Indigenous Health Counts: Combining Respondent-Driven Sampling, Partnerships and Training to Empower Urban Indigenous Communities

Most First Nations, Inuit and Metis Peoples in Canada live in cities. There is a lack of reliable health information for these First Peoples. For example, reported population sizes are commonly smaller than true counts. The result is large gaps in services and missed opportunities to improve health and well-being. It is important to work together to 'count in' these large, diverse, and often overlooked populations of First Peoples. Our Health Counts projects have been run in partnership with urban Indigenous service providers in six Ontario cities over 15 years. Together we have created the largest source of health and wellness information available for First Peoples living in Canadian cities. To ensure high quality data, we used a new statistical method called respondent-driven sampling. I am a statistician with over 10 years of experience working with Indigenous communities. I have created and implemented new statistical methods to study pressing health priorities for First Peoples living in cities, including diabetes, heart disease and COVID-19. Under the leadership of Indigenous community partners, this research program builds on the Our Health Counts studies. We will develop and refine new statistical methods to: 1) Create the most accurate counts of First Peoples living in cities. This is important as all health and social planning programs require correct population counts to be successful; 2) Measure the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on chronic conditions and mental health outcomes like diabetes, kidney disease, depression, and anxiety; 3) Create a new Indigenous health data training program to train the next generation of Indigenous health researchers and empower them to tell their own stories. In summary, this program will advance high-quality information for First Peoples living in cites. Working together, we can develop and share important, accurate and timely information that will contribute to enhanced health and well-being.