First Nations Baseline Assessment Program on Health and the Environment

Support to assess the baseline status of human health and the environment in First Nations communities and traditional territories.

Current status: Open

An application must be received by the BAPHE secretariat by November 1, 2024, 11:59 pm, Mountain Time. Applications can be submitted in English or French.

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About the program

The health and well-being of First Nations communities is linked to their cultural, spiritual, mental and physical connection to their traditional territories and ability to engage in traditional activities and cultural practices. Major projects such as mines, oil facilities, bridges, roads, ports and dams can affect this connection and ability.

The First Nations Baseline Assessment Program on Health and the Environment (BAPHE) is a research program that brings together First Nations communities, principal investigators and scientists to gather baseline data on human health and the environment.

A baseline measures how selected human health and environmental indicators are now, so they can be used to show changes over time. Projects supported by BAPHE must include both a human health and an environmental baseline.

BAPHE supports 2 types of projects:

  1. Primary research: Community-based research to collect and analyze data on human health and the environment directly through questionnaires, surveys, interviews and sampling.
  2. Knowledge integration: Community-based research that compiles, integrates and analyzes existing community information and scientific data on human health and the environment.

Primary research projects

A primary research project should assess the current state of selected human health and environmental indicators in a First Nations community or traditional territory.

A human health baseline could focus on:

Note: Questionnaires or surveys should include voluntary self-identification by gender, including gender-plus categories, to make analysis more precise. Additional information is available at What is Gender-Based Analysis Plus.

An environmental baseline could focus on:

An applicant can request up to $125,000 for a primary research project for the 2-year period of April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2027.

Knowledge integration projects

A knowledge integration project should compile, integrate and analyze existing community information and scientific data on human health and the environment in a First Nations community or traditional territory. In addition, the First Nations community or organization should establish contacts and networks with scientists (for example, academic or consultant) that have experience and qualifications to assist in the future development of a primary research project.

Knowledge integration projects could include a combination of the following:

An applicant can request up to $60,000 for a knowledge integration project for the 1-year period of April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.

Note: An applicant can only apply for one project type (that is, primary research or knowledge integration) per call for proposals.

Who can apply

This program is open to applicants south of the 60° parallel in:

Groups that can apply for funding include:

First Nations in British Columbia can apply to a similar program through the First Nations Health Authority’s Environmental Contaminants Program.

An applicant under the primary research project category must partner with a principal investigator or scientific partner who has a background in public health, population health, epidemiology, statistical epidemiology, contaminant exposure, toxicology or any other relevant field of study to be eligible for funding. The principal investigator or scientific partner must have academic qualifications at the master’s level, as a minimum (for example, Master of Science, Master of Public Health).

An applicant under the knowledge integration project category must have or partner with a principal investigator or scientific partner with academic qualification at the bachelor’s level (for example, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education) or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Deadline

An application must be received by the BAPHE secretariat by November 1, 2024, 11:59 pm, Mountain Time. Applications can be submitted in English or French.

How to apply

The application should include the following elements:

For more details on applying, please contact the BAPHE secretariat at pebse-pn-fn-baphe@sac-isc.gc.ca. The secretariat staff will provide you with an application guide, proposal template, budget template and OCAP® compliance form to help with your submission. They are also available to review and provide feedback on draft applications during the call for proposals period.

Final applications can be submitted in one of the following ways:

Please note that proposals that are submitted by courier or Canada Post must be postmarked by November 1, 2024.

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