First Nations Child Longitudinal Planning Project
Through the national First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC), each region in Canada has received funding for establishing the foundations for a First Nations Child Longitudinal Study. Each region, including BC, is considering their own unique needs for a research project that studies child well-being, while collaborating to ensure a national picture emerges from this work.
Unlike cross-sectional studies, which observe different people at a single point in time, a longitudinal study follows the same group of people over time to understand how they change and what influences those changes.
A child longitudinal study would allow us to understand how First Nations children’s well-being develops over time and what predicts sustained well-being, including demonstrating the impact of Nations resuming jurisdiction on child and family well-being.
Timeline and Planning
This foundation-setting phase of the work spans until 2028/29. Activities over this period will include:
Developing the governance for the project
Assessing options for study design methods
Developing research questions, indicators, and baseline evidence reports
Identifying infrastructure and technical requirements
Identifying and piloting with an initial cohort
Developing a costing model for full-scale implementation
Developing study implementation manuals and materials
Building awareness of the project among First Nations in BC
The BC RIGC is actively engaging and seeking to partner with many First Nations, First Nations Organizations, and Indigenous Governing Bodies in this project, as well as coordinating with federal and provincial governments.
Get Involved
If you have questions, would like to learn more, or are interested in learning how you can be involved, please contact the BC RIGC team.