Research Cluster team members, Derek Thompson, and Elder Felix Lockhart at the Cluster for Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research: Pandemic Preparedness Workshop in November 2024
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across Canada, Indigenous communities faced some of the most severe impacts: higher mortality rates, inadequate healthcare access, and geographic isolation. Yet, amid these challenges, many communities responded with innovative and culturally grounded solutions.
Dr. Kimberly Huyser, a UBC health sociologist and Indigenous scholar, has spent the past four years researching how the pandemic has affected Indigenous communities. This includes looking at the factors that have increased their vulnerability to COVID-19, and identifying strategies that have protected them. She says that despite persistent inequities, many Indigenous communities thrived by drawing on traditional knowledge and collective leadership to safeguard their health.
Dr. Huyser recently launched a new research cluster at UBC focused on centering Indigenous-led solutions both in the context of COVID-19 as well as future public health crises. Building on her previous work with CoVaRR-Net, a network that supports pandemic preparedness in Canada, the cluster seeks to unite Indigenous scholars, researchers, organizations, and Elders to centre the needs and voices of Indigenous communities. We spoke to Dr. Huyser about her vision for the cluster.
Why did you create this research cluster and what are its objectives?
Dr. Kimberly Huyser is a UBC sociology professor who studies the social determinants of health.
Despite facing inequitable impacts, many Indigenous people and communities have continued to thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic, returning to traditional cultural practices and ways of being. Research often overlooks these strengths and misses opportunities to equip Indigenous communities for pandemics. We believe the best way to prepare Indigenous communities for future pandemics is by helping them thrive in their daily lives. Our Indigenous-led research cluster addresses this gap by partnering with Indigenous scholars and communities, ensuring that the entire process is guided by a community driven agenda.
The cluster was developed from our work with CoVaRR-Net, a network of interdisciplinary researchers from institutions across the country, created to support the Government of Canada’s overall strategy to address the potential threat of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. Through our work with CoVaRR-Net, we built a network of partners and collaborators who are dedicated to Indigenous health and well-being, while also preparing our community for adverse events. With CoVaRR-Net sunsetting in March 2025, we are eager to continue working with our network and the UBC cluster on pandemic preparedness for Indigenous communities.
For me, the objective is to support Indigenous peoples and communities in living beautiful, fulfilling lives, while also ensuring they have the resources needed to navigate difficult times, health emergencies, and future pandemics. We need knowledge from the community to understand these needs as well, and our cluster aims to support an Indigenous-centered understanding of what it means to be prepared for such health emergencies.
Research Cluster team members, Indigenous Elders and researchers at the Cluster for Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research: Pandemic Preparedness Workshop in November 2024
Research Cluster team members, Indigenous Elders and researchers at the Cluster for Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research: Pandemic Preparedness Workshop in November 2024
What factors have made Indigenous peoples more vulnerable to COVID-19?
Many factors make Indigenous communities more vulnerable to COVID-19, including inequitable access to healthcare, structural racism, a lack of clean water on many reserves, chronic health conditions, and more families living in multi-generational homes. The social determinants of health — education, income, geography, environmental contamination of land — all of these things play a huge role. As Indigenous people, we already knew that many communities lack access to safe and clean water, as well as nutrient-dense food. These two issues became crises during the pandemic, especially with the emphasis on handwashing when access to clean water was scarce. It became even more difficult to shelter in place when our people faced challenges in accessing nutrient-dense food and stocking up on supplies.
You’ve been researching Indigenous responses to COVID-19 for the past four years. What are the most interesting takeaways from your data collection so far?
One of the key takeaways I’ve gained is how, despite the challenges of the pandemic, Indigenous people have shown remarkable ability in caring for themselves. We witnessed beautiful examples of Indigenous sovereignty at work, protecting community members and rallying together to care for each other, particularly our elders. Communities ensured that elders had enough food and access to traditional foods when they couldn’t go out, making sure they still received what they needed.
We saw this across Canada, the United States, and even in New Zealand, a powerful display of Indigenous sovereignty around the world. I hope we can continue to expand on and understand these protective mechanisms, finding ways to keep using them for our people while securing the resources necessary to ensure these practices can continue.
When it comes to challenges, I recognize that our communities face multiple competing priorities. Our lives are busy, full of important things, and sometimes it’s hard to figure out how we can balance it all. This is why I think about pandemic preparedness in the context of how COVID is still ongoing, even though governments are no longer funding it in the same way. For me, Indigenous well-being and thriving aren’t contingent on whether there’s an active pandemic, but on ensuring the resources, supports, and amplifications for what our people need, both in everyday life and during health emergencies, are always in place.
Ultimately, the importance remains, and I believe many in our network share this view: our work is not dependent on the specific context, but on supporting Indigenous peoples in living their best lives.
Research Excellence Clusters are interdisciplinary networks of researchers addressing societal and cultural problems, and working together to solve challenges that transcend traditional boundaries associated with departments, institutions, and funding agencies.
Funding is awarded through Grants for Catalyzing Research Clusters (GCRC) competitions. Dr. Huyser’s research cluster was one of 25 new clusters funded through the 2024/25 competition.
