Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grants - Institute/Initiative Community Support

Youth are the future of First Nations health research, yet, they are rarely in the room when research priorities are set. This gathering is about changing that. The Tahatikonhsontontie QcNEIHR Network, whose name means "the faces that have yet to come", is grounded in the Haudenosaunee principle of Seven Generations Thinking; that decisions made today must serve the next seven generations. In that spirit, this project brings First Nations youth, emerging researchers, community-based researchers, and organizational representatives together in Wendake, Québec, on Huron-Wendat lands, to collectively identify First Nations health research priorities for their region. This gathering is informed by the NEIHR Research Matrix: Directions 1, which mapped over 400 Indigenous health research projects across Canada and identified both concentrations of activity and significant gaps where community-identified priorities remain unmet. Participants will examine these findings, deliberate in small groups, and produce a set of First Nations-specific health research priorities, based on their knowledge and lived experience. CIHR-IIPH representatives will attend to hear directly from participants about how institutional priorities and funding strategy should respond to support the next generation of Indigenous health researchers. Outputs will include a full summary report, a plain-language community summary and a visual knowledge mobilization resource; all co-designed with participants and shared publicly. This is a community-led process for setting direction, centered on the voices of those who will carry First Nations health research into the future.