FAQs

• Women of at least 18 years old, defined as gender female, and may include cis-female, binary, trans- females, queer and two-spirited individuals.
• As above target population is Indigenous. In the spirit of inclusion, each of the participating communities for this project have stated that they would open the program up to all women in the community but focus first on the Indigenous populations. It is important to note that all participating organizations are inclusive organizations and welcome people from all cultural backgrounds to attend activities that they sponsor.

All participants must be at least 18 years old. There is no upper age limit.

No. The program is rooted in Indigenous culture and was designed with Indigenous women in mind, however women of all backgrounds are welcomed and accepted.

We welcome all those who identify as gender female, which may include cis-gender women, transgender women, queer and two-spirited individuals. Individuals who identify as gender male will not be included in programming but may participate in specific elements of the program such as post-program celebrations.

Please talk to your doctor about whether the program is a good fit for you. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding are welcome to participate in the program, but will be excluded from the research.

Please talk to your doctor about whether you are ready to resume physical activity. At the start of the program you will have to sign a form confirming you are able to safely participate – a copy can be found here

• No. We welcome women of all fitness levels.
• If you have concerns about your health or safety, please talk to your doctor. At the start of the program you will have to sign a form confirming you are able to safely participate- a copy can be found here [download link for CSEP].
• The fitness instructors and facilitators can accommodate most needs, such as doing the exercises from a chair.

Although we recommend that everyone participates in the research components, you may opt out of one or all of the research components and still participate. Please inform your facilitator of your wishes. If you have questions or concerns about the research, please contact info@wolftrail.ca

You can find a summary of the health modules under the Program Information tab – Wellness Modules/ Nourish Manual

This will vary based on the community, but previous examples include yoga, powwow fit, hula hooping, barre, boxing, Zumba, belly dancing, Bollywood dancing, deep-water aerobics, poi, pound, Nordic/urban poling, self-defence.

While an effort is made to hire Indigenous fitness instructor, we cannot guarantee that all or most instructors will be Indigenous.

• We are also committed to safekeeping privacy and our research methods closely follow OCAP principles where every First Nations group holds full autonomy over any collected data from their community
• The researchers use the data (with all personal identifiers such as names removed) to discover the ways in which the program benefits participants and how it could be improved.
• We have ethics approval through the University of Calgary Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board (CHREB) (REB #21-1305) and a Letter of Acknowledgement from the University of Saskatchewan (Bio 3432)

Program Facilitators run the weekly program. Program Facilitators are local Indigenous women hired by the Community Lead to deliver programming. Although they undergo training to deliver the program, the Program Facilitators are not required to be fitness or health experts and are not there to give medical advice.