What We Do

The Health Department aims to advance the health and well-being of Aboriginal women, and to promotes the equitable engagement of Aboriginal women in decision-making processes relating to their health and well-being (in both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal governments, agencies and organizations).

Health Department staff work in collaboration with their colleagues on other teams at NWAC, including the Sisters In Spirit team to the Labour Market Development team, to the Environment Department, and the Human Rights and International Affairs Department.

The Health Department utilizes a culturally relevant gender-based approach to research, policy analysis and program development, including the recently developed culturally relevant gender assessment protocol (CR-GAP) [with the goal of improving health outcomes and well-being for Aboriginal girls and women in Canada. The CR-GAP provides a solid foundation for all of NWAC’s work and illustrates the value of higher level engagement by Aboriginal women in the social, political, and economic realms of society.

The Health Department houses a broad range of projects supported by a variety of initiatives such as the Aboriginal Human Health Resource Initiative (AHHRI), the Aboriginal Health Transition Fund (AHTF), the National Aboriginal Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy (NAYSPS), and the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative (ADI). At present, this project work supports the majority of staffing capacity of the Health Department however, NWAC continues to work towards securing more sustainable support staff to work on new and emerging health issues in a more proactive manner.

The Health Department utilizes a holistic approach to understanding the social determinants of health, which includes an analysis of the intersecting relationships between the historical and contemporary factors and conditions that shape the lives of Aboriginal girls and women in Canada. The Health staff are strategically focusing on these intersections or linkages in order to better understand and address the root issues underpinning the persistently poor health outcomes of Aboriginal women. One example of this work is a current effort to explore the linkages between fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and gang involvement.

The day to day work of the Health team includes policy analysis, primary research, health promotion, and program development and implementation.