Series Description
Visioning the Future is a series of webinars offering a vision for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples’ public health. These webinars are a development of the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health’s 2021 publication, Visioning the Future: First Nations, Inuit, & Métis Population and Public Health, a collaborative report offering a vision for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples’ public health. Privileging Indigenous knowledges, the commissioned report complements the Chief Public Health Officer’s 2021 public health vision report, A Vision to Transform Canada's Public Health System.
Webinar Overview
A determinants of health approach offers a comprehensive framework for considering the health inequities Indigenous Peoples experience. In this session, Dr. Marcia Anderson will reflect on Indigenous Peoples’ inherent right to self-determination as a critical component of achieving health equity. She will raise important questions to help stakeholders engage in decision making and program development that is culturally relevant and culturally safe. Ms. Theresa Koonoo will present on the importance of preserving traditional health knowledge and Inuit Qaujimajatuqanigit (IQ) to health care practice and better health outcomes for Nunavummiut. Dr. Greenwood will examine how racism is a historical and current driver of inequities and is especially evident in the healthcare system. She will consider how respecting each other’s diverse ways of knowing is fundamental to creating a health care system characterized by equity.
Speakers
Dr. Marcia Anderson is Cree-Anishinaabe and grew up in the North End of Winnipeg. Her family roots go to the Norway House Cree Nation and Peguis First Nation in Manitoba. She practices both Internal Medicine and Public Health as a Medical Officer of Health with the Indigenous Services Canada-Manitoba Region. She is the Vice-Dean, Indigenous Health and the Executive Director of Indigenous Academic Affairs in the Ongomiizwin Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba. She serves as the Chair of the Indigenous Health Network of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada. She is a Past President of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada and Past Chair of the Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors Congress. She was recognized for her contributions to Indigenous peoples health with a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in March 2011. In 2018 she was named one of the 100 most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network.
Dr. Margo Greenwood, Academic Leader of the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health, is an Indigenous scholar of Cree ancestry with years of experience focused on the health and well-being of Indigenous children, families and communities. She is also Vice-President of Indigenous Health, Northern Health, and Professor in both the First Nations Studies and Education programs at the University of Northern British Columbia. Dr. Greenwood has received numerous awards for her achievements in early childhood education and health policy, including the Queen's Jubilee medal (2002), BC Academic of the Year (2010), National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Education (2011.), and most recently, she was honoured to be appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada (2021.)
Ms. Theresa Koonoo is the Territorial Community Health Representative Coordinator with the Department of Health of Nunavut. She has extensive experience with the Government of Nunavut Department of Health and was a community health representative in Iqaluit. Her education background in nursing, health promotion, research and emerging leadership. She utilizes the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit principles* (IQ principles are the Inuit societal values and bring the expertise to health and wellness of Inuit to the team I work with). She often participate in consultations on behalf of the Department of Health Government of Nunavut on initiatives that relate to health and wellness of Inuit.
Learning Objectives
- Examine current inequities in mental and physical health among First Nations, Inuit, and Métis populations.
- Consider the social, political, and historical contexts that have been the fundamental drivers of these inequities.
- Understand how re-establishing Indigenous Peoples’ health systems and ways of knowing and being are vital to overturning these inequities.
- Explore practical strategies for achieving health equity.
Webinar Resources