ARCHIVED - Research About – Aboriginal Health

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For the past 10 years, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has supported better health and health care for Canadians. As the Government of Canada's health research investment agency, CIHR enables the creation of evidence-based knowledge and its transformation into improved treatments, prevention and diagnoses, new products and services, and a stronger, patient-oriented health-care system. Composed of 13 internationally recognized Institutes, CIHR supports more than 13,600 health researchers and trainees across Canada. Through CIHR, the Government of Canada invested approximately $31.3 million in 2009–10 in research related to Aboriginal peoples' health.

The Facts

• In Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, Indigenous infant mortality rates are 1.7 to 4 times higher than those of non-Indigenous infants.¹
• In 2009, nearly 15% of employed 25- to 54-year-old Aboriginal people who lived off reserve worked in the health care and social assistance industry. Aboriginal employment in this field bucked the declining-employment trend triggered by the economic crisis of 2008–2009, which saw employment rates of off-reserve Aboriginals falling faster than those in the general population.²
• First Nations living off reserve and Inuit and Métis adults aged 20 or older were less likely to report being in excellent or very good health and were more likely to report at least one activity limitation than were non-Aboriginal adults.³
• The likelihood of having at least one chronic condition and specific conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes is higher among Aboriginal people than non-Aboriginal people.⁴

Sources:

1. St. Michael's Hospital Centre for Research on Inner City Health: Indigenous Children's Health Report Health Assessment in Action
2. Statistics Canada: The Daily Study Aboriginal labour market update
3. Statistics Canada: The Daily Study The health of First Nations living off-reserve Inuit and Métis adults
4. Statistics Canada: Risk factors and chronic conditions among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations

Finding Solutions

Partnerships produce research that meets community needs

First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities need research tools – such as survey methods – that work effectively within their communities to address challenges such as high rates of HIV/AIDS infection, domestic violence, alcoholism and drug use. The University of Ottawa's Dr. Neil Andersson is building partnerships with Aboriginal organizations to meet that need. With CIHR funding, Dr. Andersson is currently coordinating a survey with Ottawa's 2,000-person Inuit community in which community members conduct the research. "As people see that 'OK, this is an Inuk asking me questions in my own language,' firstly, the engagement level is completely different but secondly, the Inuk researcher ends up being able to do something very different in their life," says Dr. Andersson.

Fly-in project reconnects Cree with traditional goose harvest

An innovative project in Northern Ontario is helping more Omushkego Cree participate in a tradition that has gone on for centuries: the spring hunt of snow geese. Called Sharing the Harvest, the project will see a group of about 36 hunters per year flown from reserve communities near James Bay to hunt snow geese at Cape Henrietta Maria, a nesting ground that is inaccessible by roads. The hunters will also share half of their snow goose harvest with their communities. "Things are so expensive in the North that now many of the Cree just can't afford to travel to their traditional hunting grounds," says the University of Waterloo's Dr. Leonard Tsuji, the project leader. The hunt reconnects Cree hunters with a tradition that has important social and cultural elements; it deals with "food security" issues that have emerged as people become less familiar with traditional wild food sources and more dependent on store-bought, processed foods; and it addresses wildlife concerns about the over-population of snow geese.

Facing the challenge of appropriate end-of-life care

Canada's Aboriginal communities are not only aging, but are also shouldering the heavy burden of chronic and terminal disease among their members. To help address the challenge, researchers based at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay are working with four First Nations in Ontario and Manitoba to find ways to design and implement palliative care programs that are both culturally appropriate and adaptable for other communities. "The impetus for this came from the communities themselves," says project leader Dr. Mary Lou Kelley. "They do not want to send their community members out at the end of their lives. Many of them are elders who might not be comfortable outside of their culture." As well, she says, the communities want to be able to welcome those with terminal diseases who want to return to their First Nations home at the end of their life. "We are working with the communities, building on systems that already exist both in terms of the formal care providers and informal networks," says Dr. Kelley.

E-mentoring aims to motivate students to study health sciences

Aboriginal youth are dramatically underrepresented in postsecondary education, particularly in the health sciences. With only 9% of Aboriginal students eligible for postsecondary education, there are tremendous barriers to change. To help overcome these barriers, Dr. Sandra Jarvis-Selinger and her team at the University of British Columbia have partnered with First Nations communities in a project that links Aboriginal students from across BC with university and college students in the health sciences. "It's a completely online platform in which students can choose mentors and interact with them," says Dr. Jarvis-Selinger. "It will give youth the opportunity to talk to health science students about how they made it and how they got there and what decisions they had to make along the way. It's also about changing the way academic institutions think about access to health science programs."

For More Information

The CIHR Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health (CIHR-IAPH) fosters the advancement of a national health research agenda to improve and promote the health of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada, through research, knowledge translation and capacity building. The Institute's pursuit of research excellence is enhanced by respect for community research priorities and Indigenous knowledge, values and cultures. To learn more about these priorities and other CIHR-IAPH activities, please visit the Institute's website.

For more information, go to ARCHIVED - Your Health Research Dollars at Work