Our workshop, in Yellowknife, NT in March 2016 focused on health systems performance measurement, particularly as it pertains to maternity care and to the circumpolar context.

Approaching health and wellness holistically was a recurring recommendation in our discussions about the need for more education, support and guidance for Indigenous girls and women across the life course. Important points of discussion included teenage pregnancy; the need for increased access to holistic, culturally appropriate sexual and health education in schools, communities and at home; the importance of access to local maternity care that provides the opportunity for safe, local birth and increased training and licensing of midwives to provide continuity of care; and the need to balance Indigenous knowledge with western biomedicine as well as encourage and support training and retention of Indigenous health care providers in the north. The workshop discussion themes are supported by a significant body of literature on Indigenous health and birth in rural and remote communities and echoed the findings of the Delphi consensus process, providing validation that the expert panel was able to adequately identify and agree upon circumpolar maternity care priorities.