Grant: Project Grant

The burden of child and youth injury is high among Canada's Indigenous Peoples. The Voices study aims to build capacity within the First Nations community of Akwesasne and among researchers to address this burden, and to influence cultural change toward safety and injury prevention. Based upon the principles of Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP), and with the guidance of a community project manager, visual storytelling - combining photography, video, narratives and mapping to capture the lived experience - will be used by youth leaders to provide a platform for community members to identify and target selected injury prevention issues. This information will support the community and researchers in coming to a mutual understanding of how to move forward with child and youth focused injury prevention programming and policies. Project funds will be spent primarily in community, supporting a project manager, the purchase of iPads to be left in community, and costs related to community meetings. Researchers will work directly with and within the community, following the community's lead in addressing child and youth injury prevention, and make expertise and resources available as needed. Under their current Research Agreement with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, Drs Pike and Macpherson have successfully partnered with the Ahkwesáhsne Mohawk Board of Education (AMBE) to monitor injuries occurring in the school setting. This work will expand their work with children and youth in the school setting, to assess the need for local community injury prevention initiatives; and complement the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Strategic Plan and Comprehensive Community Plan. This work will highlight some of the challenges and mitigation strategies in addressing child and youth injury through the identification of First Nations community priorities, and the development and implementation of community programming and policy.