ABSTRACT
American Indians and Alaska Natives have faced immense challenges since the arrival of European colonists and have survived atrocities and assimilation efforts difficult to imagine. Despite the population nadir that occurred around 1890 or so (to just over 200,000 in the United States; Thornton, 2000), today there are approximately three million Native Americans dwelling in the United States, with another two million or more who identify as bi- or multiracial with Native American ancestry (Norris, Vines, & Hoeffel, 2012). In Canada, the 1.4 million status and nonstatus First Nations people account for approximately 4% of the total population (Government of Canada, 2016). The growth in population reflects personal and cultural determination, rebound through births, and resurfacing of families who hid their identities to avoid detection (Jobe, 2004). However, the health status of Indigenous people in North America, especially among the men, has not been on the same upward trajectory.
