Indigenous Health Group Story
The Indigenous Health Group, a multidisciplinary research team composed of three professors from the School of Human Kinetics and a group of other researchers from the University of Ottawa, has secured $884,487 in research funding to assess local land based food strategies in two Northern First Nations communities and 3 communities in rural Lebanon. Team members include: Dr. Robidoux of the School of Human Kinetics whose research focuses on indigenous cultural practices as they relate to physical activity and diet; Dr. François Haman and Dr. Pascal Imbeault also from the school of Human Kinetics, experts in energy metabolism and obesity in humans; Dr. Malek Batal, professor of nutrition at the Faculty of Health Sciences; and Dr. Jules Blais a toxicologist at the Faculty of Sciences. The group has secured funding from the Northern First Nations Environmental Contaminant Program ($220,000), International Development Research Centre ($566,487), and CIHR ($98,000).
For the past five years, this team of researchers has been studying the overall viability, sustainability, benefits and risks of wild food consumption in First Nations communities in northwestern Ontario. Increasingly local land based (traditional) dietary strategies are being influenced by global forces, resulting in more prepackaged, store bought diets. The purpose of the Indigenous Health Group’s research is to understand how local dietary strategies may contribute to improved health and how local diets can thrive within this global environment. Specific objectives of the team’s research are:
- Comprehensively examine and assess the human health and cultural benefits of local ecosystems.
- Assess the environmental and socio-cultural viability of local land-based food strategies as an equitable, ethical and economically possible health model.
- Identify and minimize risks associated with local ecosystems as a base for a viable food and health model.
The Indigenous Health Group model of research is expanding to other rural areas in Canada and around the globe. Their research is helping identify the benefits and risks related to local food strategies, which should help Canadians and people around the world find a balance between local and global diet strategies to maximize health and cultural benefits.
