Background: The evidence to support land and arts-based sexual health education with youth is growing, and multiple methods have been used in such approaches. Less is known about youths’ experiences and preferences regarding the varied methods that can be included under the land and arts-based umbrella. To address this knowledge gap, we explored preferences for land and arts-based methods in Peer Leader Retreats (PLR) focused on HIV prevention with Northern and Indigenous youth in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada.

Methods: Weeklong land and arts-based PLR were conducted with youth aged 13-18 by a Northern and Indigenous sexual health program. PLRs focused on leadership, HIV and STI prevention, and sexual health through a variety of methods. Following the PLR we conducted focus groups and applied content analyses to examine patterns and themes in youth methodological preferences.

Results: Participants included n=185 youth (mean age: 14.91, standard deviation: 1.55; gender: cisgender women: 64.3%; cisgender men: 24.9%; gender diverse: 10.8%; Indigenous : 81.1%). Participant findings reflected four overall themes: (1) arts and crafts; (2) cultural and ceremonial activities; (3) film and storytelling; and (4) physical and outdoor activities. (1) Arts-based workshops (e.g., mushroom lights, clay molding, felting, watercolours, paint pouring) were perceived as calming, peaceful, and fostering creative freedom. (2) Cultural and ceremonial activities (e.g. drum circles, smudging, grief circles, traditional teachings and stories) were described as deeply meaningful, particularly for those who lacked access in home communities. (3) Sexual health film and storytelling (e.g. movie making, editing) combined education with humour and performance. (4) Outdoor activities (e.g. Arctic sports and Indigenous games) helped with managing energy and fostering healthy competition.

Conclusions: Participants described enthusiasm, learning, and personal growth from a range of land and arts-based modalities in HIV/STI prevention PLR. Findings can inform future HIV prevention methods with rural, Northern and Indigenous youth.

Background: Manitoba currently has the highest rates of HIV in Canada, reflecting widening inequities rooted in colonialism, housing instability, substance use, and limited access to culturally grounded care. The Village Lab, an interdisciplinary community-based research hub at the University of Manitoba, leads HIV/STBBI, harm reduction, and equity-focused research in partnership with marginalized communities. To guide its next phase (2026–2027) and strengthen impact in the context of rising provincial HIV rates, the Lab undertook a multi-stage, community-led strategic planning process.
Methods: A partner engagement strategy was implemented from September–November 2025, grounded in decolonizing and community-based research principles. Activities included an environmental scan of engagement models; an Elder-guided collective reflection process; a full-day in-person engagement session (n=56 stakeholders, including peers, people living with HIV, Indigenous partners, service providers, students, and researchers); and a follow-up survey (n=30) to capture additional priorities. Data were analyzed using thematic synthesis with attention to community governance, Indigenous knowledge systems, and social determinants of health.
Results: Across engagement activities, participants emphasized the urgent need for Indigenous- and community-led research; attention to housing, mental health, racism, colonialism, substance use, and geographic inequities in HIV care; expanded outreach to rural/remote and northern communities; and arts-based, accessible knowledge sharing. Five strategic priorities emerged: (1) advancing Indigenous and community-led approaches; (2) strengthening social determinants of health research in HIV; (3) increasing accessible and impactful knowledge translation; (4) enhancing partnerships and long-term sustainability; and (5) fostering community and trainee capacity.
Conclusions: Through a rigorous, community-rooted engagement process, the Village Lab developed a strategic plan that directly reflects Manitoba’s evolving HIV landscape and community-defined needs. This model demonstrates how collaborative, decolonizing strategic planning can strengthen research relevance, support Indigenous sovereignty, enhance prevention and care pathways, and build sustainable HIV/STBBI systems change.

Mainstream harm reduction strategies in Canada have struggled to serve Indigenous peoples, with discrimination, institutionalized racism and years of multigenerational trauma creating unique barriers and challenges. Increased culturally safe, stigma-free harm reduction services grounded in Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Doing are needed. The Canoe is an Indigenous Harm Reduction project and aims to bring relevant, non-stigmatizing, context-specific harm reduction practices for Indigenous communities to the national stage.

In this session, Cherese Reemaul, Canoe Project lead, will share key strategies for integrating Indigenous knowledge and cultural practices into harm reduction capacity-building initiatives. She will also discuss the impact of strengths-based, community-driven training on service providers’ competencies and Indigenous health outcomes.

The Canoe facilitates an Indigenous Harm Reduction National Community of Practice (CoP) for frontline health professionals and organizations offering harm reduction services to Indigenous people. Each CoP begins with a Knowledge Giver opening the session, and remains to answer questions from their perspective. The Canoe team seeks out speakers and topics that speak to the interests of attendees. Past topics have included: Navigating Grief and Loss in Relation to Substance Use, Where Culture and Harm Reduction Intersect, and Navigating HIV Self Testing as Ceremony.

Findings indicate increased confidence and competency among service providers in delivering culturally safe harm reduction services. Participants reported enhanced understanding of Indigenous worldviews on topics of harm reduction, improved collaboration with Indigenous organizations and communities, and strengthened community relationships. Feedback also highlighted areas for improvement, including the need for extended mentorship and additional resources that address gaps in knowledge.

The Canoe Project demonstrates the effectiveness of strengths-based, culturally tailored capacity building in harm reduction service provision that is grounded in community needs and the feedback they provide. This approach delivers a model that reflects Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Doing, while enhancing Indigenous harm reduction services.

Rates of infectious and congenital syphilis and HIV have reached crisis levels in Canada, with a disproportionate impact in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northern Territories. The Ayaangwaamiziwin Initiative (Ojibwe, meaning carefulness and preparedness) is a three-year, community-based and public health implementation study that will provide testing to 11,500+ participants in the Prairie Provinces and Northern Territories.

Launched in March 2025, this Indigenous co-led study was first implemented in Saskatchewan, followed by Alberta and Manitoba. Front-line organizations offering sexually transmitted and blood-borne infection (STBBI) services integrated syphilis and HIV point-of-care testing (POCT) into routine care with the availability of cultural support and outreach. Individuals aged ≥16 years who presented for testing were eligible. The study employed a preference-based testing model, whereby individuals selected preferred POCT from three available options: (1) HIV and syphilis (bioLytical); (2) HIV alone (bioLytical); or (3) syphilis alone (MedMira), unless otherwise clinically indicated.

For the first 1,000 tested in Saskatchewan and Alberta: 71% were Indigenous (75% First Nations, 8% Metis, and 17% preferred not to answer), 22% Caucasian, 1% Black, 5% mixed race or other; mean age of 41 years, 53% cis-men, 47% cis-women; 38% indicated unstable housing and 32% use of injection drugs. First-time testers: overall, 12.5% for syphilis and 10.5% for HIV. Reactive POCT results: 17% syphilis (n=169) and 3% for HIV (n=27). Of these, 25% (n=42) and 5% (n=8) were newly diagnosed with syphilis and HIV, respectively. All individuals with reactive results were linked to treatment for syphilis and/or linked or re-linked to HIV care and treatment.

Early findings: Community-based health care STBBI POCT model is highly effective in testing and treating affected key populations with syphilis and HIV. Next steps focus on expanding health navigator and nursing capacity, engaging additional community agencies, and scaling up across the Prairies and northern communities.

In 2017, the WHO released the consolidated guideline on the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women living with HIV. This report highlighted inequitable access to quality health services for Indigenous women living with HIV and their disproportionate vulnerability to sexual and reproductive rights violations. Our project aims to develop an Indigenous framework that promotes the well-being of Indigenous women living with HIV by addressing barriers to data progress in SRHR and incubating culture-informed solutions through the development of template materials.

We are a coalition of Indigenous women living with HIV, Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, and community groups. We have gathered knowledge about the SRHR of Indigenous women living with HIV using an Indigenous, community-based research methodology. We are holding Sharing Circles for Indigenous women living with HIV and Indigenous men in five cities across Canada. The data gathering process has been realized through collaboration between the Community Advisory Council led by Indigenous people living with HIV, a Kanienʼkehá:ka healer and a research team at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.

The project team has learned many lessons through the process of implementing an Indigenous community-based research project on SRHR. First, to realize project goals, we must prioritize the meaningful engagement of Indigenous women living HIV in all stages of the research process. Second, there are specific institutional barriers to doing Indigenous community-based health research within the context of a health research institute, requiring creativity and flexibility. Third, solutions can only be achieved through a relational approach to collaborating with community partners and close attention to each unique context the research occurs in. Beyond the project findings, analysing the process of conducting Indigenous-led community-based research is essential to finding Indigenous-led solutions to strengthen the SRHR of Indigenous women living with HIV.