{"id":57655,"date":"2015-07-30T08:59:37","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T00:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=57655"},"modified":"2015-07-30T08:59:37","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T00:59:37","slug":"ontario-metis-face-higher-cancer-risk-than-non-aboriginal-residents-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/07\/30\/ontario-metis-face-higher-cancer-risk-than-non-aboriginal-residents-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario Metis face higher cancer risk than non aboriginal residents: study"},"content":{"rendered":"
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TORONTO \u2013 Ontario\u2019s Metis population face a significantly higher cancer risk than the province\u2019s non-aboriginals and require culturally-sensitive prevention programs, says a new study.<\/p>\n

The joint report from Cancer Care Ontario and the Metis Nation of Ontario released Wednesday outlines the aboriginal group\u2019s cancer risk factors including higher rates of smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity.<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s authors said the smoking rates are of specific concern, particularly the number of teens and young adults who have taken up the habit.<\/p>\n

They found that 17 per cent of Metis teens smoke, compared to just eight per cent of non-aboriginal teens \u2013 and 47 per cent of Metis adults in their 20s smoke compared to 27 per cent of non-aboriginals in the same age bracket.<\/p>\n

Dr. Loraine Marrett, a senior scientist at Cancer Care Ontario, said in an interview that researchers combined six years of sample surveys from Statistics Canada on the lifestyle factors that play the largest role in cancer risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to the point where we had enough years of data where we put a bunch of annual surveys together and we had enough numbers where we could look at the Metis in Ontario on their own,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really (prompted by) the lack of information that we have about cancer and cancer risk within the Metis community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ontario Cancer Registry tracks diagnoses and deaths from the disease, but does not include race or ethnicity data, and many aboriginal-specific cancer studies are generalized.<\/p>\n

Wenda Watteyne, Metis Nation of Ontario\u2019s director of healing and wellness, said the numbers are considerable cause for concern and have prompted the organization to put out a call to action on reducing commercial tobacco use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe smoking rates, we knew were high, but we didn’t know the extent of it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s a lot of work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the Metis Nation of Ontario will now work with various health and government organizations to realize some culture-based preventative programs \u2013 which she said could include anything from bringing different Metis communities together, to learning about the traditional aboriginal uses of tobacco.<\/p>\n

The groups will also work together to find new ways to promote cancer screening, and to understand the role of factors such as poverty and people’s distance from urban centres.<\/p>\n

Watteyne said her organization considers the report to be \u201clandmark\u201d given the historic lack of specific data on Metis people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for policy developers and decision-makers to be aware of the very specific needs in terms of the Metis community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t assume that the risk factors and circumstances are the same as First Nations or Inuit people, let alone non-aboriginal members of the population.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2013 Ontario\u2019s Metis population face a significantly higher cancer risk than the province\u2019s non-aboriginals and require culturally-sensitive prevention programs, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":26785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-57655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-original","mauthors-cara-mckenna","mauthors-the-canadian-press1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}