That’s why more than 30 front-line health professionals from Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities came together to identify regional health and social well-being challenges and opportunities in the context of advancing resource development.
Building on the work of an expert researcher who measures the health benefits and impacts of mine projects and using a self-directed Unconference format, Regional Health Forum participants examined community health through the lens of increased jobs, shift work, skills training, health and social services, volunteerism, camp life, policing and families.
Held in the band gymnasium, the forum represented a groundbreaking demonstration of cross-community collaboration and information sharing. Learning from each other’s challenges and building on successes is an important step in collaborative regional planning around resource development.
“Through this session we learned we all share a common goal. We all want a happy and healthy community."
- Regional Health Forum participant
If you've been involved in a major infrastructure project in the last ten years, chances are you've been asked to consider its social impact. For engineers and technical specialists, this can be a daunting task since many of the rules and the tools you've been trained to rely on simply don't apply.