Advance and support First Nations self-determination

Federal

Recommendation 1: We call on the Government of Canada, in meaningful partnership with First Nations, to pass private members Bill C-262, or an equivalent bill, to enact legislation that will require the federal government to align its existing and new legislation with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Advance and support First Nations self-determination

Provincial

Recommendation 2: We call on the Province of British Columbia to link the implementation and monitoring of the Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act with the First Nations PHWA as a way to monitor the impacts of increased self-determination on First Nations roots of wellness and health outcomes.

Advance and support First Nations self-determination

Municipal

Recommendation 3: We call on BC municipal governments to review practices, policies, and bylaws and take actions in meaningful partnership with local First Nations, on whose territory they now reside, to promote local First Nations self-determination. Municipalities and local BC First Nations should collaboratively identify opportunities to nourish local BC First Nations’ roots of wellness and develop mechanisms to regularly demonstrate reciprocal accountability on progress towards increased shared decision-making and First Nations self-determination.

Advance First Nations data governance

Recommendation 4: We call on system partners who possess data that relates to First Nations health and wellness in the broadest sense to uphold First Nations data governance principles to make the data accessible to First Nations and their organizations. Goals of this work include supporting self-determination, Nation-rebuilding, and further development of institutions. FNHA is uniquely positioned to support the data governance of Nations, while providing a strong voice on First Nations population health at the provincial level through a stewardship and Watchmon role.

Catalyze intersectoral actions to build supportive, culturally safe systems, with particular attention given to connection to land

Recommendation 5: The PHWA illustrates that Western systems must be supportive and culturally safe in order to advance the health of First Nations. To do so, there is a need for unified, coordinated actions across diverse systems and organizations to remove systemic barriers to wellness. In particular, these collaborations must attend to First Nations connection to land, which is a foundation of wellness. We challenge health, social, and environmental sectors to work together in new and innovative ways.

Achieveing the targets set out within the PHWA requires both intra-organizational alignments and inter-organizational collaboration and partnership. First Nations organizations and collectives must continue to pursue alignment and support one another in collective efforts to nourish roots of wellness. BC’s Provincial Government must create internal mechanisms to collaborate effectively between ministries and make efforts to include ministries that influence First Nations’ connection to land.

• Federal and provincial governments must partner with First Nations organizations and collectives to collaborate efficiently across sectors with the goal of achieving the targets outlined in the PHWA.
• First Nations organizations and collectives and governmental bodies implicated in the following areas are key stakeholders in this intersectoral work: health, education, housing, justice, social development, poverty reduction, natural resources/climate change, economic development, and child welfare.

Advance the roots of health and wellness of the next generation: First Nations babies, children, and youth

Recommendation 6: We call for a unified and intersectoral approach that develops mechanisms, in meaningful partnership with First Nations organizations and collectives, to amplify the voices of First Nations children, youth, parents, and grandparents, to guide specific actions and investments that advance the roots of wellness of the next generation.

Advance the roots of health and wellness of the next generation: First Nations babies, children, and youth

Priority areas for collaboration across systems/organizations

Recommendation 7: Revitalize child- and youth-focused ceremonies and cultural practices (i.e., naming ceremonies, puberty rites, First Nations birthing).

Advance the roots of health and wellness of the next generation: First Nations babies, children, and youth

Priority areas for collaboration across systems/organizations

Recommendation 8: Promote child and youth mental wellness by breaking silos and grounding collaborative work in First Nation Health Authority’s Policy on Mental Health and Wellness.

Advance the roots of health and wellness of the next generation: First Nations babies, children, and youth

Priority areas for collaboration across systems/organizations

Recommendation 9: Promote family unity by collaboratively addressing colonial practices and policies that undermine First Nation families.

Advance the roots of health and wellness of the next generation: First Nations babies, children, and youth

Priority areas for collaboration across systems/organizations

Recommendation 10: Increase land-based learning, healing, and stewardship opportunities for First Nations children and youth.