Project History
The number of Aboriginal people diagnosed with HIV has grown more rapidly in the past decade than among any other single ethnic group in Canada. Available data suggests that Aboriginal young people are disproportionately affected.
When community based organizations and researchers uncovered a simmering hepatitis C epidemic in the Northern communities of British Columbia, additional concerns were raised because hepatitis C is often a precursor to an HIV epidemic. Researchers and Aboriginal leadership initiated The Cedar Project to understand the full extent of the problem and to advocate for resources to address it.
Many Aboriginal people link the elevated use of injection drugs and other negative health outcomes in their communities to historical trauma, in particular the forced removal of their children to residential schools. To date, there is little data that accurately describes the extent to which survivors of residential schools and their children are affected by HIV/AIDS. The Cedar Project seeks to understand the relationship between historical trauma including having a parent or grandparent who attended residential school or being in the child welfare system and vulnerability to HIV and hepatitis C infection among Aboriginal young people who use drugs.
The Cedar Project was developed as an inclusive, community-oriented research project that addresses Aboriginal concerns related to data handling and confidentiality. Aboriginal researchers and leadership are full and equal partners in the study.