First Nations Environmental Contaminants Program in Canada

Deadline: 21-Oct-23

Indigenous Services Canada provides funding through the First Nations Environmental Contaminants Program (FNECP) to help First Nations communities improve their health.

Indigenous Services Canada’s First Nations Environmental Contaminants Program (FNECP) is helping First Nations improve their health and wellbeing by supporting their capacity to identify, investigate and characterize the potential impact of exposure to environmental hazards on their health and environment through multi-disciplinary approaches incorporated with community-based research, monitoring, risk assessment and risk communication.

The program supports these communities in identifying, investigating and characterizing the impact of exposure to environmental hazards. Its activities include community-based:

• research monitoring
• risk assessment
• risk communication
• knowledge integration

What contaminants are included?

Any environmental contaminants that are of concern to First Nations communities can be included in your proposal, based on potential human health risk due to exposure. This risk must be articulated and justified in the proposal.

Requirements

• The FNECP program requires that:
  • primary research projects be carried out in partnership with academically trained scientists (a PhD or MSc-level) with a track record of peer-reviewed publications in the field of the proposed project;
  • knowledge integration projects be carried out in partnership with a project lead with at least a Bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences, health sciences or education;
  • risk communication projects be carried out in partnership with academically trained experts (at least a MSc or BS-level) with proven experience in conducting risk communication in the field of the proposed project.
• The scientific or academic partners must be identified in the proposal.

What the areas of primary concern are?

• Chemical hazards
• Radiological hazards

Funding Information

• Selected research proposals can receive up to $125,000 per project in funding over 2 years (April 2024 to March 2026).

For the 2024 to 2025 submission

• • Primary research proposals should
    • focus on an environmental hazard identification, investigation and characterization
    • collect sufficient information on:
      • the level(s) of the environmental contaminant(s) of concern in different media (food, water, soil or air;)
      • human exposure routes (dietary surveys and water consumption surveys for ingestion, frequency of recreational water exposure (for example, swimming), for dermal contact and inhalation, frequency and duration that people spend at home for radon exposure assessment, etc.)
    • be achievable within 2 years.
  • Knowledge integration proposals should
    • focus on secondary research, that is, make use of existing scientific data;
    •  integrate the existing scientific data with community-based knowledge to support knowledge integration for an environmental public health issue or hazard of concern;
    •  be submitted prior to and in preparation for a future primary research proposal, should knowledge integration demonstrate the need;
    • be achievable within 1 year.
  • Risk communication proposals
    • This funding stream can be used for extensive and sophisticated risk communication of the results of previously completed primary research to increase First Nations’ awareness of the new knowledge and its implications for human health.
    • Selected knowledge integration and risk communication proposals can receive up to $25,000 per project in funding over 1 year (April 2024 to March 2025).
  • Important
    • Knowledge integration and risk communication proposals cannot be combined with a primary research proposal component.
    • Only 1 proposal per First Nation will be accepted.
    • No more than 2 proposals from the same principal investigator or research team will be accepted.
    • FNECP funded projects that are still in progress cannot apply for new or additional funding for the same or similar project until its conclusion, and the project report on the analysis of results has been submitted and approved by the program.

Eligibility Criteria

• The groups that can apply for funding include:
  • First Nations communities (on reserve) and First Nations organizations south of the 60° parallel from:
    • Alberta
    • Manitoba
    • Saskatchewan
    • Ontario
    • Quebec
    • Atlantic Canada
  • bands
  • districts
  • councils
  • tribal councils and associations
  • governments of self-governing First Nations communities and regions
  • First Nations non-government and voluntary associations and organizations (these include non-profit corporations that work on behalf of, or in partnership with, a First Nations community)
• First Nations in British Columbia should apply for funding under the First Nations Health Authority Environmental Contaminants Program.

Special requirement for funding

• The FNECP program requires that:
  • primary research projects be carried out in partnership with academically trained scientists (a PhD or MSc-level) with a track record of peer-reviewed publications in the field of the proposed project.
  • knowledge integration projects be carried out in partnership with a project lead with at least a Bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences, health sciences or education.
  • risk communication projects be carried out in partnership with academically trained experts (at least a MSc or BS-level) with proven experience in conducting risk communication in the field of the proposed project.
• The scientific or academic partners must be identified in the proposal.

For more information, visit Indigenous Services Canada.