Grant: IPPH Travel Awards - CPHA Annual Conference

Over the last several years, Ktunaxa Nation and Interior Health Authority have formed a partnership to support co-learning processes to advance decolonizing health systems and services. Under the leadership of Ktunaxa Elders and Knowledge Holders, we developed xacqanat ?itkinit (Many Ways of Working Together), a locally-specific, culturally-informed and community-driven approach to co-learning and co-creation of knowledge. We piloted xacqanat ?itkinit through a series of community gatherings in Ktunaxa communities. We developed, piloted and validated xacqanat ?itkinit, with community members commenting that the process was "really meaningful, really powerful" and that being able to talk and listen embodied what it means to be a healthy community. The data from the pilot has informed the development of a Ktunaxa Model of Wellness that reflects Ktunaxa understandings of health and wellness. A significant outcome of this partnership is capacity building within Ktunaxa Nation for revitalizing, preserving and restoring traditional knowledge systems and knowledge sharing processes. Through relationship building and co-learning, we have learned: 1) real engagement starts before the work; 2) language matters; 3) Indigenous words break down differently than English; 4) the journey is a destination; and 5) no one knows everything. This partnership is paving a way forward for decolonized relationships between health systems and Indigenous communities, with the aim of reorienting health systems to learn from culturally-informed approaches to supporting wellness. This project can inform other relationship building processes, and offers insights for respectfully integrating Indigenous knowledge, languages and worldviews into health services, health policies and health research. Developing and piloting xacqanat ?itkinit was the formative first step along the pathway toward mutual long-term goals to support co-learning activities between Ktunaxa Nation and Interior Health.