Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

The Pathways to Health Equity for Aboriginal Peoples is a signature CIHR initiative with funding in four exemplars: oral health, suicide prevention, diabetes/obesity, and tuberculosis (TB). I have been a collaborator on the only TB project in the initiative, which has been ongoing for over four years. This project involves two high TB incidence communities in Northwestern Saskatchewan (1 reserve community and 1 northern village) and two high TB incidence communities in Northeastern Alberta (1 reserve community, and 1 city), that are connected to one another historically, linguistically and culturally. The objectives of our project are to 1) figuratively dismantle the colonially rooted jurisdictional boundaries that separate the communities and confound TB control and, 2) build a new relationship between the programmatic (government) stakeholders, and the communities. The goal of this partnership is to establish the communities as equal partners in any decision making that pertains to TB prevention and care at the local level. Central to the project is a coalition of all stakeholders (government, community members, and other) that functions as an ethical space for dialogue. It is held to account by unanimous agreement to respect the rights of Indigenous peoples as articulated in the Charter (the Patients Charter for Tuberculosis Care), UNDRIP (the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), and the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) Report. A panel is planned that opens a dialogue between the researchers (including myself), and two of our community partners centered around the theme of human rights. Our aim is to address three or four specific human rights issues/questions that the project raises, or honours. This panel is on the agenda for the 23rd annual meeting of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, North America Region in Vancouver, BC on February 21-23rd, 2019.