The Elder-Youth Dialogue brought together 25 Indigenous Elder-youth pairs from across Canada.

CIHR-IAPH 2017 Elder-Youth Dialogue on Indigenous Health Priorities

October 02, 2017
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The Elder-Youth Dialogue, hosted by the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health (IAPH) at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) was held during March 12-15, 2017, on the unceded and traditional territories of the Algonquin Peoples.

The Elder-Youth Dialogue brought together 25 Indigenous Elder-youth pairs from across Canada to share with IAPH, their research, health, and wellness priorities across five thematic areas: health priorities from a community perspective; Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirited Peoples; Truth and Reconciliation; health and wellness; and education.

During the three-day event, the voices of Indigenous youth and Elders rang clear. Any Indigenous health research opportunity must be community developed and led; policies must be more flexible to allow communities to directly receive funding; there must be an emphasis on youth, and the wellness and resilience of future generations; there must be acknowledgement, recognition, and support for Indigenous research methods, understanding, healing practices, cultural and traditional practices; and continued engagement with community.

The Elder-Youth pairs also identified a number of action items and research themes throughout the event including the importance of land-based, outdoor, experiential learning for Indigenous communities, and the role of community health planning in addressing health concerns.

To learn more about the outcomes of the dialogue, you can access the CIHR-IAPH Elder-Youth Dialogue Final Report here.

Watch a video recap of the CIHR-IAPH Elder-Youth Dialogue below:

The Faculty of Health Sciences was honoured to host the IAPH from July 2012 to June 2017. The IAPH has since found a new home at the Health Sciences North Research Institute in Sudbury, Ontario. We hope to continue collaborating with the IAPH, and look forward to hearing about their successes in improving and promoting the health of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada.