Facing closure, NAHO works on special Inuit health journal issue

Alhough it’s due to shut down June 30, the National Aboriginal Health Organization hopes this fall to publish a special issue of its academic journal that would publish research related to research devoted to Inuit health.

Called the Journal of Aboriginal Health, its 11th issue, devoted to research on human papillomavirus and cervical cancer among First Nations, Inuit and Métis, was launched April 12.

“Last year, Journal of Aboriginal Health articles were downloaded 58,729 times and were read by First Nations, Inuit and Métis community members, health care providers, government, researchers and academics across Canada and around the world,” NAHO said in a news release.

NAHO said “it is hoped that” the next issue of the journal, a special edition devoted entirely to research on Inuit health, will be published this fall.

“The Inuit health issue will be another example of the distinction-based approach to knowledge translation that NAHO’s three centres have taken,” NAHO said.

The “distinction” issue appears to have played a big role in Health Canada’s decision to kill NAHO.

The biggest of those appears to have been a bitter grudge match between the Assembly of First Nations, which mostly represents reserve-based treaty Indians, and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, which represents non-status Indians and aboriginal people living in urban areas outside their ancestral homelands.

In December 2009, a special chief’s assembly of the AFN passed a resolution saying withdrawing its support for NAHO and ending participation in NAHO’s activities.

The AFN also took a swipe at the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in its motion, saying they had already voted in 2007 to declare that CAP is “an illegitimate organization.”

The motion suggests the AFN objected to a governance structure that included other aboriginal groups, including the CAP, the Métis National Council, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

The AFN said they always opposed NAHO’s governance structure “due to its pan-Aboriginal approach” and would shun the body until it respected a “distinctions-based approach.”

After that, rumours began to emerge that NAHO’s days were numbered.

NAHO is already divided into the three sections, one each for First Nations, Inuit and Métis.The Inuit unit is now known as Inuit Tuttarvingat.

But that arrangement doesn’t appear to satisfy those who support more “distinction,” especially the AFN, which wanted a stand-alone agency for First Nations.

On April 10, ITK president Mary Simon said ITK also supports a “distinction-based approach” but “continues to support the work of Inuit Tuttarvingat, and its work towards improving health research and information.”