The proposed activity supports relationship-building between Thompson Rivers University and Sekw’el’was First Nation around healthy aging, community wellbeing, and the social determinants of health affecting Elders and older adults. Sekw’el’was leadership has identified priorities including access to health services, transportation, food security, cultural connection, social supports, and access to counselling and other health professionals. Before pursuing future research activities, the partners require dedicated time to build trust, clarify shared priorities, understand community protocols, and explore whether a collaborative research pathway is appropriate.
The Engage Award will support a series of focused engagement and planning activities between Dr. Natasha Ramroop Singh from Thompson Rivers University and Sekw’el’was research users, including Michael Machell (Health Manager), Chief Bonnie Adolph, the Social Development Manager, Elders, and community representatives. Activities will take place between August and November 2026, primarily in Lillooet, BC.
Planned activities include two half-day in-person planning meetings at the Band House in Lillooet to confirm goals, timelines, participants, and culturally safe engagement approaches; two full-day relationship-building meetings involving the researcher, community leadership, Elders, and community representatives to discuss healthy aging priorities and opportunities for collaboration; and one follow-up in-person meeting to discuss next steps, future funding opportunities, ethics considerations, and principles for future Indigenous health research partnerships.
Anticipated outcomes include strengthened relationships between Thompson Rivers University and Sekw’el’was First Nation, increased mutual understanding of healthy aging priorities, greater awareness of culturally safe approaches to Indigenous health research, and the establishment of a collaborative foundation for future partnership activities. The proposed activities are limited to relationship development, planning, and community engagement and will not include surveys, data collection, data analysis, conference dissemination, or broad public outreach.