Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

To promote health equity among First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), is investing $25M over ten years in a new signature initiative called Pathways to Health Equity for Aboriginal Peoples (Pathways). Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous ways of knowing is an essential aspect of developing the evidence base in how to design, offer and implement programs and policies that promote health and health equity in four priority areas: suicide prevention, tuberculosis, diabetes/obesity and oral health. In partnership with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities across Canada community protocols, cultures and traditional knowledge aims to enhance the Pathways initiative. Representatives of the Pathways Partners for Engagement and Knowledge Exchange (PEKE), play an important role in facilitating knowledge exchange. The uniqueness of this research initiative is that it is community-driven; through on-going engagement between researchers, and Aboriginal communities in Canada, research outcomes will be translated into actionable and viable solutions expected to create real change and improvements in health outcomes. An overview of the Pathways initiative will be provided with each of the PEKEs speaking about their respective engagement strategies and partnerships to date.