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The workshop complies with CTCRI Workshop and Learning Opportunities Grant objectives in that it seeks to bring together an inter-disciplinary collaboration of Aboriginal researchers and practitioners to share information, experiences and knowledge and who can pursue further funding in developing a network of Aboriginal tobacco control research and practice, and who can actively contribute to the CTCRI research agenda.
In Canada, smoking rates among Aboriginal populations are dramatically higher than for the non-Aboriginal population. For example, among girls aged 15 - 17 yrs, First Nations smoking rates are four times the Canadian rates (61% vs 15%). While it is recognised that tobacco misuse has serious health implications for the Aboriginal population, there is a worrying lack of representation from this community in current tobacco control research. There are many factors affecting tobacco misuse among Aboriginal girls requiring investigation which can only be appropriately addressed from within the community. Aboriginal researchers are therefore an essential element. At this time, there is not an Aboriginal research network dedicated to addressing Aboriginal tobacco misuse; neither is there adequate recruitment and participation in the discipline.
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