Indigenous Medicine Stories: Anishinaabe mshkiki nwii-dbaaddaan

This episode features Rosella Kinoshameg. Rosella is Odawa/Ojibway from Doaganing, Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. She is the youngest of 10 children, with two siblings later adopted into the family, and is a Residential School survivor. She has been married for 58 years and is a mother of five, grandmother of seven, and great-grandmother of six.

A retired Registered Nurse, Rosella has more than 52 years of nursing experience, including 49 years working primarily with First Nations communities. She graduated from the Marymount Hospital School of Nursing in Sudbury in 1968 and earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Ottawa in 1977.

Throughout her career, Rosella worked as a Community Health Nurse and Immunization Nurse, as well as in hospital nursing in Sudbury and Windsor and at the Wikwemikong Nursing Home. Her work has also included college-level teaching for First Nations health workers and Personal Support Worker training programs, along with the development and delivery of education related to policies and procedures, cultural competency and safety, and core health competencies for physicians and nurses.

She has also facilitated workshops on Anishinaabe culture and spirituality, traditional medicine and ways of life, palliative care, and preparing for the journey to the Spirit World.

In November 1996, Rosella received an honorary Doctor of Sacred Letters, Honoris Causa, from Regis College at the University of Toronto.

AMS Healthcare

Councillor Peters has worked with First Nations in both political and non-political capacities for more than four decades, applying his extensive organizing knowledge to promote and advance Indigenous sovereignty. He formerly served as Deputy Grand Chief, an elected position within the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians (AIAI). He also served as Ontario Regional Chief for the Assembly of First Nations for 12 years and as head of the AIAI for four years. He is an author and educator and is frequently invited to speak on issues related to First Nations communities, economic development, and cultural development.

In addition to his work with the AIAI and the Assembly of First Nations, Councillor Peters was instrumental in the creation of the Centre for Indigenous Sovereignty, a non-profit corporation that prioritizes the development and implementation of First Nations initiatives focused on rebuilding Indigenous communities.

Through his work at the Centre, Councillor Peters has also played a key role in preserving the Lunaapeew language in the Delaware Nation in southwestern Ontario. Due to the pervasive and ongoing effects of racism and colonialism in Canada, earlier generations were discouraged from passing along this critical component of Lunaapeew culture and identity. Over the past decade, Councillor Peters has worked with Elder Dianne Snake, the last fluent speaker of Lunaapeew, to train a new generation of speakers. Through this collaborative process, Lunaapeew is now taught to youth in Delaware Nation schools.

This episode features Dr. Bernice Downey. Dr. Downey is a woman of Ojibwe and Celtic heritage, a mother, and a grandmother. She is a medical anthropologist whose current research interests include Indigenous women's heart health, health literacy, Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, and health and research system reform for Indigenous populations. She is a Heart & Stroke Foundation-CIHR Early Career Chair in Indigenous Women's Heart and Brain Health. She is also the inaugural Associate Dean, Indigenous Health for the Faculty of Health Sciences, and a former Acting Director of the McMaster Indigenous Research Institute.

Dr. Downey has participated in multiple national and international Indigenous research policy initiatives, including serving as a two-term member of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's Institute of Aboriginal Health Advisory Board, helping plan and participate in the International Network of Indigenous Health Knowledge Development, and serving as Chief Executive Officer of the National Aboriginal Health Organization, whose mandate included a strong research and knowledge translation focus.

As part of her post-doctoral fellowship role with the Department of Graduate Studies at McMaster, Dr. Downey led the development of the innovative Indigenous Undergraduate Summer Research Scholars Program and the McMaster Indigenous Research Institute.