scholarly journals Lessons Learned From Canada in Working Together to Support Indigenous Health and Wellness

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 132s-132s
Author(s):  
C. Politis ◽  
D. Keen
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Prevention ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Culturally Relevant ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Health And Wellness ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Key Informant ◽  
Mental Wellness

Background and context: First Nations, Inuit and Métis bear a disproportionate burden of cancer in Canada. In the spirit of truth and reconciliation, and to have the greatest impact, it is important for nonindigenous and indigenous partners to work together, and reflect on lessons learned in collaborating, to support First Nations, Inuit and Métis health and wellness. Aim: In response to the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer committed to understanding how collaborative projects funded through the Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP) initiative were successful in bringing together diverse groups - both indigenous and nonindigenous - to create and apply culturally-relevant cancer prevention approaches. Strategy/Tactics: Seven projects funded through the CLASP initiative, from 2009 to 2016, brought together over 275 First Nations, Inuit, or Métis communities, schools, and organizations with government, nongovernment, and academic partners in collaborative coalitions. The projects addressed cancer prevention issues prioritized by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis (e.g., unhealthy eating and physical inactivity) through approaches that were holistic and culturally-relevant, such as utilizing intergenerational knowledge sharing, incorporating mental wellness, and supporting existing capacity within communities. Program/Policy process: Over 30 knowledge products developed by the projects were reviewed to identify preliminary lessons learned about partner collaboration. Preliminary lessons learned were verified and expanded upon through nine key informant interviews with CLASP partners. Key informant interviews were informed by four advisors representing indigenous and nonindigenous leaders and partners. The refined set of lessons learned were finalized through qualitative analysis and validated through a conference session and one-day workshop with CLASP partners and First Nations, Inuit, and Métis community leaders. Outcomes: Twenty-seven lessons learned that describe how nonindigenous and First Nations, Inuit and Métis CLASP partners worked together to develop and put into practice culturally-appropriate cancer prevention approaches were identified. The lessons learned were grouped into six themes: 1. respectful relationships; 2. engagement with indigenous communities; 3. addressing accountability requirements, decision-making, and governance; 4. community direction; 5. supports and resources; 6. communication and knowledge exchange. What was learned: The actionable lessons learned are intended to guide future relationship building and engagement between nonindigenous partners and First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners. It is intended that these lessons will be beneficial to collaborative cancer prevention efforts around the world and inform broader system change leading to a reduction in indigenous cancer burden disparities.

scholarly journals Promoting Resilience Within Public Health Approaches for Indigenous Communities

2021 ◽  
pp. 78-99
Author(s):  
Christopher Mushquash ◽  
Elaine Toombs ◽  
Kristy Kowatch ◽  
Jessie Lund ◽  
Lauren Dalicandro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Process And Outcome ◽  
Mental Wellness

Resilience within public health is conceptualized to be fostered through individual, community, and systemic initiatives that promote capacity through interconnected primary, secondary, and tertiary health interventions. Within community public health settings, particularly for Canadian Indigenous communities, an emphasis on interconnected, multisystemic interventions that promote resilience can be particularly useful. Fostering resilience within Indigenous health seeks to prioritize unique needs of individuals and communities, through both process- and outcome-based measurement. Given that Indigenous individuals’ needs may differ from non-Indigenous populations in Canada, careful consideration of how to best conceptualize, measure, and promote resilience is required. Tools such as the Native Wellness Assessment and the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework can be helpful to both measure and conceptualize resilience, as they can provide insight on what is considered to be best practices to increasing wellness within Indigenous communities. Such tools continue to prioritize the multisystemic promotion of resilience.

scholarly journals Editorial

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Isaac-Mann ◽  
Evan Adams ◽  
Ted Mala
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Health Authority ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Health And Wellness ◽  
Respectful Care

Welcome to this two-part guest edition of the International Journal of Indigenous Health (IJIH), produced by the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) in the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada. As guest co-editors, we are pleased to present to you this collection of research, promising and wise practices, innovations, and Indigenous Knowledge on health and wellness. These papers constitute a substantive contribution to, as our call for submissions framed it, “Health Systems Innovation: Privileging Indigenous Knowledge, Ensuring Respectful Care, and Ending Racism toward Indigenous Peoples in Service Delivery.”

scholarly journals Editorial

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Isaac-Mann ◽  
Evan Adams ◽  
Ted Mala
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Health Authority ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Health And Wellness ◽  
Respectful Care

Welcome to this two-part guest edition of the International Journal of Indigenous Health (IJIH), produced by the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) in the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada. As guest co-editors, we are pleased to present to you this collection of research, promising and wise practices, innovations, and Indigenous Knowledge on health and wellness. These papers constitute a substantive contribution to, as our call for submissions framed it, “Health Systems Innovation: Privileging Indigenous Knowledge, Ensuring Respectful Care, and Ending Racism toward Indigenous Peoples in Service Delivery.”

scholarly journals Ethical research engagement with Indigenous communities

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 205566832092270
Author(s):  
Carrie Bourassa ◽  
Jennifer Billan ◽  
Danette Starblanket ◽  
Sadie Anderson ◽  
Marlin Legare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Advisory Committee ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Cultural Safety ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Training Module ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Morning Star ◽  
Tribal Council

Introduction Canada’s colonial policies and practices have led to barriers for Indigenous older adults’ access to healthcare and research. As a result, there is a need for Indigenous-led research and culturally safe practices. Morning Star Lodge is developing a training module to assist AgingTech researchers on ethical, culturally safe ways to engage Indigenous communities. This includes exploring Indigenous health research, community-based partnerships, reciprocal learning, and cultural safety; this is presented through a case study on ethically engaged research. Methods Morning Star Lodge developed a research partnership agreement with File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council and established a Community Research Advisory Committee representing the eleven First Nations within the Tribal Council. The work designing the culturally safe training module is in collaboration with the Community Research Advisory Committee. Results Building research partnerships and capacities has changed the way the eleven First Nation communities within File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council view research. As a result, they now disseminate the Knowledge within their own networks. Conclusions Indigenous Peoples are resilient in ensuring their sustainability and have far more community engagement and direction. Developing culturally safe approaches to care for Indigenous communities leads to self-determined research. Culturally safe training modules can be applied to marginalized demographics.

scholarly journals Towards attainment of Indigenous health through empowerment: resetting health systems, services and provider approaches

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. e004052
Author(s):  
Cheryl Barnabe
Keyword(s):  
Health Systems ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Models Of Care ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Health And Wellness ◽  
Financial Investments ◽  
Dominant Society ◽  
Significant Health

Colonial policies and practices have introduced significant health challenges for Indigenous populations in commonwealth countries. Health systems and models of care were shaped for dominant society, and were not contextualised for Indigenous communities nor with provision of Indigenous cultural approaches to maintain health and wellness. Shifts to support Indigenous health outcomes have been challenged by debate on identifying which system and service components are to be included, implementation approaches, the lack of contextualised evaluation of implemented models to justify financial investments, but most importantly lack of effort in ensuring equity and participation by affected communities to uphold Indigenous rights to health. Prioritising the involvement, collaboration and empowerment of Indigenous communities and leadership are critical to successful transformation of healthcare in Indigenous communities. Locally determined priorities and solutions can be enacted to meet community and individual needs, and advance health attainment. In this paper, existing successful and sustainable models that demonstrate the empowerment of Indigenous peoples and communities in advocating for, designing, delivering and leading health and wellness supports are shared.

scholarly journals Commentary - The Climate Change and Health Adaptation Program: Indigenous Climate Leaders’ Championing Adaptation Efforts

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 127-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Richards ◽  
Jim Frehs ◽  
Erin Myers ◽  
Marilyn Van Bibber
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Health Canada ◽  
Climate Change And Health ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

The Climate Change and Health Adaptation Program (CCHAP) is a program within the First Nations Inuit Health Branch of Indigenous Services Canada (which was previously under the responsibility of Health Canada). The CCHAP supports Inuit and First Nation communities in mitigating and adapting to the health impacts of climate change. The impacts of climate change on Indigenous health can be observed in multiple areas including, but not limited to, food security, cultural medicines, mental health and landbased practices. This program seeks to address the needs of climate change and health in First Nation and Inuit communities to support resiliency and adaptation to a changing climate both now and in the future through its emphasis on youth and capacity building. The commentary is based on the Program’s eleven years of experience working with and for Indigenous communities and provides an overview of the CCHAP model and the work it has and continues to support. This paper demonstrates three examples of community-based projects to mitigate and adapt to the health impacts of climate change to demonstrate climate change resiliency within Indigenous communities.

scholarly journals An Analysis of Journey Mapping to Create a Palliative Care Pathway in a Canadian First Nations Community: Implications for Service Integration and Policy Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 117822421771944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Koski ◽  
Mary Lou Kelley ◽  
Shevaun Nadin ◽  
Maxine Crow ◽  
Holly Prince ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Health Services ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Care Pathway ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Service Integration ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Nations Community

Providing palliative care in Indigenous communities is of growing international interest. This study describes and analyzes a unique journey mapping process undertaken in a First Nations community in rural Canada. The goal of this participatory action research was to improve quality and access to palliative care at home by better integrating First Nations’ health services and urban non-Indigenous health services. Four journey mapping workshops were conducted to create a care pathway which was implemented with 6 clients. Workshop data were analyzed for learnings and promising practices. A follow-up focus group, workshop, and health care provider surveys identified the perceived benefits as improved service integration, improved palliative care, relationship building, communication, and partnerships. It is concluded that journey mapping improves service integration and is a promising practice for other First Nations communities. The implications for creating new policy to support developing culturally appropriate palliative care programs and cross-jurisdictional integration between the federal and provincial health services are discussed. Future research is required using an Indigenous paradigm.

scholarly journals Re-Thinking Housing: From Physical Manifestation of Colonial Planning Policy to Community-Focused Networks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelagh McCartney
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Housing System ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Housing Systems ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Planning Policy ◽  
Existing Housing ◽  
Physical Manifestation

Current housing systems and policies for First Nations communities in Canada produce a physical manifestation of ongoing colonialism: the house. Examinations of the physical community and house yield an understanding of deeply systematized imperial struggles between Indigenous communities and planning as a discipline. Indigenous families are in crisis as the housing system and Federal planning policies have not allowed for the provision of adequate nor appropriate homes. The recent independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission has begun a civic discussion, accompanied by a new federal government looking to begin a new relationship with Indigenous peoples—here we explore how planning can be a leader in this shift. The ‘contact zone’ is used as an operational lens to examine the ways discourse is used to shape the existing housing system. An interdisciplinary and global approach informs interventions in the existing housing system and policies, creating a community-driven model, and uncovering a reimagined role for the planner.

scholarly journals Re-Thinking Housing: From Physical Manifestation of Colonial Planning Policy to Community-Focused Networks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelagh McCartney
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Housing System ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Housing Systems ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Planning Policy ◽  
Existing Housing ◽  
Physical Manifestation

Current housing systems and policies for First Nations communities in Canada produce a physical manifestation of ongoing colonialism: the house. Examinations of the physical community and house yield an understanding of deeply systematized imperial struggles between Indigenous communities and planning as a discipline. Indigenous families are in crisis as the housing system and Federal planning policies have not allowed for the provision of adequate nor appropriate homes. The recent independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission has begun a civic discussion, accompanied by a new federal government looking to begin a new relationship with Indigenous peoples—here we explore how planning can be a leader in this shift. The ‘contact zone’ is used as an operational lens to examine the ways discourse is used to shape the existing housing system. An interdisciplinary and global approach informs interventions in the existing housing system and policies, creating a community-driven model, and uncovering a reimagined role for the planner.

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