The NCCIH recognizes that rebuilding Indigenous health and well-being starts with children and extends to youth, adults, parents, grandparents, families, and communities. Just as our knowledge resources explore First Nations, Inuit and Métis women’s journeys into motherhood, including pregnancy, maternity care, birth, and breastfeeding, we also document the significant role fathers and grandparents play in the development of strong infant attachment and bonding, child rearing, and the transmission of culture and language.
Though challenges continue to disrupt family and child health, most significantly the removal of Indigenous children through child welfares services, the NCCIH supports initiatives that move towards improving child and family health outcomes, such as equitable access to health care, midwifery, and the full endorsement of Jordan’s Principle. In order to detail supportive health practices, we include topics like First Nations, Inuit and Métis traditions around parenting, children’s health rights, traditional foods and nutrition, physical activity, tobacco cessation, vision care, and oral health, to name a few, within our informational resources.
We seek to support and strengthen the health of Elders and the next generation of First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and to identify strategies for optimal health outcomes, promising culturally-based prevention initiatives, linkages to networks and resources, and ways to close the gaps in health knowledge and data. Our work within the area of child and family health is grounded in the recognition that there are unique First Nations, Inuit and Métis knowledges and worldviews.