Our Methodology

Our Core Methodology & Approaches

The methodology we use was co-developed by Dr. Val Napoleon and Dr. Hadley Friedland and was built on the work of Dr. John Borrows. In practice, we continue to apply and expand this methodology and our research methods based on the teachings of Indigenous legal scholars, knowledge holders, and thinkers who have developed accessible and rigorous approaches to engaging with Indigenous laws.

Our methodology includes nine interconnected phases that offer structure and clarity while upholding our core principles of transparency, collaboration, accountability, rigour, humility, and flexibility. Each project develops in close partnership with our community partner, allowing the process to adapt to diverse legal traditions, research standards, and contexts. Throughout a project, we draw on a range of research and revitalization methods, using each where it best supports the whole. Our methodology is both reflexive and iterative and remains community-informed at every stage, which allows us to work responsively and collaboratively with community partners.

While many of our research projects involve ILRU researchers working on specific points of Indigenous law or urgent legal issues, we also provide training and advisory support to communities conducting their own legal research and revitalization work. That work may or may not follow the exact same methodological approach.

Phase 1: Relationship Building

Our starting point is to build a strong working relationship with a community partner. All our community-based research projects are initiated at the request of an Indigenous community. In that early relationship-building phase, we hold meetings and provide introductory presentations so we can build a shared understanding of the potential project work together. If there is interest in forming a research partnership, we then work together to clarify the community’s needs, refine research questions, discuss community research ethics and standards, identify community-based coordinators or researchers, and identify potential funding for the project.

Phase 2: Workshop & Project Planning

Typically, we hold an introductory, co-learning workshop in community at the beginning of a project. The workshop introduces ILRU and its work and some of the methods we use to engage with Indigenous laws. It also allows us to begin learning more about our community partner as we start to build a shared purpose and intention for the work ahead.

Following the workshop, we move into project planning. Together, we confirm the research focus, discuss how we want to work together, think through meaningful forms of community engagement, and identify what supports or training the project will need. This often includes guidance from the community coordinator about who we should learn from and how learning should take place. Sometimes, this may involve connecting and working with community researchers early on in this project planning phase. We then map out the steps ahead to create a clear and shared path forward.  

Phase 3: Active Research & Learning

We begin by conducting our own preliminary research and/or supporting community researchers in doing the same. We bring the research question(s) to the community’s legal resources, which may include stories, oral histories, language, community knowledge, transcripts, historical and anthropological materials, maps, artwork, and more. Through careful analysis, we start to identify legal principles and other forms of reasoning that speak to the core question(s). Our engagement with resources of Indigenous law is carried out in ongoing conversation with the community coordinator and community knowledge holders, both at this phase and throughout the entire scope of the project.

Phase 4: Ground-Truthing

We facilitate conversations in community about our research. Depending on the research, this may take place in large engagement sessions, focus groups, or one-on-one interviews. Whenever possible, these discussions take place in community, where we are often invited to spend time on the land and water and deepen our learning through cultural gatherings, ceremonies, and other opportunities.

In our conversations, we ask structured questions about the law, and we seek guidance on what we may have missed or misunderstood. We often work with the appropriate knowledge holders and language experts to ensure our research is grounded.

These dialogues help ensure that our interpretations are accurate and rooted in lived experience and community knowledge. With permission, conversations are recorded and transcribed and are subject to ethics and confidentiality principles, which are outlined in our research agreement.

Phase 5: Framework Building

Drawing on insights gathered, we translate our analysis into an organized and accessible legal framework. We look at what we have learned and arrange it so it can be easily understood and used by the community. Framework-building involves grouping the law into meaningful categories such as decision-makers, processes for decision-making, rights and responsibilities, responses, and other legal dimensions that emerge from the research.

The format of the framework is guided by community. The framework is not a final or fixed statement of law. It is a living structure that remains open to adaptation and continued interpretation. The goal is to create a resource that a community partner can work with directly, and one that they can apply, adapt, and expand to support their own goals.

Final products may take the shape of a report, toolkit, legal design, or other format. We also create accompanying materials for our final products, such as language glossaries, casebooks, backgrounders, and/or educational or practice tools that further support implementation and learning.

Phase 6: Validation & Finalization

Once we have a draft of our final products, we hold a validation process. We reconnect with participants to ensure that their knowledge has been represented accurately. Community members can confirm, correct, clarify, or withdraw their contributions or their participation from the project. During this process, we confirm how individuals wish to be referenced, including whether they want to be named publicly.

This step strengthens accuracy and accountability. The feedback we receive guides the project materials. Once any changes are incorporated, we finalize the draft products and provide copies to the community coordinator for community review.

Phase 7: Publication & Presentation

Publication decisions are guided entirely by community consent. In some cases, final products are made public to support broader learning. Sometimes community partners choose not to publish the work publicly (in whole or in part). All finalized materials are shared with the community coordinator for circulation.

We also share the publicly available work with the broader community at this stage. We typically conduct a community-wide presentation to walk through the project materials, highlight key findings, and celebrate the work together. To support use and understanding of the work, we may also create summaries, legal design graphics, or short video recordings.

Phase 8: Implementation & Evaluation

We support community partners as they begin using the final products in practice. Implementation may include applying the products in decision-making, policy development, governance processes, teaching, or other community-based initiatives. Implementation is led by the community and ILRU’s role is to walk alongside as invited and offer support where it is useful. 

Support during this phase can take different forms. In some projects, we help implementation through a final workshop or by initiating a new, follow-up project. In others, the community carries the work forward on their own. We understand our work as part of an ongoing relationship and continue to support the practice of Indigenous law where it is possible and needed.

Phase 9: Resource Transfer

This phase centers on data sovereignty and the right of Indigenous peoples to govern the collection, ownership, use, and interpretation of data about themselves, their lands, and their legal traditions. Returning research materials and data is done in a way that supports community control over how information is stored, shared, adapted, and ultimately used.

Working with the community coordinator, all research materials, data, and resources are transferred back to the community. These may include transcripts, notes, audio or video recordings, photography, and the many legal resources engaged throughout the project. Resource transfer closes the formal research process in a way that reinforces community ownership, supports ongoing use, and enables future research if the community wishes to continue the work.

Our Goals

We have three goals for our research collaborations. We want to establish meaningful partnerships that can grow beyond the life of a particular project. We want to create and provide accessible resources about Indigenous law to assist communities in responding to today’s complex challenges. We want to take the collaborative research we do to create educational materials to teach about Indigenous law and facilitate more respectful conversations and understanding about Indigenous law in the broader community.