Grant: Cat Gr:Policy Res. for Health Sys. Transf.- Canadian Healthcare Workforce

The Northwest Territories (NWT), a large land with many isolated communities, has always been challenged to recruit and retain healthcare workers. The territory is now in a healthcare crisis. Solutions such as bringing in healthcare workers from the southern Canada are not permanent. Strategies that focus on Indigenous and Northern youth are being planned by the government as a way to promote retention. The goal of this project is to contribute to a retention policy to support Indigenous and Northern youth from the NWT to explore careers in the healthcare workforce, by developing and hosting an annual career camp. This project engages with multiple partners to consider historical, cultural, economic and social factors. Creating a partnership between youth and Elders in local communities, to better understand how to encourage youth to enter the healthcare field is a culturally safe way to inform actions that can work and last.