The Award Adjudication Committee at Community-Based Research Canada was profoundly inspired by your community-campus partnership that has redefined possibilities for Indigenous-led perinatal care and how to best support Ingenious mothers, infants, and communities. Your partnership between the National Council of Indigenous Midwives and many knowledge keepers with researchers from multiple universities, demonstrates how community-led research can create both policy change and cultural renewal. The committee particularly noted your important findings about the high costs of birth evacuations ($18,000−$38,000 per case) and your collection of digital stories documenting these experiences – work that is already raising awareness about providing proper care, changing of policies/practices and helping reshaping conversations about Indigenous maternal health.

What made your nomination stand out was how authentically your team centers Indigenous ways of knowing while producing rigorous research (using mixed methods). From having matriarchs guiding the governance structure to co-developing the research questions with midwives, your project shows what true community-campus partnership looks like. By combining economic analysis with cultural preservation, your work provides both the evidence, and the human stories needed to advocate for systemic change in Indigenous perinatal care.