Summary of NACHA meeting

February 16 & 17, 2007
Vancouver, British Columbia

Ken Clement and Michelle George, President of Healing Our Spirit, welcomed NACHA to the traditional territory of the Coast Salish. Mary Jamieson, the meeting facilitator, reviewed the agenda, which was accepted with modifications. A roundtable of introductions was made allowing members to update NACHA on their activities since the last meeting.

John David Martin, Regional Program Medical Officer of the BC Regional Office of the First Nations Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB), joined the meeting to present an overview of the BC First Nations HIV/AIDS Program. He reviewed the history of the program, its spending and achievements, including the establishment of three Aboriginal AIDS Service Organizations (AASOs) in the province.

NACHA approved the Record of Decision from its meeting on December 11 and 12, 2006, and the Record of Decision and Public Record of Meeting from its meeting on May 15 and 16, 2006, subject to changes identified by members.

NACHA reviewed the status of action items arising from its last meeting and provided guidance to the Secretariat in completing any outstanding items. It asked the Secretariat to endeavour to organize a presentation from the local PHAC Regional Office at each of its future meetings, where appropriate.

Kelly Peterson of the national FNIHB office provided NACHA with an update on her office’s activities. She spent some time discussing the results of the 2006 HIV/AIDS Aboriginal Attitudinal Tracking Survey. She advised NACHA that FNIHB would be seeking its input and guidance on dissemination of the report. NACHA agreed to work with the Secretariat to begin formulating its guidance on the dissemination plan.

Mary walked NACHA through changes in the most recent draft of NACHA’s strategic plan. Members provided suggestions for possible indicators for measuring success.

NACHA spent the morning of Saturday on a tour of InSite, Vancouver’s supervised injection site, which is located in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, the epicentre of drug-related harm in Canada for many years. InSite offers 12 injection stalls where injection drug users can inject pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of trained nurses, who are able to respond to overdoses and other health needs (such as treating injection-site abscesses) and provide guidance on safer injecting techniques.

James Lamouche, National Aboriginal Organization (NAHO), joined the meeting to present on his organization’s mandate and activities. He described the work of the national office as well as of its three centres: the First Nations Centre, the Ajunnginiq (Inuit) Centre and the Métis Centre. A major thrust in the work of NAHO is the protection and promotion of traditional healing practices.

NACHA discussed its participation in A-Track, a system for second generation surveillance among Aboriginal Canadians that has been proposed by the Surveillance and Risk Assessment Division (SRAD) of PHAC. NACHA identified concerns with the proposed approach and agreed that more information was needed to help it decide on its involvement and advice. It asked the Secretariat to obtain from SRAD a written proposal for A-Track and related background information, and asked the Surveillance Sub-Committee to review these materials and report back to NACHA in advance of a decision.

Mary Jamieson reported that the report Comparative Analysis of the Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy and Leading Together was completed and being translated into French. NACHA asked the Secretariat to have the final document posted on the NACHA website.

NACHA discussed preparations for the 2008 International AIDS Conference. Kelly Peterson informed NACHA that FNIHB was doing an evaluation of its funding support to identify areas for improvement and offered to share the results of that evaluation with NACHA once it is ready.

NACHA discussed preparations for it Policy Forum, being held jointly with the CAAN Skills-Building Forum on September 18 and 19, 2007. After a short discussion, NACHA agreed that it would aim to have a draft agenda for the Forum ready by April and established a Planning Committee to oversee preparations.

NACHA discussed its participation in the March 15 & 16 Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Status Report and identified representatives to the consultation, which it asked the Secretariat to submit through the appropriate channels. It also reported concerns about the invitation process and asked to see the invitation list so that it could provide feedback and identify any gaps.

Kevin Barlow debriefed NACHA on his December meeting with Correctional Service Canada (CSC) to discuss how it employs the funds it receives from the Federal Initiative. NACHA agreed to pursue a meeting between NACHA, CSC and the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network to discuss solutions to the barriers that prevent community groups from working effectively with prison populations.

NACHA discussed establishing a policy with respect to sending representatives to participate in external events such as consultations, special projects and working groups. It agreed to a policy that it will send one representative from each of the three groups (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), or none at all. It asked Mary Jamieson to draft a policy statement for inclusion in the NACHA terms of reference.

NACHA discussed the plans to decentralize the Non-Reserve First Nations, Inuit and Métis Communities HIV/AIDS Project Fund. Some members of NACHA expressed reservations about decentralizing the fund, especially to regions of the country where the local community does not have good working relations with the regional PHAC office. At the same time, they acknowledged that there are clear advantages to moving administration of the fund closer to the communities it serves. After a short discussion, NACHA agreed that it needed to discuss the matter further and asked the Secretariat to add it to the agenda of a future teleconference.

NACHA members reported concerns that some groups are misrepresenting how they are working with Aboriginal populations in order to apply for funding from the Federal Initiative. After a short discussion, NACHA agreed to discuss, at a future meeting, how to promote the use of the principles articulated in the Statement on Meaningful Engagement of Aboriginal Peoples, which NACHA endorsed at an earlier meeting.