Maori peoples from New Zealand and Aboriginal participants from Canada gather at the Squamish longhouse on traditional Salish territory in Vancouver, BC for an NCCAH-hosted "Healthy Land, Healthy People" meeting.

The well-being of Aboriginal communities is closely linked to connection with the land. This NCCAH review identifies common ground between ecohealth and holistic approaches to Aboriginal health that connects people, place and well-being. 

The NCCAH is supporting the Vision Institute of Canada as it raises national awareness about the soaring rates of diabetes-related blindness facing Canada's Aboriginal populations. 

Low-income urban Aboriginal people risk being caught in a debt-trap with the explosion of "fringe" financial institutions and exclusion from mainstream banking services, a new study finds. The report sheds light on issues facing urban Aboriginal people who are 'living on the edge but have not yet fallen off' and suggests support is vital to prevent people from falling further into poverty.

First Nations communities are intimately connected to their natural environments  and vulnerable to health impacts stemming from contamination and pollution in food and water. As host of the First Nations Environmental Health Innovation Network and one of nine partners, the NCCAH helps facilitate the exchange of environmental health knowledge among researchers and First Nations communities across Canada, while ensuring respect for traditional knowledge. FNEHIN identifies knowledge gaps, and contributes state-of-the-knowledge papers on environmental health issues.

The NCCAH is collaborating on a major national initiative addressing the safety of small drinking water systems in Canada. These are typically located in rural and remote communities, home to many First Nations and Inuit populations. In 2008, 106 First Nations communities were under drinking water advisories; in 2005, an independent government report found significant threats to the safety and quality of 75 per cent of water systems in First Nations communities. As one of six centres in the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health program working together on this project, the NCCAH is contributing a unique Aboriginal perspective.