The Honourable Yvonne Boyer
Yvonne Boyer is a Michif who is member of the Metis Nation of Ontario with her ancestral roots in the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Red River. She acknowledges her Chippewa, Nehiyawak and Treaty 1 territory roots as well as her Irish ancestry. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2018 to represent the province of Ontario, and is the first Indigenous Senator from the province. Prior to her appointment, she was the Associate Director for the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics and part time professor of law at the University of Ottawa.
Morningstar Mercredi
Morningstar is Wolf Clan and a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in Treaty 8 Territory. Morningstar is an accomplished author, poet, artist, researcher, social activist, producer, actress, and filmmaker with a background in multimedia communications. Her work suffuses and moves across multiple genres of writing and mediums of storytelling. Refusing to stay still within the conventions of any particular genera.
In addition to publishing several articles, she is the author of three books: 'Sacred Bundles Unborn', ‘Morningstar: A Warrior’s Spirit’, and ‘Fort Chipewyan Homecoming’ which explore the multifarious impacts that colonialism and persistent anti-Indigenous racism play in shaping definitions of personhood and how this, in turn, informs how one relates to and experiences a sense of self in the world, as well as home and community as an Indigenous person in Canada.
Morningstar produced and hosted First Voices, a half-hour radio program on CKUA Radio out of Edmonton, Alberta, that celebrates and amplifies the voices and perspectives of Indigenous artists across Turtle Island.
Her documentary, Sacred Spirit of Water, premiered in 2013 at the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples in New York, highlights the Canadian government's omnibus bills designed to eliminate the protection of 99% of Canada's lakes and rivers. The voices she brings together, and features in the film, draw connections between the health of water, land and people. The film’s focus on land/body relations and their conditions signals a broader perspective on health, one that pushes past and expands upon definitions of health rooted in and delimited by the western tradition of biology while shaking loose, any supposition of a natural or universal definition of health. Viewers are left to ponder: if the water and land are not healthy, how can I/you/ we be?
Recently, Morningstar’s voice work was featured in The Unforgotten, a five-part film exploring the health and wellness experiences of diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples across five stages of life. The film uncovers systemic anti-Indigenous racism in the health care system, colonialism’s impacts, and the ongoing, and often intergenerational, trauma experienced by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. She had the distinct honour of giving voice to the opening segment, “Birth”. The film premiered in Canada in the summer of 2021 and remains a critical vehicle for raising awareness and catalyzing conversations about the anti-Indigenous racism in the healthcare system and the persistent cultural and social ideologies underpinning medical colonialism. The film reminds viewers that health is a complex dynamic process shaped by social and political forces.
Her 40 years of activism and activation work are expansive; a five-minute introduction could only begin to touch on the breadth of her work and its far-reaching impact. Morningstar's activism focused on raising awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and girls, and members of the LGBTQ2S communities.
Today, she is a vocal advocate for the criminalization of the coerced and forced sterilization of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis women and girls in Canada. The terms of which are outlined in Bill S 250, which was first introduced to the senate this past summer by Sen. Yvonne Boyer, a member of the Senate committee on human rights. The Senate of Human Rights committee began formally studying in 2019 and found that — far from being a problem of the distant past — forced and coerced sterilization was still taking place in Canada.
Morningstar describes her ‘advocacy’ work as an ongoing creative process, which she approaches as an 'artist'. Her gift as an oratory storyteller naturally evolved into various genres of writing and film, which she continuously challenges herself to explore. She regards herself as perfectly imperfect; a constant work in progress, with no ambition to be anyone other than herself. Passionate about her creative process and advocacy, she remains grounded in her ‘self’.
Her most recent publication, an autoethnographic essay titled Mental Health; Living Within Systemic Racism, is featured in an anthology of reflexive essays titled Sacred Bundles Unborn. The book gives space to the survivors’ experience of coerced and or forced sterilization free from shame and blame. Like all of Morningstar's solo and collaborative works, her recent work is a gift; it is an invitation to reflect on the politics of embodied knowledge and colonialism.
www.morningstarmercredi.com
Alisa Lombard
Alisa Lombard is a multi-lingual lawyer practicing specific claims, human rights and civil litigation on behalf of Indigenous Peoples. She represents Indigenous women in collective actions against those responsible for their forced sterilization and other forms of obstetric violations. A citizen of the Mi'kmaq Nation, Alisa raises her two young girls (Zoe and Amaya) with her husband (Allan), a citizen of the Nehiyewak Nation and extended family residing on unceded, and unsurrendered Algonquin territory, and Treaty 6 and 10 Territories. Alisa has appeared before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and international treaty bodies, and the Committee against torture and other forms of cruel and inhuman treatment. She was instrumental in the operationalization of the Specific Claims Tribunal and in court proceedings leading to
a judicial confirmation of its powers. Her legal expertise in matters involving power inequalities and various structures designed to addressed them. Her academic research focuses on the reproductive injustices suffered by Indigenous women worldwide, and the constitutional accountability of medical professionals and their regulators in law.
Alisa Lombard is a multi-lingual lawyer practicing specific claims, human rights and civil litigation on behalf of Indigenous Peoples. She represents Indigenous women in collective actions against those responsible for their forced sterilization and other forms of obstetric violations. A citizen of the Mi'kmaq Nation, Alisa raises her two young girls (Zoe and Amaya) with her husband (Allan), a citizen of the Nehiyewak Nation and extended family residing on unceded, and unsurrendered Algonquin territory, and Treaty 6 and 10 Territories. Alisa has appeared before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and international treaty bodies, and the Committee against torture and other forms of cruel and inhuman treatment. She was instrumental in the operationalization of the Specific Claims Tribunal and in court proceedings leading to
a judicial confirmation of its powers. Her legal expertise in matters involving power inequalities and various structures designed to addressed them. Her academic research focuses on the reproductive injustices suffered by Indigenous women worldwide, and the constitutional accountability of medical professionals and their regulators in law.
Dr. Karen Lawford
Dr. Karen Lawford, (Namegosibiing, Lac Seul First Nation, Treaty 3) Ph.D., R.M., A.M. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender Studies. She is the first registered midwife and Indigenous midwife in Canada to obtain a doctoral degree and hold a university appointment. She advocates for maternity care that allows community members to give birth in their communities and on the land, and has explored the resiliency and resistance of women evacuated from their communities for birth. She is a founding member of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives.
Dr. Lawford mentors undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students. Her growing recognition nationally and internationally as an expert in her field recently led her to be named Co-Chair of the 2019 conference for the International Health Workforce Collaborative. Dr. Lawford continues to work with Indigenous midwives in Canada, the USA, and New Zealand, with plans for forming relationships in Australia. She was the 2020 Indspire Laureate in Health for her research and policy work on mandatory evacuation for birth.
Dr. Karen Lawford, (Namegosibiing, Lac Seul First Nation, Treaty 3) Ph.D., R.M., A.M. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender Studies. She is the first registered midwife and Indigenous midwife in Canada to obtain a doctoral degree and hold a university appointment. She advocates for maternity care that allows community members to give birth in their communities and on the land, and has explored the resiliency and resistance of women evacuated from their communities for birth. She is a founding member of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives.
Dr. Lawford mentors undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students. Her growing recognition nationally and internationally as an expert in her field recently led her to be named Co-Chair of the 2019 conference for the International Health Workforce Collaborative. Dr. Lawford continues to work with Indigenous midwives in Canada, the USA, and New Zealand, with plans for forming relationships in Australia. She was the 2020 Indspire Laureate in Health for her research and policy work on mandatory evacuation for birth.
Dr. Ewan Affleck CM., BSc., MDCM., CCFP.
A graduate of the McGill School of Medicine, and Dalhousie University where he studied history, Ewan Affleck has worked and lived in northern Canada since 1992. He is currently serving as the Senior Medical Advisor - Health Informatics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta, and is the past Chief Medical Information Officer of the Northwest Territories. A nationally recognized digital health information systems expert, he pioneered the implementation of an enterprise electronic medical record system in the Northwest Territories that is unprecedented in Canada in its level of integration.
He has served on boards in both the public and private sector, is a faculty member of the University of Calgary, maintains a halftime clinical practice, and was the Executive Producer and co-writer of The Unforgotten, a film about inequities in health service to Indigenous people living in Canada that was released in June 2021.
In 2013, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contribution to northern health care. Ewan is married and has two children.
A graduate of the McGill School of Medicine, and Dalhousie University where he studied history, Ewan Affleck has worked and lived in northern Canada since 1992. He is currently serving as the Senior Medical Advisor - Health Informatics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta, and is the past Chief Medical Information Officer of the Northwest Territories. A nationally recognized digital health information systems expert, he pioneered the implementation of an enterprise electronic medical record system in the Northwest Territories that is unprecedented in Canada in its level of integration.
He has served on boards in both the public and private sector, is a faculty member of the University of Calgary, maintains a halftime clinical practice, and was the Executive Producer and co-writer of The Unforgotten, a film about inequities in health service to Indigenous people living in Canada that was released in June 2021.
In 2013, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contribution to northern health care. Ewan is married and has two children.
Nathalie Pambrun
Nathalie is a mother of three children and currently lives in Treaty one Territory. Nathalie Pambrun is a Franco-Manitoban Metis midwife who has practiced for 17 years in urban, rural and remote communities across Canada and the world. Committed to midwifery care that is accessible, equitable, and culturally safe, Nathalie works primarily in Winnipeg with Indigenous teens and newcomers to Canada.
As the Past-President of the Canadian Association of Midwives (2018-2020), Nathalie is CAM’s first Indigenous midwife to serve as President of the organization and served on the board for 9 years. A founding member of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives (NACM) for the last 16 years and served a two-year term as the organization’s co-Chair between 2011-2012. Nathalie has been instrumental in building a unique partnership between these two midwifery associations that respects self-determination, reciprocity and humility. This relationship has informed CAM’s global framework and success in association strengthening. Currently Nathalie is NACM’s Advocacy and Policy Advisor focusing on federal files related to eliminating anti-Indigenous racism in the Canadian health care system through Indigenous-led education initiatives to grow the Indigenous midwifery primary health workforce.
Nathalie is a board member of Grand Challenges Canada with a cross appointment to the Indigenous Innovation Council empowering First Nation, Inuit and Metis innovators and communities to identify and solve their own challenges, transform lives and drive inclusive growth and health through innovation.
Nathalie is a mother of three children and currently lives in Treaty one Territory. Nathalie Pambrun is a Franco-Manitoban Metis midwife who has practiced for 17 years in urban, rural and remote communities across Canada and the world. Committed to midwifery care that is accessible, equitable, and culturally safe, Nathalie works primarily in Winnipeg with Indigenous teens and newcomers to Canada.
As the Past-President of the Canadian Association of Midwives (2018-2020), Nathalie is CAM’s first Indigenous midwife to serve as President of the organization and served on the board for 9 years. A founding member of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives (NACM) for the last 16 years and served a two-year term as the organization’s co-Chair between 2011-2012. Nathalie has been instrumental in building a unique partnership between these two midwifery associations that respects self-determination, reciprocity and humility. This relationship has informed CAM’s global framework and success in association strengthening. Currently Nathalie is NACM’s Advocacy and Policy Advisor focusing on federal files related to eliminating anti-Indigenous racism in the Canadian health care system through Indigenous-led education initiatives to grow the Indigenous midwifery primary health workforce.
Nathalie is a board member of Grand Challenges Canada with a cross appointment to the Indigenous Innovation Council empowering First Nation, Inuit and Metis innovators and communities to identify and solve their own challenges, transform lives and drive inclusive growth and health through innovation.
Cheryllee Bourgeois
Cheryllee Bourgeois is a Mother of three, Aunty to many and a Metis Midwife at Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto. She graduated from Ryerson Midwifery Education program in 2007 and worked as a registered midwife for eleven years before giving up registration to work under the authority of the Indigenous community under Ontario exemption clause for Aboriginal Midwives. While she grew up on the west coast, her Cree and Assiniboine ancestry are rooted in the Red River District of southern Manitoba and the Missouri River Basin in North Dakota.
Cheryllee has taught in the Ryerson Midwifery Education Program since 2008. She sits on the Core-leadership of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives and has been involved in multiple projects supporting Indigenous communities to bring birth closer to home. Her work includes international Indigenous partnerships to support the education, skill development and practice of traditional Indigenous midwifery in Peru and Mexico.
Cheryllee worked as co-lead in the establishment of the midwife-led and Indigenous governed Toronto Birth Centre, where she continues to serve as President of the Board. Most recently, through her work with NACM, Cheryllee let the collaborative process to develop Indigenous Midwifery Core Competencies, which is a tool that Indigenous midwives, communities and health programs will use to bring midwifery back to the people. She has been involved in several research projects all with the aim of building community capacity and grounding process and governance in Indigenous community knowledge and ownership. Cheryllee has dedicated her work as a midwife to supporting Indigenous midwifery students, working
to both change systems to provide better integrity and Indigenous lived reality – believing wholeheartedly that the practice of self-determination supports the health and wellbeing of our Nations. She is thankful to live and work on the traditional territory of the Anishnawbe, Haudenasonee, Huron-Wendat, and Mississaugas of the New Credit peoples.
Cheryllee Bourgeois is a Mother of three, Aunty to many and a Metis Midwife at Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto. She graduated from Ryerson Midwifery Education program in 2007 and worked as a registered midwife for eleven years before giving up registration to work under the authority of the Indigenous community under Ontario exemption clause for Aboriginal Midwives. While she grew up on the west coast, her Cree and Assiniboine ancestry are rooted in the Red River District of southern Manitoba and the Missouri River Basin in North Dakota.
Cheryllee has taught in the Ryerson Midwifery Education Program since 2008. She sits on the Core-leadership of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives and has been involved in multiple projects supporting Indigenous communities to bring birth closer to home. Her work includes international Indigenous partnerships to support the education, skill development and practice of traditional Indigenous midwifery in Peru and Mexico.
Cheryllee worked as co-lead in the establishment of the midwife-led and Indigenous governed Toronto Birth Centre, where she continues to serve as President of the Board. Most recently, through her work with NACM, Cheryllee let the collaborative process to develop Indigenous Midwifery Core Competencies, which is a tool that Indigenous midwives, communities and health programs will use to bring midwifery back to the people. She has been involved in several research projects all with the aim of building community capacity and grounding process and governance in Indigenous community knowledge and ownership. Cheryllee has dedicated her work as a midwife to supporting Indigenous midwifery students, working
to both change systems to provide better integrity and Indigenous lived reality – believing wholeheartedly that the practice of self-determination supports the health and wellbeing of our Nations. She is thankful to live and work on the traditional territory of the Anishnawbe, Haudenasonee, Huron-Wendat, and Mississaugas of the New Credit peoples.
Karen Stote
Karen Stote has Irish, Scottish and English roots. She grew up on the unceded territories of the Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet) and L’nu (Mi’kmaq) Peoples. Karen is Assistant Professor in the Women and Gender Studies program at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she teaches on Indigenous-settler history, feminism and the politics of decolonization and issues of reproductive and environmental justice.
Her research focuses on the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women in Canada. She is the author of An Act of Genocide:
Colonialism and the Sterilization of Aboriginal Women (Fernwood Publishing, 2015).
Karen Stote has Irish, Scottish and English roots. She grew up on the unceded territories of the Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet) and L’nu (Mi’kmaq) Peoples. Karen is Assistant Professor in the Women and Gender Studies program at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she teaches on Indigenous-settler history, feminism and the politics of decolonization and issues of reproductive and environmental justice.
Her research focuses on the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women in Canada. She is the author of An Act of Genocide:
Colonialism and the Sterilization of Aboriginal Women (Fernwood Publishing, 2015).
Dr. Keri Cheechoo
Wachiye. My name is Keri Cheechoo. I am a Cree woman from the community of Long Lake #58 First Nation. I am a mom,
kookum (grandmother), and part-time professor who resists daily the systemic and institutional racism that is deeply embedded within society and higher education. I am also a Doctoral Candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa, and am in the very exciting space of conducting fieldwork and writing my dissertation.
Currently, I am enhancing Queen’s University’s environment with my Cree presence by participating as both a Fellow and an Adjunct Professor in their inaugural Indigenous Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. This experience has proven rewarding thus far.
About my research: As a published poet, I use poetic inquiry (an arts-based methodology) in a good way that connects my spiritual aptitude for writing with educational research. By linking poetic inquiry with my Cree Nisgaa Methodological Framework, I am seeking to share the missing histories and the intergenerational and contemporary impacts of colonial violence on Indigenous women’s bodies, as a part of the educational and reconciliation process toward
Indigenizing school curricula.
I am incredibly thrilled to indicate that I will be defending my dissertation in my community Long Lake #58 First Nation (in
north-western Ontario), making me the first University of Ottawa Indigenous student to do so in their own community. In this ancestral space, I look forward to partaking in ethical relationality with all my past, present, and future relations. Meegwetch.
Wachiye. My name is Keri Cheechoo. I am a Cree woman from the community of Long Lake #58 First Nation. I am a mom,
kookum (grandmother), and part-time professor who resists daily the systemic and institutional racism that is deeply embedded within society and higher education. I am also a Doctoral Candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa, and am in the very exciting space of conducting fieldwork and writing my dissertation.
Currently, I am enhancing Queen’s University’s environment with my Cree presence by participating as both a Fellow and an Adjunct Professor in their inaugural Indigenous Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. This experience has proven rewarding thus far.
About my research: As a published poet, I use poetic inquiry (an arts-based methodology) in a good way that connects my spiritual aptitude for writing with educational research. By linking poetic inquiry with my Cree Nisgaa Methodological Framework, I am seeking to share the missing histories and the intergenerational and contemporary impacts of colonial violence on Indigenous women’s bodies, as a part of the educational and reconciliation process toward
Indigenizing school curricula.
I am incredibly thrilled to indicate that I will be defending my dissertation in my community Long Lake #58 First Nation (in
north-western Ontario), making me the first University of Ottawa Indigenous student to do so in their own community. In this ancestral space, I look forward to partaking in ethical relationality with all my past, present, and future relations. Meegwetch.
Gary Geddes
Gary Geddes has written and edited more than fifty books of poetry, fiction, drama, non-fiction, criticism, translation and anthologies and won a dozen national and international literary awards, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Americas Region), the Lt.- Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence and the Gabriela Mistral Prize from the Government of Chile. His most recent books are Medicine Unbundled: A Journey Through the Minefields of Indigenous Health Care and The Resumption of Play. He taught at Concordia University in Montreal and now lives on Thetis Island with his wife, the author Ann Eriksson.
Gary Geddes has written and edited more than fifty books of poetry, fiction, drama, non-fiction, criticism, translation and anthologies and won a dozen national and international literary awards, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Americas Region), the Lt.- Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence and the Gabriela Mistral Prize from the Government of Chile. His most recent books are Medicine Unbundled: A Journey Through the Minefields of Indigenous Health Care and The Resumption of Play. He taught at Concordia University in Montreal and now lives on Thetis Island with his wife, the author Ann Eriksson.
Genevieve Johnson-Smith
Genevieve Johnson-Smith is now studying for her PhD at Newcastle University, working on a project around fugitive abolitionism, emancipatory activism and anti-slavery radicalism in the UK, particularly Wales. She has carried out extensive research on forced and coerced sterilizations of Indigenous women and remains dedicated to this very important work of raising awareness on this ongoing genocide.
Genevieve is from a working-class village in the North-East of England and has English and distant Irish and Scottish ancestry. She spent some time living and working in Surrey, British Columbia, in the unceded traditional territories of the Semiahmoo, Katzie, Kwikwetlem, Kwantlen, Musqueam, Qayqayt, Tsleil Waututh and Tsawwassen First Nations and has family connections in Edmonton, Alberta, in the unceded traditional territory of Treaty 6 First Nations.
bit.ly/tryingtotakeourfuturewithascalpel
Genevieve Johnson-Smith is now studying for her PhD at Newcastle University, working on a project around fugitive abolitionism, emancipatory activism and anti-slavery radicalism in the UK, particularly Wales. She has carried out extensive research on forced and coerced sterilizations of Indigenous women and remains dedicated to this very important work of raising awareness on this ongoing genocide.
Genevieve is from a working-class village in the North-East of England and has English and distant Irish and Scottish ancestry. She spent some time living and working in Surrey, British Columbia, in the unceded traditional territories of the Semiahmoo, Katzie, Kwikwetlem, Kwantlen, Musqueam, Qayqayt, Tsleil Waututh and Tsawwassen First Nations and has family connections in Edmonton, Alberta, in the unceded traditional territory of Treaty 6 First Nations.
bit.ly/tryingtotakeourfuturewithascalpel
Bill Fairbairn
Bill Fairbairn is an LGBTIQ2+ human rights activist and first generation Canadian of Scottish ancestry. He was born and raised in Guelph, Ontario and is a graduate of the University of Guelph where he specialized in international development and French literature. Bill became deeply involved with solidarity work – in particular around Latin America – after spending time with Argentinean and Chilean refugees fleeing the military regimes in their countries in the late 1970’s and studying in Guatemala in the early 1980s during the Lucas Garcia dictatorship. Since then, his work has largely focused on the defense of human rights in Latin America and the promotion of Canadian solidarity. Bill joined the staff at Inter Pares in 2011 and is part of the Latin America team with main responsibilities for Inter Pares’ work in Peru and Colombia.
canaln.pe/actualidad/esterilizaciones-forzadas-cidh-realizara-hoy-audiencia-publica-caso-celia-ramos-n432856
www.efe.com/efe/america/sociedad/emblematico-caso-de-esterilizacion-forzada-en-el-gobierno-fujimori-ante-la-cidh/20000013-4495377
wayka.pe/las-hijas-de-celia-heredar-la-busqueda-de-justicia-para-su-madre-que-murio-por-esterilizacion-forzada/
Victoria Saccsara
Victoria Saccsara is the President of the “Sumaq Wayta” Association of Women Victims of Forced Sterilization of Ayacucho, in the rural (Indigenous) community of Maucallaqta, District of Socos, Province of Huamanga, Department of Ayacucho.
Victoria is a survivor of forced sterilization, a practice carried out through a deliberate policy implemented by Peru’s Fujimori government in the 1990s. Under the pretext of eradicating poverty, up to 300,000 women – the majority rural Indigenous women – were subjected to involuntary tubal ligation.
Victoria Saccsara is the President of the “Sumaq Wayta” Association of Women Victims of Forced Sterilization of Ayacucho, in the rural (Indigenous) community of Maucallaqta, District of Socos, Province of Huamanga, Department of Ayacucho.
Victoria is a survivor of forced sterilization, a practice carried out through a deliberate policy implemented by Peru’s Fujimori government in the 1990s. Under the pretext of eradicating poverty, up to 300,000 women – the majority rural Indigenous women – were subjected to involuntary tubal ligation.
Dr. Alika Lafontaine
Dr. Alika Lafontaine (MD, FRCPC) is an award-winning physician, social innovator, and the first Indigenous doctor listed in
Medical Post’s 50 Most Powerful Doctors. He was born and raised in Southern Saskatchewan with a mixed Indigenous ancestry of Metis, Anishinaabe, Cree, and Pacific Islander.
Alika has served in senior medical leadership positions for almost two decades with the Alberta Medical Association, Canadian Medical Association, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, HealthCareCAN, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, and Alberta Health Services. He is a respected authority on health systems, change management, social innovation, anti-racism, and reflective practice.
From 2013 to 2017 Alika co-led the Indigenous Health Alliance project, one of the most ambitious health transformation initiatives in Canadian history. Led politically by Indigenous leadership representing more than 150 First Nations across three provinces, the alliance successfully advocated for $68 million of federal funding for Indigenous health transformation in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. He was recognized for his work in the alliance by the
Public Policy Forum, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presented the award.
In 2020, Alika co-founded Safespace Networks with his brother Kamea, an Indigenous dentist and software developer. Safespace Networks is a learning platform for safe and anonymous reporting of healthcare harm and waste. Patients and providers use the platform to share their lived and observed experiences and insights of healthcare systems without risk of retaliation; enabling decision-makers, advocates, and funders to make more impactful decisions.
He continues to practise anesthesia in Northern Alberta, where he has lived with his family for the last ten years.
Dr. Alika Lafontaine (MD, FRCPC) is an award-winning physician, social innovator, and the first Indigenous doctor listed in
Medical Post’s 50 Most Powerful Doctors. He was born and raised in Southern Saskatchewan with a mixed Indigenous ancestry of Metis, Anishinaabe, Cree, and Pacific Islander.
Alika has served in senior medical leadership positions for almost two decades with the Alberta Medical Association, Canadian Medical Association, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, HealthCareCAN, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, and Alberta Health Services. He is a respected authority on health systems, change management, social innovation, anti-racism, and reflective practice.
From 2013 to 2017 Alika co-led the Indigenous Health Alliance project, one of the most ambitious health transformation initiatives in Canadian history. Led politically by Indigenous leadership representing more than 150 First Nations across three provinces, the alliance successfully advocated for $68 million of federal funding for Indigenous health transformation in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. He was recognized for his work in the alliance by the
Public Policy Forum, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presented the award.
In 2020, Alika co-founded Safespace Networks with his brother Kamea, an Indigenous dentist and software developer. Safespace Networks is a learning platform for safe and anonymous reporting of healthcare harm and waste. Patients and providers use the platform to share their lived and observed experiences and insights of healthcare systems without risk of retaliation; enabling decision-makers, advocates, and funders to make more impactful decisions.
He continues to practise anesthesia in Northern Alberta, where he has lived with his family for the last ten years.
Dr. Jennifer Leason
Boozhoo, Aniin Keesis Sagay Egette Kwe nindiznikaaz (greetings, my name is First Shining Rays of Sunlight Woman). Dr. Jennifer Leason is Anishinaabek and a member of Pine Creek Indian Band, Manitoba and the proud mother of Lucas and Lucy. Dr. Leason is a Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), Canada Research Chair, Tier II, Indigenous Maternal Child Wellness and an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. Her research and art aims to highlight Indigenous perinatal health disparities and inequities by examining maternity experiences, healthcare utilization, and social-cultural
contexts of Indigenous maternal child wellness.
www.jenniferleason.com
