Aboriginal Canadians' Ocular and Visual Health: A Daunting Challenge
January 2012
More and more Aboriginal Canadians suffer from serious ocular and visual health problems. In early 2011, the Vision Institute of Canada, with the support of the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, launched a campaign targeting Aboriginal Canadian communities to promote awareness of the role of healthy diets and regular ocular health exams in preventing or correcting such health problems. An article in the October 2011 edition of Optik Magazine, a bilingual publication serving the Canadian eyecare industry, draws attention to the issue, as well as the role of the NCCAH, and is now generally available. View article. Learn more about Aboriginal Vision Health and the NCCAH.




Artistic expression: identity, health and place through Indigenous eyes
January 2012
The NCCAH has joined forces with the University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus) to publish a unique edition of LAKE: A Journal of Arts and Environment this winter. A call for creative submissions from across the country has resulted in a wide variety of fiction, poetry, essays, and visual arts contributions from new and established Indigenous artists. Guests include award winning author Warren Cariou and renowned Haida artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, while a creative essay originally prepared for submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission links healing from the colonial violence of residental schools with connection to place and the natural environment.

"This edition injects the question of health and Indigeneity into the equation of art and environment," said guest editor Dr. Sarah de Leeuw, a Research Associate with the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health. "There is a solid evidence base that creative expression and art can lead to good health. Certainly for Indigenous people, a strong sense of cultural resiliency and identity rooted in place is integral to health - and creative and artistic expression is a vital way to express that relationship," she said.

In a guest editorial to be featured in the special edition, Dr. de Leeuw and NCCAH Academic Lead Dr. Margo Greenwood make note of the deterritorialization experienced by Indigenous peoples globally, as well as burdens of ill-health linked to such issues as sociocultural and economic marginalization. They suggest that creative expressions provide "living, vibrant, and material documentations of resiliencies and strengths," and show that Indigenous peoples are "alive, thriving, and partaking in an increasingly globalized world."

Nancy Holmes, a co-editor of the journal, said she was moved by her own journey in facilitating this edition. "Rarely do we get to work with a group of artists whose relationship to place and to the natural world is so frequently essential to their art. It was a deeply moving experience to read submission after submission about the vital exploration of emplacement and deplacement that is being undertaken by Indigenous artists and thinkers in this country," she said. "I hope that this issue will affect readers in the way it has affected us: opening us up to new world views, shifting our own sense of how we belong to our homes and places, and reminding us of not only the legacy but also the present worth of Indigenous voices and visions.  This will be a remarkable issue of work from artists and writers from the Haida to the Haudenosaunee people," she said.

The journal will be published in early 2012. To request a copy, please contact us at nccah@unbc.ca.




NCCAH-Supported Journal Articles Inform Public Health Initiatives
October 26, 2011
Several academic journal articles and book chapters supported or funded by the NCCAH have been published in 2010/2011, and are helping to inform and support ongoing NCCAH activities. These include:

• Beyond Borders and Boundaries: Addressing Indigenous Health Inequities in Canada through Theories of Social Determinants of Health and Intersecionality
In Health Inequities in Canada: Intersectional Frameworks and Practices. Edited by Olena Hankivsky, UBC Press 2011, 53-70. Authors Sarah de Leeuw and Margo Greenwood argue that understanding colonialism as a fundamental determinant of health, in conjunction with the other social determinants, can provide one means of explaining and understanding the state of Indigenous people's health in Canada today.

• Indigenous Youth Engagement in Canada's Health Care
In Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health, 2011, 9 (1), 87-111. Authors Natasha Blanchet-Cohen, Zora McMillan and Margo Greenwood discuss findings from a study on Indigenous youth's perspectives on and engagement in health care. Their results highlight the value and implications of affirming Indigenous youth's role as determiners of their own health.

• Warming up to the Embodied Context of First Nations Child Health: A Critical Intervention into and Analysis of Health and Climate Change Research
In International Public Health Journal 2010, 2 (4), 477-485. Margot Parkes, Sarah de Leeuw, and Margo Greenwood analyze options that can help prevent climate change from exacerbating health inequities experienced by Aboriginal children in Canada.
 
• Knowledge Transfer and Exchange Processes for Environmental Health Issues in Canadian Aboriginal Communities
In International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2010, 7, 651-674. Authors Susan M. Jack, Sandy Brooks, Chris M. Furgal and Maureen Dobbins seek to shed light on  how Canadian Aboriginal communities use environmental health research evidence in developing policies and programs, highlighting the role of collaborative relationships throughout a research project, and Traditional Knowledge as a distinct type of evidence that must be valued in supporting decisions in Aboriginal communities.

NCCAH Highlights National Significance of BC First Nations Landmark Health Care Agreement
October 14, 2011
NCCAH Academic Leader Dr. Margo Greenwood offered a national perspective to CBC Daybreak North listeners on a landmark national agreement in Canada that will see First Nations health care in British Columbia transferred to a new Aboriginal authority. The BC First Nations Health Society signed a pact October 13, 2011 with federal and provincial health ministers that will transfer authority and resources from Ottawa to the new agency over the next two years. Dr. Greenwood noted the agreement signified a new relationship in BC toward self-determination and community control over health, and was a precedent-setting model in Canada for structural change necessary to address jurisdictional gaps and challenges in Aboriginal health. She said a new NCCAH report is drawing attention to the 'patchwork' of policies that exist across the country, and said the BC agreement highlights opportunities for more equitable health access and service through collaborative partnerships.  Listen to the CBC interview here.

Fireside Chat: NCCAH Hosts a National Dialogue on "Healthy Aboriginal Health Policy"

October 6, 2011
The NCCAH is hosting a 'fireside chat' bringing people from across the country together with Dr. Josée Lavoie to address the issue of what a healthy Aboriginal health policy environment might look like in Canada, where significant policy gaps continue to affect the health and well-being of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Dr. Lavoie, of the University of Northern BC's School of Health Sciences, is a lead author of a 2011 NCCAH report: Looking for Aboriginal Health in Policies and Legislation, 1970-2008: The Policy Synthesis Project (see related fact sheet). She will explore current trends, strengths and gaps in policy and conclude with promising options.  To register and invite others to join in the event on October 6, starting at 1p. EDT, please visit the CHNET-Works! site. Read more about the report here. 

Welcoming Aboriginal Fathers Back in the Circle of Care - National Video Launched at Former Residential School

August 24, 2011
Blue Quills First Nations College in Alberta and the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (NCCAH) in BC launched a documentary film this week that brings new attention in the post-residential school era in Canada to the role of Indigenous fathers in the care of children. The film launch took place during the 40th anniversary celebrations of Blue Quills First Nations College, a former residential school at Saddle Lake near St. Paul, Alberta. In 1970, the institution became the first Indigenous-run school in Canada following peaceful sit-in demonstrations by more than 300 people.

"We are working to recover what has been lost and to reclaim parents' natural place in the lives of their children," said Dr. Patricia Makokis, president of the college. "And we are doing that in ways that ensure Indigenous wisdom and traditional ceremony is central to everything we do.” Read more.

Building Bridges Between First Nations and the Health System in Northern BC

February 16, 2011
The traditional clans of Bear, Caribou, Frog and Beaver of the northern Carrier First Nations society gathered together for an "All Nations" potlatch or Bah'lats in Prince George, BC to unveil a 16-foot, 500-pound red cedar carving that will grace the entrance of the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia. The huge carving was called a "spectacular cultural bridge" between northern First Nations and the health care system (see related press release). 

The event also celebrated the accomplishments of  leading individuals who were honored at the feast with shawls and gifts of famous Pendleton blankets, used for a century by Native Americans to acknowledge births, deaths and major milestones. 

Dr. Margo Greenwood, Academic Leader of the NCCAH, has worked in the traditional territory of the Carrier Sekani First Nations for more than 13 years and was celebrated for her national, international and local achievements in children's education and health. 

Also honored was Earl Peter Muldoe, known as Delgamuukw, a master carver renowned as the name behind the landmark Delgamuukw Supreme Court of Canada case which provided a definitive statement on the nature of Aboriginal title in Canada. 

RCMP Chief Superintendent Brenda Butterworth-Carr, of the Tr'ondek Hwech'in Han Nation, Yukon, was similarly recognized. She served as the first Aboriginal female Superintendent in the Pacific Region and was promoted in 2010 as Chief Superintendent in charge of National Aboriginal policing services in Ottawa. 

Photo: A 16-foot tall carving that will grace the University Hospital of Northern B.C. was unveiled during a traditional potlatch ceremony in Prince George, B.C.

Dr. Margo Greenwood Honoured with National Aboriginal Achievement Award

November 23, 2010
Dr. Margo Greenwood will be presented to the House of Commons in the Canadian Parliament November 23, 2010 as a recipient of a National Aboriginal Achievement Award. Dr. Greenwood, Associate Professor at University of Northern British Columbia and Academic Leader of the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (NCCAH), is being recognized for her outstanding career achievements in education. Read more.

A national television film crew visited the NCCAH to shoot a segment for the broadcast of the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards in March 2011. Big Soul Productions was in Prince George, BC to film Dr. Greenwood at the University of Northern BC.

 

Viewing Aboriginal Health Through a Social Determinants Lens

November 13, 2010
Ontario Health Promotion Ebulletin - Addressing the "prevantable, avoidable and unfair" health inequities in Aboriginal health requires an understanding that improved housing, access to education, or cultural revitalization in effect constitute “complex clinical interventions” that can improve health outcomes. This article by the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health touches on the relevance of the social determinants model to Aboriginal health, and highlights recent NCCAH activities to illustrate how a social determinants framework can influence policy, research and practice. Read more. 

NCCAH Recognized for its Role in Supporting Access to Research Information

October, 2010
The national potential for innovative work led by the BC-based Network Environments for Aboriginal Research BC (NEARBC) is being recognized by organizations like the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, the Canandian Institutes of Health Research - Institute of Aboriginal People's Health, and the Centre for Aboriginal Health Research at the University of Victoria. NEARBC provides website access to a database of research abstracts containing over 1,300 summaries of peer-reviewed research articles of relevance to Aboriginal health. These cover a wide range of categories, including mental health, chronic disease, and child and maternal health. "The database is a really successful translation tool, and one that will be sustained thanks to NCCAH funding," said network co-leader Dr. Chris Lalonde, associate professor of psychology at the University of Victoria, in a press release issued by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. Read more. 

Child Health: Home and Away

April 30, 2010
Dr. Margo Greenwood has the “Final Word” on the state of maternal and child in a guest editorial in UPDATE Magazine, produced by the University of Northern British Columbia. Download the magazine. View article.

 

NCCAH “Tireless Educator and Advocate” Recognized

April 1, 2010
NCCAH Academic Leader Dr. Margo Greenwood has been named Academic of the Year for her work as a “tireless educator, researcher, and advocate for improving health outcomes of Aboriginal peoples.” The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA BC) recognizes faculty members at BC's public universities who use their research and scholarly work to make contributions to the wider community. Read more.
 

Local Award For Far-Reaching Work

November 13, 2009
The National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health was recognized for its role in the health of northern communities in BC and beyond with an award honouring its international work with the United Nations and World Health Organization, its national work Aboriginal organizations across the country; and locally for supporting health and wellness within Northern BC. Read more.
 

Canadian Medical Association Journal: H1N1 and Aboriginal Exclusion From Public Health Body

October 14, 2009
Excluding Aboriginal groups from Canada's leading national public health advisory body helped exacerbate pandemic (H1N1) planning, health experts familiar with Aboriginal communities say. The Canadian Medical Association Journal article "Aboriginal groups seek representation on pan-Canadian Public Health Network" quotes Kim Barker, health advisor to the Assembly of First Nations and a member of the NCCAH advisory committee, as well as Dr. Margo Greenwood, who urges greater inclusions of Aboriginal voice.
 

University of Northern BC Highlights NCCAH Report On Aboriginal Child Health

June 24, 2009
Read the University of Northern British Columbia's media story about the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health on the university's website: "Centre at UNBC Partners with UNICEF CANADA to Report on the Health Challenges of Aboriginal Children."

Beyond Silos: NCCAH Role in Canada Noted

June 9, 2009, CMAJ
The positive role of the NCCAH in public health in Canada is highlighted in the Canadian Medical Association Journal editorial: "A Country of Perpetual Pilot Projects." Currently, there are few "horizontal collaborative mechanisms" for sharing lessons and knowledge across jurisdictions and beyond the silos in which provincial and territorial health systems tend to operate. These challenges help underscore the significance of the NCCAH work in bringing diverse sectors together, particularly in addressing the social determinants of Aboriginal peoples' health. The editorial is by Hon. Monique Bégin, PhD; Laura Eggertson, BA, and Noni Macdonald, MD, MSc.
 

Many Hands, One Dream Newsletter

October 26, 2009
NCCAH releases report on FAS and FASD among Aboriginal peoples.
Summer 2009
NCCAH partners with UNICEF Canada to launch report on Aboriginal children's health: "Canada's Supplement to UNICEF's State of the World's Children Report."