Good afternoon. I'd like to begin by thanking the organizers and the committee for inviting me. It's a real privilege to be here. As you can probably tell, it's the first time I've been here, so I'll do my best.
I actually prepared some slides for you but then quickly realized that you don't have those here. I'm going to do my best to talk from them. If I sound a little disconnected, please forgive me.
I'm a Cree, from Treaty 6 area, in central Alberta, but I've lived most of my life in northern British Columbia, in Prince George. That's where the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health is located, at the University of Northern British Columbia, in Prince George. Most of my adult life has been in the north. My children were born and raised in the north, not the far north as Jake and Gwen talked about it, but in the northern part of the province.
The National Collaborating Centre is a knowledge translation centre. I've prepared for you today five slides that contain key elements or points taken from the literature. Mike, Rod, Jake, and Gwen have already spoken to a number of the points I have, so I'm affirming them as I present this to you.
I'd like to start by really looking at the principles of some of the best practices that we're hearing about. What underlying elements are common to them? I have heard many of them already.
One of the first ones we think and talk about is that any practice, program, or policy needs to be anchored in indigenous knowledge and the right to self-determination. I heard people talking about self-governance, but self-determination is not the same as self-governance. I think that's an important distinction. I think one leads to the other. It's really important that we have the right to determine our own health and well-being and the right to determine our children's health and well-being in this country.
Another element with regard to practice or policy is that they are rooted in the land, in their indigenous cultures, in their languages, in their values, and in their beliefs. We've heard examples of that already today.
There is the concept of holism. We talk a lot about that. That is a concept anchored in, I dare say, indigenous spirituality. It's very deeply rooted in the understanding—as it is in other cultures as well—of the interconnectedness of all beings and the understanding that we are connected to the land. I think that's really important. We often hear about holism especially when we're talking about children's development. We often hear about the developmental domains: the physical, the social, emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and cultural. We also talk about these within the context of family and community. These don't happen independently; they're interrelated and they are situated within the context of family and community. I'm going to talk more about that a little bit later.
I have heard lots of the presenters talk about programs and practices that are locally initiated, owned, and accountable. I think that's a really important word—accountability. I don't mean accountability just to funders, but accountability to the people we serve, to ourselves, and to our communities. I think those are really important concepts in that they are determined by community. What that looks like is determined by them.
Many of these best practices are seen to be population-based. We're not just talking about individuals. I think I've made that point.
The other point that came out in the literature is strengths based. I think that's really important, in any issue.
How do we build on the existing strengths that we have? We have strengths that we probably haven't even tapped into yet. How do we bring those together?
This is—