The CAHHM First Nations Cohort Study team has published “All About Us: Indigenous Data Analysis Workshop—Capacity Building in the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds First Nations Cohort” in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology (CJC). The cohort study team was instructed for three days by the biostatistical analysis experts at PHRI.
The paper is based on the “Principles and Approaches to Statistical Analysis with Indigenous Storytelling” workshop held a few months ago by the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds (CAHHM) team, which led 50 participants, roughly half of whom were Indigenous, at the three-day event in Hamilton, Ontario. Participants collaboratively learned how to build capacity in data management and analysis, and were encouraged to pursue self-determination in research for Indigenous community partners.
Opening keynote speakers, Dr. Nadine Caron (University of British Columbia) , Canada’s first general-surgeon of First Nations descent, and Maui Hudson, of New Zealand’s University of Waikato and a member of the Maori Data Sovereignty Network, presented on the importance of biobanking to Indigenous people and the “genomic divide between haves and have-nots.” They later co-presented on the Genome Canada-funded Silent Genomes Project, with project lead Dr. Laura Arbour, University of Victoria.
Workshop sessions co-led by PHRI’s Director of Statistics, Dr. Shrikant Bangdiwala and Dr. Diana Lewis, faculty, FN studies at Western University, covered statistical literacy, hands-on data analysis, data security (presented by PHRI ICT manager, Dan Trottier), Indigenous genomics research and biobanking, and other topics in Indigenous health research.
The event ended with a keynote address by Dr. Bernice Downey, Indigenous health lead at McMaster’s school of nursing, and a member of the McMaster’s Department of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences, speaking about her work in women’s heart health research alongside several First Nations communities across Canada. Her talk was followed by an evening of Indigenous entertainment and Healthy Roots dinner on Six Nations of Grand River, home to the Six Nations Health Foundation – a sponsor of the workshop.
