November 27, 2021
12:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET
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L to R: Vanessa Ambtman-Smith, Chantelle Richmond, Diane Longboat, Renee Linklater, sitting in one of the Indigenous Cultural Spaces, at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, and one of the sites for research for Vanessa’s PhD dissertation, of which Chantelle is the Study PI. This was also referenced in conjunction with one of the case studies referenced in the TIJIH article.
Vanessa Ambtman-Smith & Chantelle Richmond
12:05 pm - 12:35 pm ET
"Reimagining Indigenous Spaces of Healing: Institutional Environmental Repossession"
Vanessa Ambtman-Smith (Nêhiyaw Métis, Treaty 6) is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography & Environment at Western University in London, Ontario (Canada), where she is a 4th year Indigenous health scholar, focused on the geographies of Indigenous Health. Vanessa comes from a background as an Indigenous Health Leader and advocate and has been involved in this sector for over 2 decades, focusing on health equity, anti-racism, cultural safety, and respectful community engagement. Her research is based on examining Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationships to Traditional Healing spaces within a hospital context.
Chantelle Richmond (Biigtigong Anishinabe) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography & Environment at Western University in London, Ontario (Canada), where she holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Health and the Environment. Chantelle is Leader of Ontario’s Indigenous Mentorship Network (www.imnp.uwo.ca). Her research is based on a community-centred model of research that explores the intersection of Indigenous people’s health and knowledge systems within the context of global environmental change.
@Indigi_nish (Vanessa)
@geeziskwe (Chantelle)
Mikayla Hagel &
Miranda Keewatin
12:40 pm - 12:50 pm ET
"Community-based respite care:
Training caregivers and family to provide in-home care for Indigenous older adults living with dementia"
Mikayla Hagel is a Research Assistant at Morning Star Lodge (MSL), an Indigenous community-based health research lab. The Lab actively seeks to improve education which respects Indigenous Peoples for their identity, is relevant to their worldviews and Traditions and offers reciprocity within meaningful relationships to claim responsibility and self-determination over their lives. MSL’s mission is to build capacity by training, teaching, and hiring locally. MSL also promotes Indigenous Research Methodologies by practicing community-based research. All of the research projects undertaken by MSL are collaborative.
Miranda Keewatin is from Peepeekisis First Nation. Miranda is in her final year of the Indigenous Social Work program at the First Nations University of Canada and she is a part-time Y-SHORE youth worker with the Street Culture Project. Miranda is honoured to be the mother of four wonderful children and a supporting companion. These roles have taught her the essentials of life which continues to this day. Miranda’s motivation for becoming a social worker came from her experiences growing up. During her adolescence she both witnessed and experienced families in crisis. Miranda feels the impact of Residential Schools on the identify of her grandparents, parents, and relatives, resulting in historic and intergenerational trauma that has had profound effect on her. Miranda chose to study Indigenous social work after a process of soul searching as to the best use of her skills. Miranda’s goal is to receive her degree in the spring of 2019 and to specialize in Indigenous community work and policy change. Attending the First Nations University of Canada, Miranda has had the privilege to work alongside Elders who incorporate traditional teachings and practices into a curriculum designed to address First Nation’s oral values and Western written language. This guidance and support from Elders has impacted Miranda’s studies by encouraging and supporting her decisions and helping her balance her spirituality. Miranda is doing her last practicum placement at Morning Star Lodge and is honoured and excited to learn from the team.
Nicolas Crier,
Dr. Helen Brown, Pam Young,
Patrick Keating
1:00 pm - 1:30 pm ET
"The Transformative Nexus:
Lived/Living Experience,
Academic Research vs.
Health and Justice Inequity"
Since its formation in 2019, the UBC THJRC has been gathering people, building profound relationships and supporting those relationships through collaborative work involving participatory action research, in a marginalized community, with the stated intent to affect actually tangible change for the people
living in incarceration and post-release.
Nicolas Crier has worked in social justice and arts-based initiatives for most of his adult life, as a journalist, an actor, and a Storytelling & community networking liaison, a job that he's beginning to think was him that dreamt it up; it’s THAT perfect.
Dr. Helen Brown’s research brings critical perspectives to studies aimed at improving health and social equity for rural and remote Indigenous communities. Using community-based and participatory methods she has worked with First Nations communities across Western Canada on projects that align with community priorities around health, wellness, cultural continuity and language revitalization. She is currently the lead on a program of research that investigates impacts of a prison-community partnership program on Indigenous inmate and community health,
wellbeing and rehabilitation.
Pam Young is the Program Manager for Unlocking the Gates Services (UTG) Society and the Peer Coordinator at the Transformative Health and Justice Research Cluster. As somebody with lived prison experience, Pam recognizes what a difference UTG could have made for her own post-release journey through the Peer Health Mentorship Program, working as a Peer-Mentor herself for many years. Pam provides leadership and guidance to support social justice-oriented research activities, policy action, and community-driven change for people in prison and post-release.
A Performer and Playwright Patrick has worked in the Vancouver TV Film and Theatre scene for the past 25yrs. A peer leader with THJRC with 10 years lived experience the Digital Adaptation of his one person play Inside/Out: A Prison Memoir is in the process of ’Touring’ to Canadian carceral Institutions with the
help of the ART & Justice initiative.
Website https://transformhealthjustice.ubc.ca/
Twitter @TransformativeJ