June 12, 2025

At Can-SOLVE CKD, meaningful collaboration with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people is not limited to a single month—it is central to what we do. Guided by the Indigenous Peoples’ Engagement and Research Council (IPERC), we are committed to embedding Indigenous governance, knowledge systems, and cultural practices throughout our work.

Over the past nine years, we’ve collaborated with Indigenous patient partners, Knowledge Keepers, and community leaders to co-create tools and initiatives that raise awareness of racial bias, the impacts of colonization on Indigenous health, and the importance of culturally safe research practices.

Tools to support cultural competency

The Learning Pathway includes novel educational resources for cultural competency that offer meaningful ways to build respectful, reciprocal relationships with Indigenous Peoples. These include:

Knowledge Keepers in Research – A video series and virtual guidebook to support researchers and their teams to respectfully engage Knowledge Keepers and Indigenous patient partners.
Land Acknowledgment Learning Series – A four-part webinar series to deepen understanding of the purpose and practice of land acknowledgments through an Indigenous lens.

These tools encourage all members of the research community to engage in respectful, reciprocal learning. Indigenous-led projects driving change Several Can-SOLVE CKD research initiatives are guided by Indigenous patient partners and grounded in the principles of cultural safety:

Kidney Check – A culturally safe kidney health screening program providing early detection of chronic kidney disease in rural and remote First Nations communities.
iCARE– A research project focused on implementation of a tool to improve kidney health monitoring for Indigenous youth with Type 2 diabetes, with the goal of preventing kidney failure in adulthood.
Meno Ya Win – Indigenous Kidney Health Series – A first-of-its-kind educational video series, co-created with and for Indigenous people with chronic kidney disease, as well as their families, caregivers, and health care providers.