Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health

Sustainable Future

Environment

Faculty of Law

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

Sustainability

Truth and Reconciliation

How is Indigenous sovereignty and justice fundamental to climate change policy and action?

The fourth episode of the ��Ƶ’s five-part video series, Sustainable Future - Challenge Accepted!, explores the climate justice work of Indigenous researchers at the university, the challenges they face and how they are leading change.

One way Indigenous communities learn about law is through the land, says John Borrows, professor in the Faculty of Law and inaugural Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law at U of T.

“When I take my students out in the land, they get an opportunity to experience the land directly and hear about the stories, the garments, the water, the birds and the insects,” he says.

To enrich land-based learning, Liat Margolis, associate professor in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, and Elder Whabagoon, an Ojibway Elder who is the First Peoples Leadership Advisor to the General Manager of Transportation Services for the City of Toronto and the Daniels Faculty’s former First Peoples Leadership Advisor to the Dean, co-founded the Nikibii Dawadinna Giigwag Youth Program at U of T.

The program provides Indigenous youth with employment, mentorship and pathways to post-secondary education in fields related to design and the environment.

Angela Mashford-Pringle, assistant professor with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and associate director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health, says when she teaches her students about land-based learning, she’s telling them about the beliefs of Indigenous health policy as well.

“[It’s] the balance between the spiritual, the emotional, the physical and the mental,” she says.

“That helps students to connect not only to the work, but then they can see how it connects to the world.”

Watch Episode 4 of the Sustainable Future series

U of T to hold inaugural Giving Day on March 28

lanthierj — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 16:35:06 +0000

U of T to hold inaugural Giving Day on March 28

lanthierj Fri, 03/10/2023 - 11:35

Cutline

U of T’s global community will come together for a special, one-day drive to support the Defy Gravity campaign and celebrate inclusive excellence (photo by Matthew Dochstader/Paradox Images)

Topic

David Palmer

Defy Gravity

Alumni

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

St. George

U of T Mississauga

U of T Scarborough

The ��Ƶ is inviting its global community of alumni, friends, faculty members and staff to participate in its inaugural “Giving Day” on March 28.

The university will match contributions up to $1,000 dollar-for-dollar while matching funds last. It is also encouraging alumni to share their involvement on social media and to “like” and share U of T’s posts about the remarkable students and researchers who are applying their diverse expertise, experiences and perspectives to solve societal challenges.

Giving Day celebrates U of T’s commitment to inclusive excellence – the driving inspiration for its Defy Gravity campaign, which aims to raise $4 billion and encourage 225,000 alumni to contribute their time and talent to the university one million times collectively.

Claire Kennedy, a co-chair of U of T’s Defy Gravity campaign, says the campaign is deepening the scope and impact of transformative work across the university.

“It’s truly wonderful to see our global community embracing and supporting U of T’s role as an engine for leadership and positive social impact,” she says.

“Giving Day gives us a unique, one-day opportunity to build on this.”

Donations made on Giving Day will support student wellness and success, create scholarships for students from underrepresented and equity-deserving groups and fuel diverse research on a broad range of global issues.

“It’s no small goal to build a more sustainable, prosperous and equitable future for everyone, but we can do it with the help of our incredible community,” says campaign co-chair John Cassaday. “By matching donations on Giving Day, we can multiply the opportunities to help our bright students and faculty members thrive.”

Twenty-four-hour-long giving days provide post-secondary institutions and charities across North America with opportunities to harness the power of collective generosity and build community.

Sana Halwani, president of the ��Ƶ Alumni Association and member of the Defy Gravity Campaign Steering Committee, says she and her fellow board members are excited to participate in Giving Day. “Support contributes to a sense of belonging and is key to nurturing our students, staff, faculty members, volunteers and alumni,” she says.

Ultimately, Kennedy and Cassaday say U of T’s Giving Day on March 28 will be about making an impact and strengthening what makes U of T an exceptional place.

“By embracing diverse ideas, perspectives and cultures, U of T is creating a generation of thinkers who are willing to challenge orthodoxy, ask big questions and push boundaries,” Cassady says. “It’s exciting and precisely what the world needs right now.”

As part of Giving Day, the university is amplifying stories about talented U of T students and researchers, including Nya Lazarus Munnick, a master’s student in sustainability management, whose research aims to help vulnerable communities enhance resiliency, social well-being and environmental sustainability; Amy Shawanda, who is conducting post-doctoral research in the Indigenization of public health at the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health; and first-year electrical and computer engineering student John David Genus, who is working to ensure more students see future careers in STEM.

“Members of the U of T community worldwide have an unprecedented opportunity to make an impact and come together to help our students and researchers thrive,” says David Palmer, U of T’s vice-president, advancement and interim vice-president, communications. “U of T Giving Day demonstrates our shared Defy Gravity campaign values and underscores our ability to achieve incredible things, including addressing the most urgent issues of our time.

“Simply put, we thrive when we rise together.”

Indigenous Research Network deepens and extends Indigenous research at U of T and beyond

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 20:46:34 +0000

Indigenous Research Network deepens and extends Indigenous research at U of T and beyond

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 11/19/2021 - 15:46

Cutline

Mikaela Gabriel, a post-doctoral researcher and member of the Indigenous Research Network, explores how traditional knowledge and Elder connections can support Indigenous Peoples’ mental health across life transitions (photo by Nick Macchione)

Suzanne Bowness

Topic

Indigenous Research Network

Groundbreakers

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Research & Innovation

With a PhD in clinical and counselling psychology from the ��Ƶ and a position as post-doctoral researcher at the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Mikaela Gabriel has found her place in academia.

But as a student, she recalls feeling lost as she looked for ways to undertake Indigenous research.

“I thought it was going to be a lot of heavy lifting, and I didn’t know what to do,” recalls Gabriel, whose background is Italian and Mi'kmaq (Crow Clan).

Associate Professor Suzanne Stewart (photo courtesy of Suzanne Stewart)

Then she met Associate Professor Suzanne Stewart, director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute and her academic adviser, who, along with others in the field, helped Gabriel navigate the research world.

“Gloriously, I was able to find out that a lot of people have been putting a lot of work in over time,” Gabriel says. “Being with people who are working really hard and being able to take my own undergrad dreams and turn them into this beautiful garden – it was so important for me.”

Now, the newly launched Indigenous Research Network (IRN) will formalize those connections, making it easier to find information and share resources – not only for students like Gabriel but for established researchers, partners and communities.

The network is one of U of T’s Institutional Strategic Initiatives (ISI), designed to address complex global challenges by harnessing the university’s top-quality academic talent across many fields of expertise. Each initiative brings together flexible, multidisciplinary teams of researchers and students from across faculties and campuses, as well as partners from industry, government and the community.

In the case of the IRN, an Indigenous Research Circle leads an interconnected, collaborative and tri-campus network of researchers. At the same time, Stewart, who is also
U of T’s provostial academic adviser on Indigenous research, works to improve and increase capacity and support for Indigenous research at the university.

The IRN is the culmination of two years of careful consultation.

In a process that started in spring 2020, Stewart and her colleagues connected with other Indigenous academic research networks to gather and review evidence-informed best practices. They also consulted with 34 U of T faculty and staff from a range of departments and disciplines, and seven Elders from the Indigenous Advisory Council.

The consultations resulted in three overarching themes for the network: community circle, mentorship, and accountability. In practice, that includes providing researcher supports, community supports and hosting events that so far include weekly talking circles and drop-in socials, monthly spiritual ceremonies and a monthly series with a featured researcher.

“Creating the IRN wasn’t something off the cuff, but Indigenous evidence-based,” says Stewart, a member of the Yellowknife Dene First Nation, director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health and the IRN’s director.

Assistant Professor Jeffrey Ansloos (photo courtesy of Jeffrey Ansloos)

Professor Christine Allen, U of T’s associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives, says the IRN is an important step in the university’s efforts to answer the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action.

“We hope that growth and future initiatives of the IRN will deepen partnerships with Indigenous communities and help to create a strong, respectful and culturally-aware foundation for Indigenous research and researchers at the university,” said Allen, speaking at the IRN’s virtual launch this fall.

“It's also vital that we learn from our mistakes, particularly with respect to the cultural harm that academic research on Indigenous communities has inflicted in the past. The IRN is a critical part of that learning as it will bring an Indigenous lens to these activities on our campuses and will work to reform and extinguish harmful and outdated research practices.”

Stewart and her colleagues are already moving ahead with important projects for the IRN.

The first project is to develop a Research Ethics Framework Initiative to help provide autonomy to Indigenous scholars.

“It’s wonderful,” says Stewart. “Much research has already harmed Indigenous communities and land, so it’s our goal to protect autonomy and self-determination. What we are doing now is part of the start of decolonization of research ethics.”

Led by an Indigenous Research Circle that includes an Elder, Indigenous and non-Indigenous students as well as the academic adviser on Indigenous research, the framework is a community-informed vision for research service programs and policy that’s based on consulting with 67 individuals – including eight Elders and 28 faculty and staff focused on Indigenous research – to determine the ethical research needs of the community. Monthly workshops launched this fall.

Equal care has been taken with another IRN initiative: the U of T Connaught Community Partnerships Research Program – Indigenous stream. The program supports an internal research funding stream based on Indigenous worldviews, principles and community needs. It allows U of T to connect Indigenous community organizations with university researchers who act as a resource to support their work.

The consultation process included reaching out to 700 different Indigenous organizations across Canada. In its inaugural year, nine Indigenous organizations were chosen to receive Connaught funding through the Indigenous stream.

Sarah Clark (photo by Beth Brown)

Sarah Clark is executive director of the Arctic Children & Youth Foundation, a Nunavut-based charity that helps children and youth who disclose abuse. She was looking for a partner to help the organization dig deep into a problem: The charity provides counselling services to caregivers or guardians (90 percent of whom are Inuit) of children, but clients weren’t using the support. Clark and her colleagues wanted to understand how to better support these caregivers, and by extension, the children. After connecting with the Indigenous Research Network, they began working with Assistant Professor Jeffrey Ansloos, Canada Research Chair in Critical Studies in Indigenous Health and Social Action on Suicide at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, whose work focuses on mental health and social policy in Indigenous communities.

Ansloos and his students are now helping the Arctic Children & Youth Foundation design a study and work with focus groups to better understand the community.

“The students working under Jeffrey have been amazing,” says Clark, adding that she deliberately wanted to connect with an academic partner so the research could be used as a framework for other communities. “The research that has come out so far has been really helpful to us. And we're all very excited to learn about that population and how we can support them.”

Clark calls the IRN’s work “very valuable” since there are so many avenues for Indigenous research in Nunavut. She’s particularly excited about the network’s potential to connect and share upcoming projects and results.

“Just having the support and learning from what other people are doing in their community is fantastic,” she says.

As for Gabriel, she is now a member of the IRN, too. Her research explores how traditional knowledge and Elder connections can support Indigenous Peoples’ mental health across life transitions such as homelessness to changes in employment.

She says she appreciates having a dedicated research network alongside the more common Indigenous research centres on many university campuses.

“Those Indigenous centres are crucial and invaluable, but different from an Indigenous Research Network that prioritizes Indigenous research itself,” she says. “If I had something like this when I was an undergrad … it's beyond my wildest dreams to have a network of Indigenous researchers and students and community members and Elders all talking about knowledge and how to help the community, and how to do it in a safe, good way.

“That's a beautiful thing.”

Indigenous communities drive Connaught-funded research projects

rahul.kalvapalle — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 18:06:45 +0000

Indigenous communities drive Connaught-funded research projects

rahul.kalvapalle Wed, 06/30/2021 - 14:06

Cutline

Clockwise, from top left: Eve Tuck, Teresa Edwards, Suzanne Stewart, Clayton Shirt, Alissa North and Shianne McKay.

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Community Partnership

Connaught Fund

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Research & Innovation

How can traditional knowledge be harnessed to help Indigenous people heal from the trauma of residential schools? Where do Indigenous community organizations want to focus efforts to recover healthy relationships to their lands? How can youth perspectives be meaningfully engaged for the betterment of the next generation of Indigenous Peoples?

These are some of the questions that will be explored by Indigenous-led non-profit and community organizations in collaboration with the ��Ƶ’s Eve Tuck as part of the Land Education Design Project.

Eve Tuck (photo by Red Works)

Working together, the partners will create an incubator to support three Indigenous community organizations and a youth research collective. The initiative aims to nurture land-based education programs that are designed by – and for – Indigenous Peoples and their communities.

“Land education is education that happens with intentional relationships to land,” says Tuck, a member of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, Alaska and an associate professor of critical race and Indigenous studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).

“This has always been the way that Indigenous Peoples have learned – in relationship to land and to one another.”

The Land Education Design Project is one of nine U of T projects supported by the Connaught Community Partnerships Research Program’s Indigenous funding stream. The stream aims to boost Indigenous community-driven research at U of T with culturally safe projects that place Indigenous values and principles at the forefront.

The projects, each of which are receiving $50,000 in funding, were compiled by U of T’s Indigenous Research Circle through a consultative process that put the interests and concerns of Indigenous communities at the forefront. That’s in contrast to the competitive funding process that typically governs most post-secondary research projects.

Suzanne Stewart (photo courtesy Suzanne Stewart)

“We reached out to 600 Indigenous community organizations and First Nations across Canada and told them that we were interested in hearing if anybody had any research that they wished to do, and that we would like to explore matching them with researchers at U of T who had the skills, knowledge and capabilities to work with them,” says Associate Professor Suzanne Stewart, the provost’s academic adviser on Indigenous research and director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Next, the Indigenous Research Circle contacted U of T researchers with a track record in Indigenous-focused research. Those who were keen to participate were then introduced to the community partners and discussions held to explore opportunities for collaboration.

“What was different about this was that it was community-driven and co-operative, rather than academic-driven and competitive,” says Stewart. “We strove to really base every part of the process on Indigenous principles such as co-operation, relationship, transparency, honesty and non-interference – cornerstones of Indigenous cultural values.”

Several of the community organizations were understandably skeptical given past experiences with university researchers that had left them disillusioned.

Clayton Shirt (photo courtesy of Clayton Shirt)

“They’ve had many researchers come to them before and say, ‘This is the problem, this is how it is and this is what we’re going to do’ – there was always this talking down,” says Clayton Shirt, Traditional Knowledge Keeper and member of U of T’s Indigenous Research Circle who hails from the Wolf Clan of Saddle Lake Alberta, Treaty 6. “It was never community-led.”

Shirt says he and Cathy Fournier, special projects officer at U of T’s Indigenous Research Network, had to work to assure community representatives that their relationships with the U of T researchers would be centred on trust and mutuality, and that the research would truly be steered by their ideas.

In the case of the Land Education Design Project, that means Indigenous community organizations will determine how they want to wield land education to benefit their people, says Teresa Edwards, executive director of the Legacy of Hope Foundation – which is working with OISE’s Tuck on the initiative.

Teresa Edwards (photo courtesy of Teresa Edwards)

“We expect the community partners will work out what have been the costs or harms to their relationships with the land based on colonial harms – such as what survivors experienced while in residential and day schools or within the Sixties Scoop, and the racism they have experienced in Canada,” says Edwards. “As well, based on understanding these situations, they can start to identify effective and locally relevant remedies that would directly address these harms.”

Edwards cites substance abuse, depression and self-harming as examples of behaviours linked to trauma that could be addressed through cultural revitalization and land-based healing models.

“We reviewed additional research confirming the importance and power of land-based healing and treatment for Indigenous Peoples that was locally informed and shaped and empowered survivors,” says Edwards. “In partnering with Dr. Tuck, we adapted our interests with her expertise so that a land education project could move forward, paving the way for the foundation to increase our capacity to do community research that resulted in concrete, positive, culturally-informed action.”

For Tuck, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Methodologies with Youth and Communities, the project taps into a longstanding interest in youth participatory design research.

“One of the lines of my work is youth participatory action research, where we bring teenagers into collectives and teach them the same things that I teach my graduate students – how to do qualitative research including interviews, focus groups, photovoice and other visual methods,” Tuck says.

“In this instance, where our research question is, ‘What are the kinds of land education programs that residential school survivors and their families desire?’ – youth participatory research is a very fitting method.”

One of the other projects funded by the Connaught Community Partnerships Research Program uses Indigenous knowledge to help the natural environment – specifically Lake Winnipeg’s south basin.

Over the last several decades, Lake Winnipeg has suffered from eutrophication, or an increase in minerals and nutrients that results in excessive growth of algae that affects drinking water, fishing and enjoyment of the lake. To help address this problem, the Connaught Indigenous funding stream is supporting a project that will explore how Indigenous and Western knowledge can be combined to create natural infrastructure – such as the planting of vegetation to clean water and air – aimed at reversing the eutrophication.

Alissa North (photo courtesy of Alissa North)

“The idea that these two knowledges can build on and support one another towards environmental repair is an amazing agenda and will be hugely important to solving the complexities of eutrophication,” says Alissa North, an associate professor of landscape architecture at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, who will be working with the Winnipeg-based Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) on the project.

To that end, North, her graduate students and CIER will hold virtual “Knowledge Circles” – community engagements with First Nations – to exchange ideas and share perspectives that could inform future natural infrastructure projects. North’s team will then work with CIER to put together a guidebook that draws on the insights gleaned from the Knowledge Circles.

Shianne McKay (photo courtesy of Shianne McKay)

Shianne McKay, senior project manager at CIER, explains the value of incorporating Indigenous Knowledge by using the example of a community seeking to build a wetland.

“You could bring in Elders and Indigenous Knowledge Keepers to inform on the types of plant species that could be grown there – because some of our most powerful medicines are found in the wetland areas,” says McKay, who is Ojibway and a member of the Pine Creek First Nation.

“So, to have people at the table with that knowledge while designing something like that would be really beneficial.”

McKay says the exchange of knowledge will also help Indigenous communities learn more about the process of building natural infrastructure, which could have a long-lasting impact.

“It’s providing communities with examples of what is possible and teaching them about the different types of natural infrastructure, so that they can envision what’s beneficial to their communities and how they can use natural infrastructure to help mitigate different environment problems,” she says.

The project is part of a long-term effort by the Collaborative Leadership Initiative – which comprises elected leaders in the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region and First Nations chiefs – to boost environmental health and community well-being, with the health of Lake Winnipeg representing a key priority.

“It’s a great way to advance the work the Collaborative Leadership Initiative was already undertaking,” says Richard Farthing-Nichol, project manager at CIER. “CIER has been around for 25 years, so we have relationships with these communities and work with them already.”

Farthing-Nichol notes that the project can serve as an example of genuine dialogue and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, and ways of knowing.

“Incorporating Indigenous and Western knowledge on an equal basis is something that we have to do from the very outset, and throughout the project planning, design and construction,” he says. “You shouldn’t build natural infrastructure unless you’re also trying to build those relationships.”

For the members of U of T’s Indigenous Research Circle, the coming-together of university faculty and Indigenous communities to pursue community-driven research is a watershed event that could serve as a model for the future. Stewart says she’s been “overwhelmed” by the university’s willingness to let the Indigenous Research Circle work to explore research possibilities without interference.

“This is really the first time that we, Indigenous Peoples, have been granted autonomy and sovereignty within any research funding system within a university,” she says.

“I’ve never heard of research funding based on Indigenous values and principles happening before. As far as I know, no other university in Canada or around the world has done this.”

Shirt similarly highlighted the opportunity to build a new relationship.

“I feel honoured to be able to say that I saw this massive institution called U of T give us the place to plant these seeds,” he says. “This has the potential of growing into something really beautiful.”

U of T hosts vaccine clinic pow wow at Varsity Stadium

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 14:09:22 +0000

U of T hosts vaccine clinic pow wow at Varsity Stadium

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 06/22/2021 - 10:09

Cutline

Alanna Pasche and Deanne Hupfield perform at an Indigenous vaccine clinic that was hosted at U of T's Varsity Stadium last weekend (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

UTogether

Alumni

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

St. Michael's Hospital

Vaccines

Varsity Centre

The ��Ƶ's Varsity Stadium was transformed into the site of a vaccine pow wow over the weekend, with volunteers dancing and playing hand drums while community members received their shots.

Steve Teekens, the executive director of Na-Me-Res, a Toronto emergency shelter for Indigenous men, said the clinic was held to provide First Nations, Inuit and Métis people with a culturally safe place to receive their vaccinations. Nearly 200 people received their first or second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the clinic on Saturday, which operated from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Na-Me-Res partnered with other health-care groups – Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto, Well Living House at St. Michael's Hospital and the Centre for Wise Practices in Indigenous Health at Women's College Hospital – to create an Indigenous COVID-19 response program, called Auduzhe Mino Nesewinong (which means "place of healthy breathing" in Anishinaabemowin).

“One of the things that happened during this pandemic is that it exposed some of the inequities within the health sector, particularly for Indigenous people,” says Teekens. “So, there was some hesitancy from our community to access some of these services, especially if they had experiences with discrimination and racism before.”

U of T’s Varsity Stadium was transformed into the site of a vaccine pow wow over the weekend (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Teekens and others helped organize the mass clinic, with logistical support from U of T, in order to speed up vaccinations. He says he contacted Associate Professor Suzanne Stewart, director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health (WBIIH) at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, who agreed to support the Indigenous-led COVID-19 response.

“Suzanne connected me with the appropriate folks at U of T and they never said no, ever,” says Teekens. “It just amazed me. They just wanted to know how they could accommodate it and make it work for us.”

Stewart and Clayton Shirt, an Elder and traditional knowledge keeper at Dalla Lana and the WBIIH, greeted people who came for their shots at the entrance.

U of T ’s Trevor Young, dean of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Salvatore Spadafora, senior adviser to the dean and head of U of T’s COVID-19 response and adaptation group and Lynn Wilson, vice-dean, clinical and faculty affairs at U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, volunteered at the clinic (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Volunteers from WBIIH, the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy helped with the vaccinations.

Suzanne Shoush, co-medical director of Auduzhe Mino Nesewinong and the first Indigenous health faculty lead in the department of family and community medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, was the clinic's medical lead.

“Na-Me-Res usually has pow wows on the Saturday closest to National Indigenous People's Day, but they had to be paused because of the pandemic,” Teekens says. Varsity field provided space for pow wow drummers and dancers, as well as Métis and Inuit performers.

Matthew Rutledge performs on the field at Varsity Centre (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Janet Smylie, a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, physician at St. Michael's Hospital and one of Canada's first Métis physicians, volunteered as both an observer at the waiting area, where people sat after receiving their shots, and as a performer.

Janet Smylie, a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and one of Canada's first Métis physicians, plays a drum at the Varsity Centre vaccine clinic (photo by Johnny Guatto)

At the clinic, Cheryl Regehr, U of T's vice-president and provost, said she was proud of U of T's support for the pandemic response, including Dalla Lana’s and WBIIH's work with Indigenous communities.

“The Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health has been instrumental in ensuring that the particular needs of Indigenous people in this health crisis are being accounted for,” she said, citing advocacy for Indigenous vaccine access on-and-off reserves, helping create a culturally safe vaccine rollout strategy and operating clinics in co-operation with local Indigenous organizations.

"Today's vaccine pow wow is both a celebration of these efforts, and a recognition of how Indigenous health is critical to the country's health."

Professor Lynn Wilson administers a vaccination (photo by Johnny Guatto)

For Devon Bowyer, a former Varsity Blues soccer player and graduate of Dalla Lana’s master of public health program who helped run the clinic, the event marked a return to the stadium he knows from his days on the pitch.

“It was like a full circle moment. It was amazing to do special work helping out the community in a culturally safe and culturally appropriate way,” he said.

“It's really important that these types of initiatives are led by Indigenous academics, clinical workers and community organizations. I was aiming to be a good ally, trying to support the clinic the way I could.”

Suzanne Shoush, Devon Bowyer and Cheryllee Bourgeois (photo courtesy of Devon Bowyer)

Bowyer worked closely with Stewart during his graduate studies on community-based projects in the Greater Toronto Area, helping out with previous clinics within the University Health Network. He began working as the logistics manager at Auduzhe about a month ago.

“This is part of the reason you go into public health,” he says. “You want to be there for people, especially those who are under-represented or marginalized.”

Marionne Rutledge performs at the vaccine clinic led by Auduzhe Mino Nesewinong, an Indigenous COVID-19 response program (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Beth Ali, executive director co-curricular athletics and physical activity programs, says she's pleased Varsity Stadium could host the clinic.

“As home to U of T’s Sport and Recreation division and the Varsity Blues, we know the importance of teamwork for success and if there’s anything this pandemic has taught us, it’s how much we are reliant on each other,” she says. “Through partnerships and co-operation such as this one, we are committed to providing resources to support the First Nations, Inuit and Métis community.”

U of T's Dalla Lana School of Public Health provides culturally safe vaccinations for Indigenous Peoples

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 06 May 2021 15:06:12 +0000

U of T's Dalla Lana School of Public Health provides culturally safe vaccinations for Indigenous Peoples

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 05/06/2021 - 11:06

Cutline

From left: Janet Smylie, Michael Anderson and Suzanne Stewart at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic for Indigenous Peoples run by Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health (photo by Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Heidi Singer

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Coronavirus

UTogether

Vaccines

Indigenous health experts at the ��Ƶ are running a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for Toronto’s Indigenous communities – part of an effort to marry public health measures with culturally appropriate care.

The pop-up clinics on campus began in early April and runs once a week throughout May. The effort will continue until the community is vaccinated.

Rather than the anonymity of a mass vaccination effort, the focus is on a personalized experience without time restraints that is in keeping with traditional values, says clinic co-founder Suzanne Stewart, director of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s Waakebiness-Bryce Institute of Indigenous Health.

“We have an Elder outside greeting people as they come in and youth smudging people in the clinic,” says Stewart, who is an associate professor. “Because of the history and current context of harm by the biomedical system on Indigenous people, we emphasized making this a culturally safe and culturally based clinic.

“We provide a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for the multiple identities that comprise the Indigenous experience: status, no status, Métis, Two-Spirit, Black Indigenous, Inuit. All our people are welcomed and treated in a respectful way.”

The clinic came together quickly after staff from Na-Me-Res, a Waakebiness-Bryce community partner that was already running Auduzhe, a small vaccination clinic, asked Stewart if they could join forces to expand capacity. Stewart quickly obtained assistance from leaders of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine to find a larger space. University Health Network and Auduzhe provided staff to administer the shots.

The pop-up space can accommodate 1,500 people a day, but only received around 400 doses initially. When the call first went out, the slots were filled in 30 hours, with only a few no-shows.

“We have an Elder outside greeting people as they come in and youth smudging people in the clinic,” says Associate Professor Suzanne Stewart, director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute of Indigenous Health (photo by Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Personal relationships were the key to the clinic’s success, according to Stewart.

“A lot of Indigenous people in the community that I’m aware of would not have come forward to receive their vaccine if it had not been administered by Indigenous people in an Indigenous environment,” she says. “A lot of Indigenous people in Toronto rely on the relationships they have with Indigenous health professionals. If they know Dr. Janet Smylie, they will come. Or Dr. Suzanne Shoush, or me.

“They know us as people who want things to happen for the community – not for university reasons or research reasons. This clinic is a great example of community-based initiatives.”

Stewart says she has also noticed a positive change at U of T in terms of support for critical Indigenous health efforts.

“U of T really stepped up to this opportunity to support the Indigenous community,” she says. “Five or 10 years ago, I would have gotten a straight 'No.' This is a great example of a shift that’s happening in the university as well as in the hospital system to support Indigenous health in a way that’s ethical and appropriate, and addressing some aspects of reconciliation.

“It’s wonderful the way [Dalla Lana School of Public Health] and [Temerty Faculty of Medicine] supported this. I’m moved by the amount of kindness and generosity they’ve provided, and a little overwhelmed by it. It’s new for the university to be this way and I am very grateful to be part of it.”

U of T researchers to offer Indigenous cultural safety course to students in health professions

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 13:20:05 +0000

U of T researchers to offer Indigenous cultural safety course to students in health professions

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 04/19/2021 - 09:20

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Tammy MacLean (left), a post-doctoral researcher at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and Assistant Professor Angela Mashford-Pringle (right), associate director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health (photos courtesy of DLSPH)

Françoise Makanda

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Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

A new cultural safety initiative at the ��Ƶ’s Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health aims to ensure the next generation of health professionals is better equipped to provide care to Indigenous Peoples.

“The New Respect Indigenous Cultural Safety Online” project aims to provide widespread online cultural safety training – which draws attention to unequal power relationships within health care – to U of T students in health-care professions, and then evaluate the changes to social, physical, emotional and spiritual behaviour of participants who have received the training.

As part of the project, U of T students in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work are being asked to participate in pre-survey to gauge their knowledge of Indigenous cultural safety.

“We want to run a pre-survey for baseline knowledge and experience with Indigenous cultural safety to give us a sense of where people are at,” says Tammy MacLean, a post-doctoral researcher at U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health who is running the project alongside supervisor and project lead Assistant Professor Angela Mashford-Pringle, an Indigenous faculty member who is associate director of the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute.

“We’re hoping they get safety-first training. If anyone should be receiving this training, it should be our emerging leaders and it should start in university. That is where the accountability lies.”

Cultural safety courses help participants understand how their cultural beliefs and behaviours affect the quality of care they provide to others – in this case, Indigenous Peoples. In the upcoming U of T course, for example, participants will be asked about their current knowledge about Indigenous Peoples, specifically in their profession.

Mashford-Pringle’s lab already offers a micro-credential course in cultural safety to public health professionals. It was administered to Peterborough Public Health last month and involved Indigenous participants who filmed short segments that were woven together to deliver the nine modules for the public health staff to watch. Mashford-Pringle’s lab will now gauge the medical professionals’ knowledge of Indigenous health in a safe and culturally competent way. The results, to be published this summer, will support the development of an Ontario-based curriculum.

“Part of that curriculum will look at existing evidence and best practices, but it will also involve bringing together a community of Elders across Canada to provide insights and guidance into what should be included,” says MacLean.

All training for the Mashford-Pringle lab’s cultural safety courses take place online. Once completed, researchers evaluate the changes to participants’ social, physical and spiritual behaviour.

“That will give us a sense of the initial responses to the training and how successful it was,” MacLean says. “The long-term approach is to work directly with those faculties and the educators to incorporate that in the professional health training programs.

“We are going to try to understand what are the best practices or current knowledge, and then create a course on Indigenous safety training. It intends to be a bit different from current cultural safety training.”

As a nurse, MacLean took a keen interest in Indigenous health early in her studies. During a posting in Inuvik, N.W.T., she noticed the challenges in delivering health care in the North. “It stuck with me,” she says.

She later took on a role at the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute as a post-doctoral researcher.

MacLean is actively incorporating cultural safety knowledge into her research. Her thesis, which she defended last year, focused on men from Ivory Coast, intimate violence and how they experienced changes in their relationships.

U of T researchers survey Indigenous communities about COVID-19 experiences

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 18:56:29 +0000

U of T researchers survey Indigenous communities about COVID-19 experiences

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 03/26/2021 - 14:56

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Angela Mashford-Pringle and her second-year master's students interviewed Indigenous communities about COVID-19 last year on behalf of Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer (photo courtesy of Angela Mashford-Pringle)

Heidi Singer

Topic

Coronavirus

When Canada shut its borders to stem the flow of COVID-19 last year, people continued to cross freely into Indigenous communities in Ontario and B.C. by water – mingling with residents who had scarce access to masks or even clean water for hand washing.

It’s a loophole that went undetected by governments because of a lack of consultation, says Angela Mashford-Pringle, associate director of Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health and an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Mashford-Pringle learned about the threat to Indigenous health in Ontario and B.C. by listening to local Indigenous communities. She and her second-year master’s students interviewed Indigenous communities about COVID-19 last year on behalf of Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer. They produced a report for Tam that they hope will expose the lack of relationship between all three levels of government in Canada and the grassroots organizations that represent Indigenous Peoples and their local experiences.

Mashford-Pringle recently spoke to writer Heidi Singer about the report: Indigenous Peoples & COVID-19: What We Heard.

What was your biggest takeaway from the report?

Indigenous people weren’t consulted when lockdowns happened. They don’t have a seat at the table. Whether you’re talking about the federal, provincial or the local level, they’re not asked their opinion. In B.C., the federal government closed borders without their knowledge.

In Ontario, when they opened up the province in July, they didn’t talk to First Nations people. They didn’t seem to realize people would get in their boats and come to the First Nations, bringing COVID to our communities. People would tie their boats off and walk into the communities like there was no pandemic. To me, that was a huge eye-opening piece.

What did community members identify as the biggest challenges in protecting themselves?

Lack of running water, lack of housing – these become more important during a pandemic because you need to wash your hands and social distance.

It took a long time before they got any personal protective equipment (PPE). When Toronto was locking down, all the PPE was going to the hospitals. A lot of First Nations had no PPE. That meant social workers couldn’t check on children in child welfare. The other thing was lack of broadband internet connections. Without it, people couldn’t do Zoom calls or use video conferencing software for remote medical appointments.

We hear about anti-racism, but during the pandemic we’ve had Joyce Echaquan die and B.C. nurses who were gambling on the alcohol levels of Indigenous people. Not having culturally safe health care compounded the problems we were already having. During the Spanish Flu, First Nations communities were hit hardest and they were concerned that COVID would be a duplication 100 years later of what they had seen. Much more recently, with H1N1, they were left without proper PPE, they were sent body bags instead of health care. So there’s a lot of mistrust.

Will that translate into fear of the vaccine?

Yes, there’s a lot of vaccine hesitancy. Whenever something is provided, there’s always a hitch and we always seem to be the guinea pigs. Some communities said they’re hesitant to take the vaccine because there’s not a lot of knowledge about it. When you don’t know this history of medical exploitation, or you aren’t sensitive to it, good intentions can backfire. When the federal government says Indigenous people are going to get the vaccine first, are they playing into fears that, once again, we’ll be the guinea pigs?

This happens when governments don’t talk directly to the ground level. They’re only talking to the big organizations. How people on the local level feel could be quite different. And that’s what came across from the participants – there’s no authentic relationship-building. The federal government, after 100-plus years, hasn’t figured out how to talk to individual Indigenous communities. And when they do, there’s high turnover in the federal government. People move on and don’t continue the relationship.

Where do we go from here?

Our report has been given to Dr. Tam. She is aware of what was written and is going to talk to other ministers. But if you’re going to talk about Truth and Reconciliation, there has to be more than lip service. We have to see a change. Everything listed in this report has been listed in reports for the past hundred years. Indigenous communities don’t see the federal government making changes to improve conditions. There are 29 communities still on long-term water advisories. Things aren’t changing very rapidly and yet you want uptake on vaccines, you want them to wash their hands with dirty water and wear a mask. To me, this is another report, and hopefully it doesn’t get shelved. And, by the way, this report was completed three months ago and is only being published now. So it might already be out of date.

One good thing that came out of it: All of the Indigenous Health MPH students in my second-year cohort were part of this report. They all had a chance to be part of the community consultation and analysis. Dr. Tam got briefing notes from my students. From a training and learning perspective, this is a nice exercise for people who want to go into policy development. They learned a lot about how Ottawa works.

'Land-based' learning online? How one U of T professor reimagined a ground-breaking course amid COVID-19

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 17:24:06 +0000

'Land-based' learning online? How one U of T professor reimagined a ground-breaking course amid COVID-19

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 09/09/2020 - 13:24

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U of T's Angela Mashford-Pringle spent weeks developing a remote version of a course that underscores the importance of the land to Indigenous Peoples – usually via a week-long stay at Hart House Farm north of Toronto (photo courtesy of Dalla Lana)

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