Project Overview

Background

In 2018, the Government of Canada adopted a public health approach to the legalization and regulation of cannabis to protect the health and safety of Canadians. To reduce the risks and harms associated with cannabis use. Health Canada's Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP) funded community-based organizations across the country to provide cannabis public education and awareness.

NWAC was funded to work on a three-year project titled, "A Community-informed Approach to Cannabis Public Education and Awareness for Indigenous Women, Girls and Gender-Diverse People.

Project Activities

Four main activities were used to fulfill the goals of the project.

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Cannabis Education for and by First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples Website

This website is a central hub for proper and safe, indigenous-specific education on cannabis. Indigenous women and gender-diverse people can find unbiased information from a trusted source based on the best available evidence.
 
Literature Review and Resource Scan
 
National Engagement Session
 
Virtual Community Engagement Sessions
 
National Online Survey
 
Goals
 

Cannabis Education for and by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples Website

The website sections, interactive tools and downloadable resources reflect the requests of our program participants and support their needs and visions for culturally safe cannabis education.

Participants in the project activities tolds us they wanted information on:

  • the plant itself
  • how cannabis interacts with our bodies
  • the origin story of cannabis from an Indigenous perspective
  • using cannabis while parenting and lactating, during pregnancy and while trying to conceive.
Happy browsing!
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Literature Review and Resource Scan

Investigate existing research that was specifically done with Indigenous Peoples and resources, education, and public health initiatives relevant to Indigenous People. This information grounded the next steps of our project and served as a road map for gaps that need to be addressed and goals that needed to be achieved.
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National Engagement Session

Our first engagement session was in Millbrook, Nova Scotia on March 5th, 2020. The engagement session brought togehter First Nations, Inuit, and Métis women and gender-diverse people from a wide range of professional and personal backgrounds regarding cannabis from across Canada. Participants touched upon a variety of topics throughout the day leaving us with a better sense of the district cannabis health education needs, barriers, and priorities of Indigenous peoples and their communities.
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Virtual Community Engagement Sessions

Between Decemember 2020-March 2021, we held eight virtual community engagement sessions with 240 Indigenous women, Elders and gender-diverse people. Sessions were organized to be focused on 4 distinct groups: Métis, Inuit, on-reserve or remote / rural First Nations and off-reserve or urban First Nations. The purpose of these sessions was to get a better understanding of the distinct needs, concerns, and priorities of Indigenous women and gender-diverse people in each region at the community level.
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National Online Survey

Based on knowledge gained from the initial project activities, key questions and concerns were identified and incorporated into the development of the National Online Survey launched May 2020. In total, 1,010 Indigenous women and gender-diverse people responded from across the country providing astute and critical perspectives surrounding their needs and priorities for cannabis public health education.
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Goals

Identify cannabis public health and education priority areas to inform the development of culturally safe resources that reflect the neeeds of urban, rural, and remote indigenous communities, encompassing First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
Address the needs and priorities of this diverse population with a focus on developing increased literacy needed to make informed decisions about cannabis use that best suit their circumstances (both as an individual and within community context) and needs.
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This discover was made by a U.S.-government funded study and initially identified by Allyn Howlett and William Devane (Lee, 2010) and contributed to new understandings of how cannabis helped with certain medical issues.
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This discover was made by a U.S.-government funded study and initially identified by Allyn Howlett and William Devane (Lee, 2010) and contributed to new understandings of how cannabis helped with certain medical issues.
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This discover was made by a U.S.-government funded study and initially identified by Allyn Howlett and William Devane (Lee, 2010) and contributed to new understandings of how cannabis helped with certain medical issues.
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