Indigenous Health Equity: Examining Racism as an Indigenous Social Determinant of Health

This national webinar series provides an opportunity to share knowledge; experiences and perspectives in support of collective efforts to strengthen Indigenous cultural safety in health and social services.

Presenters 

Dr. Marcia Anderson

Dr. Marcia Anderson is Cree- Saulteaux, with roots going 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 Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. She is the Executive Director of Indigenous Academic Affairs in the Ongomiizwin Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba. Current active areas of work include leading the development and implementation of Truth and Reconciliation Response Action Plans, Indigenous youth health, Indigenous maternal and child health, and Indigenous health care quality. She has recently been appointed 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.

Dr. Elizabeth McGibbon

Dr. Elizabeth McGibbon, professor, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, is a settler with Irish, working-class heritage. She lives in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. Her teaching and research focus on oppression, access to care, and health political economy. She leads a national project, Mapping Health Equity in Canadian Public Policy, and is a co-researcher with Debwewin: The Truth of our Hearts, a study aiming to diversify our dialogue and understanding of heart health of Manitoban First Nations People (Lead: Dr. Annette Schultz). Her books include Anti-racist Health Care Practice (with Dr. Josephine Etowa), Oppression: A Social Determinant of Health, and The Politics of Health Care in Canada: Belling the Cat, in progress. Her work is informed by twenty years of clinical practice at the pointy edges of injustice in health care. Along with social justice colleagues, her awards include recognition from The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (anti-racism community action), and the Canadian Armed Forces (refugee humanitarian work).