A health survey developed by the Six Nations Health Services and designed specifically for the Six Nations community and its members is being launched this spring.

Jacqui Powless, Six Nations Health Services Ethics Committee Community Health Survey Project Manager, presented information regarding the "Onkwehonwe Health Check-In" to the Six Nations General Elected council meeting on Tuesday.

Powless says the survey will identify health conditions in the community and help with funding applications.The study, or check-in, will be conducted as a pilot before rolling it out to the entire community and will be conducted one on one with a health professional.

In addition, the survey will allow participants to opt-out of any question they feel that they don’t wish to answer, which refers back to the specific design of the survey to take in considerations such as clean water, inter-generational trauma, broken treaties and residential school experiences. It is those types of experiences that have created a lack of trust for community members regarding any "questionnaire or survey," Powless says, so although the survey will be documented in a digital format, access will be confidential and only be used by Six Nations.

The survey could take between 1.5-2 hours to complete and participants will receive a $50 dollar gift card plus an additional $10 dollar gift card for every recruit they bring in that also completes the survey. 

Powless says they hope to start the pilot test in May and, eventually, to roll out the full survey with a cross section of 1,000 people from Six Nations.

Listen to the report below: