FNIGC is responsible for a wide range of work, from research and planning to surveys, capacity development, education, and training.
Our foundational work is the development and administration of national First Nations survey initiatives with our regional partners. These surveys include the First Nations Regional Health Survey (FNRHS), the First Nations Regional Early Childhood, Education, and Employment Survey (FNREEES), and the First Nations Labour and Employment Development (FNLED) survey.
Over the past two decades, data from these surveys has played a key role in the closing the data gap for First Nations communities and informed the development of such community health programs as:
- The Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative
- The Aboriginal Head Start Program on Reserve
- The Children’s Oral Health Initiative
- The Maternal Child Health Program, and;
- The National Aboriginal Youth Suicide Prevention program
Furthermore, FNIGC’s survey work has been reviewed by Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University. Harvard University concluded that “compared to other national surveys of Indigenous people from around the world, the 2002/2003 RHS was unique in First Nations ownership of the research process, its explicit incorporation of First Nations values into the research design and in the intensive collaborative engagement of First Nations people and their representatives at each stage of the research process.”
Read our Power of Data series to learn more about the impact FNIGC’s survey and data gathering work has had in First Nations communities across the country.