Determining the feasibility of the Canadian First Nations and Inuit regional (longitudinal) health surveys.

The general framework recommended for the First Nations Regional Health Surveys can be summarized as follows: 1. Currently committed funding from Health Canada and Human Resources Development Canada should be used to develop a framework of regional cohort studies for First Nations and Inuit people in the 10 provinces to generate information on community health and the well-being of children. Indian and Northern Affairs should consider participating on an equal basis in this initiative, as long as program dollars are not compromised, in order to assist First Nations and Inuit communities in the documentation of socioeconomic conditions associated with health and the well-being of children. Representatives of these departments should work together with Métis representatives to secure funding for a similar initiative for Métis people in the provinces. 2. National First Nations and Inuit organizations and the major funding departments should be invited to appoint members to First Nations and Inuit National Steering Committees. These Committees will be responsible for the general supervision of the development of the regional cohort studies for their respective communities. 3. Regional (usually provincial) First Nations and Inuit political organizations should be invited to submit letters of intent indicating their interest in developing the longitudinal survey on behalf of all communities in their respective regions. 4. Regional organizations should be asked to propose a research group with which they wish to collaborate in the development of the survey. Research groups should be approved by the national steering committees. 5. National steering committees should appoint a "core questions research group" that will be responsible for the development of comparative "core questions" for the longitudinal surveys. 6. A national Aboriginal technical committee should be established consisting of members of the "core question" research group and one member from all other research groups involved in the longitudinal surveys. 7. National steering committees should approve grants to each regional organization/research group to develop and implement the survey. 8. This initiative should be developed at a pace which is suitable to Aboriginal organizations and communities. It is likely that the first wave of the survey in 1996 will be restricted to several pilot projects in different parts of the country. Other regions and communities may not be ready to participate until 1998.