Dialogue & Storywork

You don't know who to turn to anymore. The only ones that you can talk to is the doctors and the doctors are not telling you very much. For me, it is not much information that he is telling me because I am seeking a lot more, to tell a lot more about what is really going on down there, I want to know.

Elsie, Chipewyan Prairie First Nation

How do I support them through their journey if I don’t know what the issues are that are important to them? How would I tackle that? I, I’d love some help from their community in terms of understanding that better.

Dr. Peters, Yellowknife

Watch and listen to the storywork and dialogue about communication

Guide: Communication

Guide: Traditional Medicines

A cancer diagnosis can be a really hard time for anyone. Some people say it is "shocking" and "numbing". Others say they don’t hear anything else after the word "cancer". For a First Nations person, there can be more factors that can make the shock even bigger.

Cancer mean to me is something really dangerous, and you know cancer kills people, so as soon as you hear somebody got cancer already you think of death to the family so it's really scary. Had it really badly in Fort Good Hope so you're living every day thinking of who's going to be next, it might be you. So it was really scary and the word cancer is really scary. And right away if someone, if a nurse or a doctor says someone has cancer right away you think of death, the story gets around really fast in a town.

Vicki, Fort Good Hope, NT

One thing that came clear from the videos was the long shadow of the residential school program on our Elders and how that impacts of subsequent generations, … it has made people more hesitant to self-advocate and to interact with what they perceive as authority figures from different systems.

Dr. Fourier, Terrace, BC

Watch and listen to the Storywork and dialogue about communication

Please let us know if you have comments, suggestions, or questions: research@sehc.com and we will put you in touch with the most appropriate person from the project partners.

About the project

The Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Health and Social Services and Cancer Control Alberta, Alberta Health Services, were the lead implementing partners working with CancerCare Manitoba, the British Columbia Cancer Agency Centre for the North, and Saint Elizabeth Health Care, as well as First Nations communities in the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba. The project was funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.