In this project, I was partnering with 4 communities in Northern Saskatchewan. The vision had been to work with young men to understand what their priorities are for health and what we need to do as a province, and as a country, to better support Indigenous men and the people they care about and care for. We had hoped to look at what should we be doing to improve the healthcare system, to improve education systems, to improve the justice system, and to improve policy and access to resources.

 

The reality is that there are really amazing things that happen in our Indigenous communities, and there are a lot of challenges people face. We simply do not know enough about the experiences of Indigenous men, not within Canada nor across the world. 

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I put together a team of academics to help support the communities. Using art, camping, storytelling, surveys, and workshops to work together to develop a better understanding of the issues facing men and best-practice ways to make changes to (hopefully) see a better future for generations to come.

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This research study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation began in 2020.

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Unfortunately there were innumerable issues beyond my control that meant this project never started in a way that allowed data to be collected or evaluation to take place. I sincerely hope that the men, communities, and families who we were ultimately unable to support have found other pathways to healing.