Behind the Pandemic in Aboriginal Communities - Interagency ...

GIPA and ResearchA few years ago, the AIDS service organizations (ASOs) in your community recognized that therewere more and more Aboriginal people testing positive for HIV. The ASO’s executive directorknew that her staff had limited understanding of how to work with Aboriginal communities orwhat services Aboriginal people living with HIV wanted or needed, so she contacted a professorfrom a nearby university who was an expert in Aboriginal health. She thought that the professorwould just tell her what to do. Instead, the professor suggested that they set up a communitybasedresearch project to work with Aboriginal people living with HIV in order to identify thebest practices in providing care and support.The project is now just about finished. Not only has the project revealed rich information thatwill improve AIDS services for Aboriginal communities, it has also been an empowering experiencefor the Aboriginal peer researchers. One of the peer researchers mentioned that it feltgood to do something so significant for their community, and another said that she liked doingresearch so much that she has applied for a job as a research assistant.Critical Awareness and Social ChangeSome of the Aboriginal students at the local university have formed a student club to promotethe visibility of Aboriginal youth and to advocate for their needs. The students have held severalworkshops to help Aboriginal youth explore and express how their lives and communities areaffected by past and present day injustices. At one of the workshops, several members who areTwo-Spirited talked about the difficulties they had experienced in their high schools and homecommunities. Now the students have decided that they want to develop a joint project to fightback against homophobia in high schools and rural communities. They have convinced a numberof people and groups to partner with them on this project, including an Aboriginal professor inthe Education department and a provincial organization that supports LGBTQ youth.55