Surveys

FIRST NATIONS REGIONAL HEALTH SURVEY (FNRHS OR RHS)

"As Indigenous People we have always done research, always searched for understanding, ways of being and knowing the world around us in order to survive, we just didn’t call it research."

 ˜ Former Chief Norman Bone, Keeseekoowenin First Nation (Treaty No. 2)

For more than 20 years the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC) has been collecting data in First Nations communities using an approach built on an inherent respect for data sovereignty as embodied by the First Nations principles of OCAP®.

It is this respectful, one-on-one approach to data collection that is at the core of FNIGC’s survey work in First Nations communities, and it has helped to set FNIGC apart as the premier source of information about First Nations people living on reserve and in northern communities across Canada.

This knowledge gathering survey has been administered by First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC), in coordination with 10 regional partners like AlbertaFNIGC.

First Nations Regional Health Survey (FNRHS, or RHS) is the first, and only, national First Nations health survey which collects wide-ranging information about First Nations people living on reserve and in northern communities based on western and Traditional understandings of health and well-being. The FNRHS or RHS knowledge gathering is usually scheduled to happen every five (5) years, pending favorable environmental conditions.

AlbertaFNIGC is currently preparing for deployment of the RHS – Phase 4 Knowledge Gathering Survey. If you are a First Nation who participated in the past or interested in participating, please feel free to contact us. Your AlbertaFNIGC Regional Coordinator is Shannon M. Houle. Please contact our office for more information.


First Nation’s Benefits of Participation:

  • Exercise Self-Determination
  • Exercise Sovereignty
  • Exercise OCAP® (Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession) Principles
    • The Path to First Nation Information Governance
  • Evidence-Based Research Data
  • Long Range Planning Initiatives
  • Support Nationhood Knowledge
  • Supporting First Nations all across the country and the 1st choice of knowledge gathering survey
    • BY First Nations FOR First Nations
  • Focuses on child, adolescent, and adult demographics
  • Get a clear view of specific wholistic health focuses in the following areas:
    • Health & well-being
    • Culture
    • Language
    • Housing
    • Education
    • Intergenerational Trauma & Effects like Indian Residential Schools
    • Community Development
    • Other priority areas

National Participation:

FNRHS – PHASE 1 (2002/03)

  • 238 First Nations
  • 80.1% target sample achieved
  • 22,602 surveys collected

FNRHS – PHASE 2 (2008/10)

  • 216 First Nations
  • 72.5% target sample achieved
  • 21,000 surveys collected

FNRHS – PHASE 3 (2015/16)

  • 253 First Nations
  • 76.1% target sample achieved
  • 23,167 surveys collected