Centering Indigenous engagement in the work of wellbeing and health promotion
A Canadian Post-Secondary Leadership Virtual Dialogue Series
May 17th, 2021 | 10am-12pm PST | 1-3pm EST
Program
Building on the first Leadership Event, the Canadian Health Promoting Campus Network, the Universities of British Columbia, Waterloo, and McGill invite you to join them in a dialogue that will:
Discuss how institutions can approach the work of the Okanagan Charter through the lens of Indigenous engagement by learning from the strengths, knowledge, and practices of Indigenous Peoples', rooted in their diverse worldviews
Explore ways to center Indigenous worldviews and ways of being in our understanding of wellbeing and health promotion within the higher education model
Share stories on how Indigenous community members in higher education are leading change in wellbeing
The formal agenda will be 90 minutes, followed by an optional 30 minute breakout room for reflection and sharing with other attendees. A zoom link for the event will be emailed to all registrants a minimum of 24 hours prior to the event.
Missed the live event? Watch the recording here
Speakers
You will hear from a diverse group of leaders and Indigenous students from higher education, health promotion and wellbeing, and beyond.
Elders Grouse & Pamela Barnes
Wilfred Barnes is a respected syilx (Okanagan) Elder and member of Westbank First Nation. He is an adjunct professor at the UBCO School of Nursing providing cultural sensitivity training to third year nursing students and he was recognized as an honorary fellow by Okanagan College in 2020. He also facilitates Syilx teachings for the public in partnership with Kelowna Heritage Museums, the Kelowna Art Gallery, Rotary Centre for the Arts and Regional Parks. Wilfred is a fluent nsyilxcen speaker and serves as an Okanagan Language and Cultural Educator. He attended the En'owkin Centre to enhance his ability as a teacher by learning to read and write in the language. He also serves as a Spiritual Care Provider at KGH, is a member of the Okanagan Nation Alliance Critical Response Team and is looked to for guidance in working with the ancestors when sacred remains are found. Wilfred also works with the Okanagan Nation on traditional lands management and serves as an Elder in Residence at School District 23 and Okanagan College. Wilfred can often be found serving his community in various capacities to help empower aboriginal youth throughout the Okanagan Nation.
Pamela Barnes is a respected syilx (Okanagan) Elder and member of Westbank First Nation (WFN). Pamela has worked as an Indigenous educator for over 40 years and teaches students of all ages and backgrounds. She is an adjunct professor at the UBCO School of Nursing providing cultural sensitivity training to third year nursing students and she was recognized as an honorary fellow by Okanagan College in 2020 . She also facilitates syilx teachings for the public in partnership with Kelowna Heritage Museums, the Kelowna Art Gallery, Rotary Centre for the Arts and Regional Parks. She currently serves as a board member on the Okanagan Sustainability Leadership Council and is a member of the Westside Daze Planning Committee, organizing the ‘Okanagan Day’. She has also served on various committees and councils for School District 23 and Okanagan College. Pamela has been involved in the research, development, and implementation of WFN’s Self Government Agreement. She has also served on several working groups for the development of WFN Community Plan. She is one of the founders of WFN’s Sensisyusten School and currently sits on the school board. She is also a member of the WFN Community Consultative Group which works with the local RCMP. Pamela’s academic background is in Aboriginal government, graduating from UVIC in 1993. Her traditional syilx education is a lifelong journey starting with her great-grandfather Mickey Derrickson and other family and community knowledge keepers. In true syilx tradition she strives to educate and mentor the next generations in all the work she does.
Mark Solomon
Mark will be joined by Indigenous students from across the country to engage in a conversation circle.
“I enjoyed University so much I got a job at one.” Mark Solomon is a proud member of Henvy Inlet First Nation located one hour south of Sudbury, he was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie. He often claims to be an economic refugee from Northern Ontario living in Toronto. Mark has two undergraduate degrees from Laurentian University in Music and Native Studies, a MA from Brock University in Social Justice and a MEd from York University. He has held a number of roles at Seneca College and currently serves as the Dean of Students and Indigenous Education. Mark is also honoured to serve as the President of his professional association the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services (CACUSS), he is the first Indigenous person to hold that role. However all of this pales to the role he is the most proud of, a father to a 14 year old.
Sheryl Lightfoot
Sheryl Lightfoot is Anishinaabe, a citizen of the Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe. She is the North American Representative to the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Canada Research Chair in Global Indigenous Rights and Politics and Associate Professor in Political Science, the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and Indigenous Studies. She is also Senior Advisor to the President on Indigenous Affairs and is leading the implementation of the 2020 Indigenous Strategic Plan across UBC.
As one of the world’s experts in global Indigenous politics, Sheryl’s research specializes in complex questions of Indigenous peoples’ rights and how those rights are being claimed and negotiated. Her work explores both practical and theoretical aspects of implementation of Indigenous rights globally as well as in domestic contexts. She is the author of Global Indigenous Politics: A Subtle Revolution as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters.
She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Minnesota as well as a master’s degree from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota. Prior to her academic career, she had fifteen years’ volunteer and contract experience with a number of American Indian tribes and community-based organizations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, including nine years as Chair of the Board of the American Indian Policy Center, a research and advocacy group.
As a member of the UN Expert Mechanism Sheryl provides the Human Rights Council with expertise and advice on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Mechanism also assists Member States in achieving the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She is the first Indigenous woman from Canada to be appointed to this prestigious position.
Kathleen Leahy
Kathleen has over 30 years of practice in community development and non-traditional forms of education, health promotion and inclusion work, in Montreal where she grew up, and in Vancouver where she has been living since 1996. It is on the west coast, as a settler, where she really started her learning journey with Indigenous communities, cultures and ways of knowing. She started to learn about cultural teachings and approaches to healing, wellness and decolonizing work when she worked at Kiwassa Neighbourhood House in East Vancouver. She first became a member of the UBC Learning Exchange team in 2007, before becoming the Director in 2011. Today in her work at the Learning Exchange, which is a place-based initiative in the heart of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES), she has the great honour of continuing to learn from Elders, Indigenous people from nearby lands, and also from peoples across the country who are now either living or working in the DTES. She has also learned a great deal from Indigenous leaders, students and people at UBC.
For over 20 years, the Learning Exchange has offered free community-based programming, experiential student learning and more recently, support for community-based research and knowledge exchange. In tandem with an Academic Director and a team of professional staff and student staff, the Learning Exchange strives to build community and university capacity to work together on community-identified interests, while supporting the strategic priorities of UBC. With a focus on facilitating and learning how different communities within the University and the Downtown Eastside, including Indigenous peoples, exchange expertise and resources to improve learning, research and community engagement, while building capacity in tangible, mutually beneficial and sustaining ways.
Savanah Seaton
Savannah Seaton is a MA candidate in the Industrial-Organization Psychology program at the University of Waterloo. Her research interests include non-instructional factors (implicit and explicit biases) in performance evaluations of university faculty, also known as students’ ratings of instruction. Savanah’s matrilineal lineage is of the Anishinaabeg (Plains Ojibwe) Peoples from the Waywayseecappo First Nation and Keeseeekoowenin First Nation communities. As a graduate student with extensive personal and professional lived experiences as an Indigenous intergenerational residential school survivor and a second and first generation 60’s scoop survivor, Savanah serves on the inaugural UW Indigenous Initiatives Advisory Circle as well as the UW Okanagan Charter on Wellness Collaborative Advisory Committee. She is willing to share her lived stories in hopes that by doing so it may help someone else, especially youth, through their own journey.
Yazmeen Wardman
Yazmeen Wardman is a member of the Key First Nation and graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2021 with a degree in Anthropology. Her research interests include wellness, race, health equity and Indigenous health. Yazmeen is currently a research assistant for Indigenous wellbeing, mental health and physical activity under UBC Athletics and Recreation. Yazmeen will also be starting her Masters of Public Health degree in the Social and Behavioural Sciences at Yale University in September 2021.
Verukah Poirier
Verukah Poirier is Métis and Cree from Treaty 6, but she grew up in Williams Lake, BC. She attended the University of British Columbia for her BA majoring in First Nations and Indigenous Studies. She is currently a JD student at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, working on specializing in Aboriginal Law. Verukah is a strong advocate for Indigenous student representation and recognition in post-secondary institutions. Prior to law school, Verukah took on many community leadership roles and advocated for Indigenous specific funds and better implementation of Youth in Care policies within UBC. In her first year at law school, Verukah was the UBC First Nations House of Learning Indigenous Wellness Project Assistant and worked on wellness programming during COVID-19. She is now Indigenous Legal Studies JD Mentorship Coordinator at the Peter A. Allard School of Law.
Sheryl Thompson
Sheryl is a Cree, Metis, and mixed-settler woman. As a Master of Science candidate at Simon Fraser University in the Faculty of Health Science she is studying ways to promote the centering of Indigenous voices and worldviews in wellness initiatives. Sheryl actively advocates and promotes Indigenous peoples’ wellness at SFU through her roles on the Aboriginal Reconciliation Council, and as the Coordinator for SFU’s Indigenous youth summer camp. Additionally, she is an active member of the First Nations Student Association and participates in community building with the Indigenous Student Centre and the Faculty of Health Science.
The topics we cover at this event may be sensitive or emotionally triggering. It is important that you look after yourself. If at any point during the event you feel that you need to speak with an Elder, Elaine Garner will be available to connect with Indigenous participants and speakers one-to-one.
Elaine Garner is an Anishinaabe and was born in Wolseley Bay on the French River in northern Ontario. Her father was from Dokis First Nation and her sister still lives there. She travelled extensively, living in Brazil and working at Washington State University. Elaine retired as the senior financial manager for graduate scholarships and awards in 2014. Elaine's highlight of service, at both universities, was working with students. Elaine's impact extends far beyond the university when she and her friend, Nina DeShane Gill started White Owl Native Ancestry Association in 1985, White Owl is a community based resource that offers counselling, land based teaching and programs, outreach to services, and an Elder community.