To save Nunavut lives, immunize, expert says

If respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV, contributed to recent infant deaths in Nunavut, then those deaths and other severe illnesses were likely preventable, a children’s lung expert told Nunatsiaq News.
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Living conditions in Nunavik 'unacceptable'

Decrying poverty and social problems in Nunavik, the sparsely-populated northern third of the province where 11,000 Inuit live, Parti Québécois aboriginal affairs critic Alexandre Cloutier said yesterday living conditions in Quebec's north are "unacceptable."

And he quoted Pita Atami, president of Makivik Corp., the Inuit economic development agency, saying Premier Jean Charest's Plan Nord, to develop the north, cannot go ahead without first dealing with the social problems and the housing crisis.

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Aboriginal patient navigators bridge divide between Western and traditional care

VICTORIA — Heather Olsen always knew she wanted to work with her “own people” so she could make a difference in their health.

Not long after graduating from the University of Victoria nursing program, Olsen, a member of the Tsartlip First Nation, was hired as an aboriginal nurse liaison, a position that involves navigating aboriginals through the health care system.

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Unique diabetes program has big impact on B.C. First Nation

Chief Robert Joseph was furious when he first laid eyes on Dr. Keith Dawson and his partner at an aboriginal health meeting.

"I thought: 'Who on Earth do these people think they are, parachuting into my community,' " says Joseph, hereditary chief of Gwawaenuk First Nation in northern B.C. "They're going to tell us again about what's good for us, what we ought to be doing. I've seen it all my life.

"I sat there fuming," he says of that first encounter at Vancouver's native friendship centre three years ago.

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CAMH launches first Research Laboratory on wheels dedicated to mental health and addictions

Today, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) launched Canada's first mobile research laboratory to study mental health and addictions in communities across Ontario. The mobile lab will allow CAMH researchers to reach underserved populations in rural, remote and First Nations communities to help improve prevention and treatment services in these communities, and beyond.

"The mobile research lab fills a gap by bringing world-class research by epidemiologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists and social scientists to communities that are far from research centres," says Dr. Bruce G. Pollock, CAMH's Vice-President of Research.

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Diabetes hits First Nations hard: Poverty a big factor, advocate warns

‘My mother died of diabetes at age 60. I also lost my grandmother, auntie and uncle to diabetes-related disease. It was all kidney failure’ — Dina Bruyere, executive director of the National Aboriginal Diabetes Association.

The growing epidemic of Type 2 diabetes is wreaking havoc on Canada's First Nations communities, the leader of an advocacy and education group warned Tuesday.

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