Tribes asked about health priorities

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The University of British Columbia's new Aboriginal health research institute, B.C. ACADRE, officially opened on May 21.

The B.C. ACADRE name is an acronym for Aboriginal Capacity and Developmental Research Environment. ACADREs are Aboriginal health research institutes set up by the federal government through the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples Health (IAPH), which is one of the 13 institutes making up the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The CIHR has set up other ACADREs in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba.

Already, the university directors are putting the first new initiative into place: going out to the communities in the province, to ask their opinion about what works and what still needs to be done.

"We're reviewing what the communities set up as health priorities," said the new B.C. ACADRE co-ordinator, Kim Brooks. The researchers and directors will meet with representatives of First Nations, and with those working with First Nations' health systems. Regional meetings will be held in Prince George, Okanagan, Fraser Valley, Lower Mainland, and Vancouver Island, and will culminate with a province-wide seminar tentatively set for February 2004.

The goal of B.C. ACADRE is to have research topics be community driven, and not for communities to be mere objects of study as has happened in the past.

"Aboriginal people have been researched, but they were not part of that process, and did not see their role as being meaningful. So, the B.C. ACADRE would like communities to feel like they have some control over the research, to see its value, and to see that they can use it," Brooks added.

Research projects she knows have already started independently are studies on maternal health and the health effects of mould in reserve housing. Other research areas that Brooks knows are important to communities are diabetes and injury prevention.

The B.C. ACADRE began its route to creation when the University of British Columbia was awarded $1.5 million in federal funds last September. Since then, the university's Institute for Aboriginal Health, now headed by Dr. Eduardo Jovel, has been developing the new institute's infrastructure. Brooks added that by the time B.C. ACADRE's first fiscal year ended in March, many of the key players were hired, and the ACADRE was also able to give out eight grants to graduate students to further their health research studies.

In all, the B.C. ACADRE grant is split up into $500,000 per year for three years, with a possibility to extend the grant for another three years. The goal is to have the institute self-sufficient within six years, Brooks said.

By then, a lengthy list of goals is expected to be reached. The four main themes to be covered are

* the identification of community health strengths through developing health assessments and culturally relevant, ethical research practices;

* the creation of community health responsibility through Aboriginal traditional cultural knowledge;

* holistic wellness in mental health and addictions;

* community motivated emerging research themes.

The first theme is basically the community consultation described above. For data, and topics of discussion, this theme area will rely heavily on the recommendations in the B.C. First Nations Regional Health Survey, conducted by a committee of the First Nations Summit chiefs. The first survey was completed in the late 1990s, and data is currently being collected for the second version, Brooks added.

For governance and policy, the new institute will work with UBC's Institute for Aboriginal Health, which already has an advisory council made up of 90 per cent Aboriginal members from local organizations and 10 per cent staff. An Elders' council will also be formed to provide Aboriginal cultural traditional knowledge.

Although B.C. ACADRE will do research that is of use to the community, Brooks stressed that it has limited resources, and can't do all the research that could be done or even that s requested to be done. One of their goals is to provide information and methods for communities to fund their own research, from providing information on how to write a proposal or how to ask for funds, she said.

"The Aboriginal capacity part of the ACADRE is what I'm most passionate about," Brooks stated.

She wants to see Aboriginal people (status, non-status, and Metis) develop their capacity and abilities "so that we are doing our own research, want to do our own research, and are in control of our own research."

The new B.C. ACADRE co-ordinator concluded by stressing the value of research, and the hope it supports self-government. "If you've done your research, you can do your own health planning and take control of your own health services," Brooks pointed out. "Research should improve people's health."