Akiikaa (it is the land): exploring land-based experiences with university students in Ontario.

Indigenous learning traditionally comes from the land. Akiikaa ('it is the land' in Algonkian) is designed to assist graduate students in thinking beyond the classroom and understanding the elements of life as known by Indigenous people to live a healthy life. Akiikaa will provide graduate students (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous) with opportunities to learn about Indigenous ways of knowing.

A comparison of Indigenous and non-Indigenous survivors of sexual assault and their receipt of and satisfaction with specialized health care services.

In Canada, Indigenous women are more likely than non-Indigenous women to be survivors of sexual assault and experience sexual assaults that are more serious in terms of physical injury and other health-related consequences. Despite their related needs for care and support, there is a paucity of research to date that has examined their uptake of specialized acute health services post sexual assault. To address this gap, we explored the presentation, sociodemographic, assailant, assault, and service use characteristics of Indigenous women, as compared to non-Indigenous adult and adolescent women aged 12 and older presenting to 30 of 35 hospital-based sexual assault treatment centres in Ontario from 2009 to 2011, using bivariate analyses.

Confronting the Growing Crisis of Cardiovascular Disease and Heart Health Among Aboriginal Peoples in Canada.

Although the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been decreasing worldwide, Aboriginal populations of Canada (including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples) continue to experience a rapidly growing burden of CVD morbidity and mortality. This article provides a succinct summary of the current crisis of CVD among Canadian Aboriginal peoples, including how and why it originated, elucidates the underlying population health risks driving higher rates of aboriginal CVD, and articulates the urgent need for community-engagement solutions and innovations in the areas of prevention, treatment and care, rehabilitation services, aboriginal-specific CVD surveillance, and advanced knowledge. In the past, particularly in rural and remote communities, Aboriginal Peoples' survival depended (and often still does) on hunting, fishing, and other forms of traditional food-gathering.

The Indigenous Red Ribbon Storytelling Study: What does it mean for Indigenous peoples living with HIV and a substance use disorder to access antiretroviral therapy in Saskatchewan?

Indigenous peoples living with HIV are less likely than non-Indigenous peoples living with HIV to access antiretroviral therapy; however, there is not enough contextual information surrounding this issue. The Indigenous Red Ribbon Storytelling Study was conducted in part to examine how Indigenous peoples living with HIV construct and understand their experiences accessing antiretroviral therapy. Our study design was critical Indigenous qualitative research, using the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use and community-based participatory research approaches.