News

Is Boat Harbour making people sick? - research team retreat   March 10, 2012

On 28-29 April 2012, Elders Murdena and Albert Marshall and CRC in Integrative Science Dr. Cheryl Bartlett  will attend a retreat at Tatamagouche, NS, as part of a CIHR-funded research project of Dr. Heather Castleden at Dalhousie University.  Dr. Castleden was invited by the Pictou Landing Native Women's Association (PLNWA) to engage in community-based participatory health research in the area in search of a definitive answer to the question:  "Are we getting sick from Boat Harbour?".  In Winter 2012, the project received $445,000 in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).  The research goal is to document and understand the state of health of Boat Harbour’s residents using a “Two-Eyed Seeing” approach that will utilize both Indigenous and western research methods (sharing circles, ceremony, oral histories, water quality testing and monitoring, marine toxicological analysis, air quality assessment). The project aims to confront the socio-political, historical, environmental, legal, and economic issues at play in Boat Harbour, all of which play a role in determining the health of the community’s residents.  More information can be obtained by contacting Dr. Castleden (Heather.Castleden@dal.ca)  or at http://media.dal.ca/node/182 or here.