Grant: Project Grant

Cancer in Northern Canada is a leading cause of death with rates higher than the national average. The cancer burden for First Nations people is significantly higher with poorer 5-year survival rates from almost all cancers. Causes are complex and include low rates of screening and late-stage diagnoses. However reasons also stem from the ongoing legacies of colonization and residential schools that have created social exclusion, structural racism, and the erasure of First Nations ways of knowing and doing from health care practices. First Nations people have not been meaningfully engaged to address their cancer care needs, and First Nations ways of knowing and doing have not been incorporated into cancer care strategies. The purpose of this community-based study is to understand First Nations ways of knowing and doing for improving cancer care, and to co-design an approach to address cancer care needs in two remote First Nations communities in the Yukon. We will work in partnership with Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers and community members in Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, and Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation. Our methodology will include a literature review, sharing circles, focus groups, narrative conversations, and symbol-based reflections. The primary outcome is a description of cancer care strategies that upholds First Nations ways of knowing-and-doing in two remote communities. Secondary outcomes include: i) understanding the participating communities' meanings of cancer care; ii) First Nations ways of knowing-and-doing for cancer care; iii) priority cancer care needs based on First Nations ways of knowing and doing; iv) community strengths and barriers to developing and implementing the strategy; v) cultural safety of the co-designing process with the research team. This is the first phase of a multi-phase research program to co-develop and implement health care services and supports that are created by and for First Nations people in Yukon.