 2009; Mertens & Zimmerman, 2015) by interviewing four non-SCC parents (Indigenous, immigrant newcomers, and visible minority). As an Indigenous researcher, it was important to the author that this evaluation was situated within a context that respected and reflected who the author is as Métis and that it was carried out in a way that honored Indigenous approaches (Battiste, 2013; Cardinal & Hildebrandt, 2000; Kovach, 2009; Tuhiwai Smith, 1999) with a view to putting the principles of respect, relationality, and reciprocity into action. In this chapter, the author describes the tension the author experienced as an Indigenous researcher when confronted with pursuing evaluation through Western research methodologies, including ethnography. The author describes how the author centered Indigenous methodologies (Kovach, 2009) within an evaluation tradition (Ryan & Cousins, 2009) by formulating the study in Indigenous theory, situating the author in the study, and bringing Indigenous approaches as the primary methods in a culturally responsive evaluation (Bowman et al., 2015; Hopson, 2009; Kovach, 2009; LaFrance et al., 2012). Decolonizing research is a process, and the author offers this chapter to encourage Indigenous researchers to embrace this tension, build upon lessons learned, and continually refine the understanding and practice of utilizing Indigenous methodologies in evaluation.