Project 449120

The Nuu-chah-nulth people have expressed a desire to improve the diabetes trajectory in their communities. The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) Executive is committed to supporting the Health Director (Lynnette Lucas) and her team to balance research that incorporates traditional Nuu-chah-nulth ways of knowing with the western biomedicine sphere to prevent diabetes and promote wellness. NTC has an established healthcare team that services the 12 Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, thus relationships and collaborative networks are currently in place across early childhood development, emergency care, elder care, and COVID-19. We propose a community-led meeting to plan for the CIHR Team Grant in Diabetes Prevention and Treatment in Indigenous Communities: Resilience and Wellness. In Tee Cha Chitl" Getting Well Again Community-Driven Diabetes Retreats, we propose the creation of a series of diabetes support and prevention retreats grounded in ceremony, land-based learning and physical activity, traditional foods and healing, and diabetes education that is inclusive of and privileges those who carry the traditional and spiritual knowledge of our people, those living with diabetes, and their families. The focus of the proposed program is on increasing awareness of what underlies our way of life, our teachings and ceremonies in order to go beyond the disruptions that colonization has caused. In this way we will foster a revitalization of our customs and traditional approaches to wellness - sharing and caring around nutritious food, as well as understanding the relevance of the nutrients of foods to health over the lifespan. NTC is working to improve access to food and to food sovereignty, restoring access to our traditional ocean fisheries, and will discuss increasing engagement of community members in the production and harvesting of local foods and medicines. Nuu-chah-nulth elders, thought leaders and knowledge holders are supportive of creating inovation.