One-stop Repository of Métis Health and Wellbeing Information

Mohan Kumar, Researcher with the Métis Centre at NAHO
Mohan Kumar, Researcher with the Métis Centre at NAHO
The launch of the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO) Métis Database on November 24, 2009 at NAHO's conference in Ottawa, marks a breakthrough in accessing health-related data on the Métis in Canada.

Delegates at the workshop, "Métis Online Health/Wellbeing Information Database," were able to work directly with Mohan Kumar, researcher with the Métis Centre at NAHO, who has been instrumental in creating the repository. As one workshop participant said: "I work with data all the time and the real benefit to what the Métis Centre at NAHO has brought to the health research world is the quick and easy access to health stats on the Métis population. Furthermore, the stats are clearly presented and can be accessed in many ways, according to one's needs."

Amidst the enthusiasm, it is important to understand why this work was undertaken. The most probable answer tends to be because of the serious dearth of data on Métis people in Canada, but this isn't the whole story.

Catherine Graham, Director of the Métis Centre at NAHO, points out that while there is a scarcity of health and wellbeing data and information on the Métis, the existing data are either not easily accessible, or are fragmented among different institutions/organizations. To address this, and with the purpose of being a one-stop repository of Métis health and well-being information, the Métis Centre developed two online searchable databases: one, a Métis health literature database and the other, a Métis statistical database. The statistical database was developed in collaboration with Statistics Canada.

These databases can be useful, for example, in retrieving information and statistics to support grant proposals for programs and research studies that will address Métis health deficits and disparities. This data source will also enable researchers and community members to assess the quality of information available, its applicability and appropriateness, and gaps in data or information that already exist.

In the development of the repository, the team at the Métis Centre encountered several obstacles such as compiling or collating information from different sources and making the information understandable and accessible. Logistical and technological barriers associated with processing and verifying thousands of statistical tables also had to be overcome.

While there are some accessible statistics at the national and provincial/territorial levels, statistics broken down by other geography, age group, and sex are not easily available. One of the advantages of the repository housed at the Métis Centre is that all the variables and topics in the statistical database are broken down by sex, age group, rural/urban, province/territory, and six select Census Metropolitan Areas/Census Areas with high Métis populations or proportions: Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. This approach addresses some of the needs of researchers, provincial organizations and policy-makers seeking group or geography-specific statistics.

This work will be important in shaping and influencing public policy. However, it is difficult to determine how the databases have been used given their recent launch. If visits to the Métis Centre database website are any indication, one can be sure it is only a matter of time before this valuable tool becomes important for researchers, provincial and national organizations and policy-makers across the country and abroad.

NAHO's Métis Centre will continue to work with Statistics Canada, adding new data into the statistical database from the 2006 Aboriginal Children's Survey, the Aboriginal Peoples Survey (Child & Youth), and the 2006 Census. Upon completion, the statistical database will represent the first comprehensive effort to present statistics on Métis health and well-being gleaned from the Aboriginal Peoples Survey and the Aboriginal Children's Survey.

In order to build capacity among Métis stakeholders, the Métis Centre will provide tutorials in several different cities and an extensive glossary of terms for the databases. They will also be doing refined, in-depth analyses in collaboration with academic scholars and Statistics Canada on other topics later this year. Finally, the Métis Centre will facilitate a National Collaborative Métis Information Collection Initiative in 2010, to start a dialogue on developing comprehensive strategies to address gaps in Métis health and wellbeing information.

The Health Council looks forward to the results of these efforts to improve statistical reporting on Métis health across Canada.