Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

First Nations have a holistic view of health, including all parts of the ecosystem (land, air, water, plants, and animals). This view is recognized by broader determinants of aboriginal health identified by the National Aboriginal Health Organization. When an environmental health concern is identified by a First Nations community, they are often faced with the burden of proof to demonstrate the risk and push for action; this is a particular challenge for First Nations communities since they often lack the capacity to collect, organize, interpret and present the required data. This research will investigate the use of spatial data as a means of integrating knowledge about environmental quality in order to increase the capacity of First Nations people in Canada for decision making about their lands and resources for improving community health. This research will contribute to the field of knowledge to action research and evaluation in the context of First Nations health and environmental quality, and provide recommendations on methods of increasing the capacity of First Nations in decision making with the use of spatial data, potentially transferable to other contexts as well.