SIFC working to promote Aboriginal health research

Page 6

The Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC) is taking the lead role in forming and running a new Indigenous People's Health Research Centre, becoming the first First Nations-run institute to get involved in what will become a country-wide health research network.

The SIFC is partnering with the University of Regina (U of R) and the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) to create the centre, which will help support Indigenous health research designed to meet the needs of Aboriginal communities, as well as assist Aboriginal people wanting to pursue careers in health research.

The centre, which will operate out of both the U of R and U of S campuses, is one of four centres currently being funded through the Institute of Aboriginal People's Health, one of the 13 institutes created by Health Canada in 2000 to support research in specific areas of Canadian health. The other three research centres will be located in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario, with more centres expected to be announced in the future.

The Saskatchewan-based health research centre will be focusing on research in the areas of chronic diseases, nutrition and lifestyle; Indigenous healing; health delivery and control; and prevention and environmental health.

According to Dr. Eber Hampton, president of the SIFC, the college has been working in the area of health for many years, so when the call went out for proposals for creation of the centres, the SIFC joined with the U of R and U of S to put together a proposal.

"It was a good opportunity that we saw to do something that would help an area of health research," Hampton said.

"Our primary academic partnership has always been with the University of Regina, but this is about the fifth joint program we're doing with U of S," Hampton said. "So this is kind of nice in that it brings together all three universities in Saskatchewan."

The basic purpose of the centre, Hampton explained, is "to increase the capacity in Aboriginal health research. So a lot of the funding is going to go to graduate students -Aboriginal graduate students- and to researchers. The researchers don't necessarily all have to be Aboriginal, but they have to be working with the support of Indian or Metis communities."

Diana Greyeyes, who is in the SIFC social work faculty, has taken on the role of acting executive director of the fledgling centre, and work has begun to get the centre off the ground.

"The first thing we're doing is pulling together a meeting between health researchers and community members . . . to bring together the researchers that have their experience and expertise in the research area, and also community people that are working in the health areas. That's basically to begin establishing those links so that the approach to the research is kind of community based rather than the approach of the experts doing research on it. It's more the community based model of doing research with people rather than on them. So the research addresses community priorities," Hampton said.

For years, Aboriginal communities have been complaining that research being done on them hasn't been of any benefit to them. These new centres, Hampton explained, will help change that.

"We've all experienced that. That's really a major concern of the health research centre, is to change that, so that not only are researchers working with communities, but we actually are nurturing the crop of researchers for tomorrow from our communities. So that it's not a matter of other people doing research on us, but it's a matter of raising our own crop of researchers that can work with us in producing the kind of research that is useful to our communities and does have a real pay off in terms of the health of our communities. So we have high hopes that the centre is a step in the right direction, really for First Nations and other Aboriginal people to begin to control the research agenda. To direct the research agenda, really."

Hampton is hoping that in addition to the funding it receives through the Institute of Aboriginal People's Health, funds will also be forthcoming from the provincial government. If that happens, the plan is to have up to seven staff members at the centre, including three researchers, and three research facilitators who would help form the link between the centre and the Aboriginal communities.

"Our plan is that we'll have staff both in Regina and Saskatoon, possibly Prince Albert as well. We want the operation of the centre to be accessible to communities," he said. "One of the very strong supporters and partners in this initiative was the Northern Intertribal Health Authority. So the work that they've done in helping to get the centre proposal prepared and helping with kind of the design of the first stages here, that's been really important. And so we're looking forward to that continuing, that relationship," he said.

All in all, Hampton is optimistic about what the new centre will mean, both for the SIFC, and for Aboriginal health research.

"In terms of SIFC, it's really a good opportunity to help to build the capacity of our own First Nations university. And to be the lead institution in establishing this centre, and to have the strong support of the other two universities in Saskatchewan, it's a real plus for us," he said. "SIFC has been doing nursing programs, our environmental health science program, our national school of dental therapy, our social work program. We've been doing work in the health-related areas for a long time. And the research side of that work is really important so that we do produce relevant, useful knowledge to pass on to our students, as well as to share with our communities. So this was a real plus for the development of SIFC, as well as a good things in terms of the health research area."