About Our Work

 

The National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH) is a national Indigenous organization established in 2005 by the Government of Canada and funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to support First Nations, Inuit, and Métis public health renewal and health equity through knowledge translation and exchange. The NCCIH is hosted by the University of Northern BC (UNBC) on the traditional territory of the Lheildli T’enneh in Prince George, BC.

 

 

Mandate

The NCCIH supports a renewed public health system in Canada that is inclusive and respectful of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Using a holistic, co-ordinated and strengths-based approach to health, the NCCIH fosters links between evidence, knowledge, practice and policy while advancing self-determination and Indigenous knowledge in support of optimal health and well-being.

 

Vision

First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples enjoy optimal health and wellbeing, supported by health structures and systems that are responsive to Indigenous self-determination, informed by Indigenous-led evidence, and shaped by Indigenous cultures and knowledge systems.

 

 

 

Mission

The National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health develops, synthesizes, and translates health knowledge and information that is Indigenous-led, meaningful to Indigenous peoples1 and fosters self-determination and respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health systems.

 

 

Guiding principles

The NCCIH is guided by six overarching principles:

  • Fosters collaboration and reciprocal capacity building
  • Privileges Indigenous voices and knowledge systems
  • Respects diversity and distinctions amongst and between First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples
  • Serves the needs of Indigenous Peoples
  • Supports the rights-based and meaningful engagement of First Nations, Inuit and Métis People
  • Sustains a commitment to excellence

 

Goals and objectives

  • Ensure the use of reliable, quality evidence to achieve meaningful impact on the public health system on behalf of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada.
  • Increase knowledge and understanding of Indigenous public health by developing culturally relevant materials and projects.
  • Facilitate a greater role for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in public health initiatives that affect Indigenous health and well-being.

 

 

 

 

Priority areas

  • Child, Youth and Family Health
  • Chronic and Infectious Diseases
  • Cultural Safety and Respectful Relationships
  • Healthy Land, Healthy People
  • Indigenous Knowledge(s) and Public Health
  • Social Determinants of Health

 

 

 

 

 

Ensuring quality: the NCCIH peer review process

The NCCIH works to ensure our reports, fact sheets, and knowledge-sharing materials meet a high standard of acceptance as viable sources of knowledge in Indigenous public health. Our goal is also to meet the needs of multiple audiences, including researchers, practitioners, policy makers and First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities and organizations.

The quality control process for the development of NCCIH materials involves a rigorous double-blind peer review process that includes both academic as well as community expertise. Our collaborations with a wide range of experts include those identified by areas of expertise, type of expertise (government, academic, non-government organization and others) and specific experience with Indigenous health research. Our peer review guidelines include considerations governing the conduct of ethical research, and build in processes to help ensure our documents are respectful of Indigenous culture and diversity.

 

Our visual and oral identity

Indigenous peoples, cultures and histories are intimately connected to land and natural environments. The NCCIH has adopted a strong visual emphasis on place in all of our materials, using images with First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in a variety of landscapes to support our knowledge sharing mission.

Language and orality are also foundations of Indigenous cultures and identity, and honoured as an important means of transmitting knowledge2. As the NCCIH has found through our creation of documentary videos that capture the voice of Elders, youth, parents and guests in some of our major events, audiovisual media's immediacy and impact make them a powerful tool to catalyze further discussion and mobilize energies to work for change. We continue to seek ways to incorporate a strong “story-telling” component that emphasizes voice and the human element in key health initiatives.

 

More about the NCCIH

To learn more about the Centre, watch Dreaming it into Being: the Realization of the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health presented by honoured former NCCIH Academic Leader, Dr. Margo Greenwood, at UNBC’s Health Research Institutes (HRI) Seminar Series.

 

1 The terms ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Indigenous peoples’ are used here to refer to the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada, as defined in Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution of 1982.

2 M. Greenwood, “Children as citizens of First Nations: Linking Indigenous health to early childhood development,” Paeditrac Child Health (10)(9), November 2005, 554.