Working with Canadas First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples
April 2012 marks the beginning of the Partnership’s second five-year mandate and the next phase of implementing Canada’s national cancer strategy. The priorities and initiatives for the next five years are outlined in our 2012-2017 strategic plan, Sustaining Action Toward a Shared Vision. Our website will soon be updated to reflect the activities supporting the strategic plan. The information below reflects the priorities and accomplishments of our work between 2007 and 2012.
Among Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, cancers tend to be discovered at more advanced stages, incidence is increasing faster and deaths from preventable cancers are higher than in the overall Canadian population1,2,3,4
To help address these findings and facilitate meaningful and sustainable change, the Partnership’s work is guided by and reflective of the communities themselves.
Progress to date
Among the key developments to date:
- To overcome barriers posed by geography, the Partnership is collaborating with Saint Elizabeth Health Care on the @YourSide Colleague® Cancer Care course.
- Developed for and with health-care workers in remote and rural First Nationscommunities, the course currently reaches more than 700 practitioners in over 215 First Nation communities and organizations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. The course is credited with helping community health workers identify people at risk. Based on these successes, expansion of the course to other provinces is being considered.
- The Partnership is collaborating with Cancer Care Ontario to evaluate its “Aboriginal Data Indicators Project”, a pilot program designed to enhance cancer data and client and family care for Aboriginal peoples in Ontario. Currently, First Nations, Inuit or Métis status is not recorded in the cancer registries. This pilot program is the first of its kind in Canada. With evaluation of the pilot to be completed in 2010/11, the results will help to inform other provinces as they conduct similar work.
- Dedicated space is being established on www.cancerview.ca to house First Nations, Inuit and Métis cancer control resources and information for health-care professionals, patients and their families. The impetus to develop this online clearinghouse, to be completed in 2010/11, was a recommendation from the Partnership’s 2009 National Forum on First Nations, Inuit and Métis Cancer Control. Work is being guided by an Advisory Network that includes cancer agencies with Aboriginal units or strategies, national Aboriginal organizations and federal agencies involved in Aboriginal health.
1. CancerCare Manitoba. Aboriginal Cancer Care Progress Report, 2008.
2. Marrett L, Chaudry M. Cancer incidence and mortality in Ontario First Nations, 1968—1991 (Canada). Cancer Causes and Control, 2003;14(3): 259—268.
3. Alvi RA. Breast, cervical and colorectal cancer survival rates for Northern Saskatchewan residents and First Nations. MSc thesis, University of Saskatchewan, 1999.
