Ep. 373: Sacred and Strong

Guest: Dr. Shannon McDonald, First Nations Health Authority

We want the right to choose and control our health; it is our right in British Columbia.

Not so if you are a First Nations person and even less so if you are First Nations female. “Sacred and Strong” is a recently published report from the First Nations Health Authority focused on the health and wellness of First Nations women and girls living in BC.

The purpose of the report is to “reclaim First Nations teachings and protocols around birth, pregnancy and mothering, empowering women as life givers is restored.” The report contains data from a wide range of sources; it encourages and embraces a holistic health approach highlighting the many ways that First Nations women and girls can and are thriving.

The report also lays bare systemic barriers that have created health inequities, along with steps to move beyond a hostile history in Canada. While acknowledging the pain and suffering of treatment within the health care system in Canada, the report also shows the way forward. “Sacred and Strong” is about First Nations women and girls as the hearts of their communities and Nations.

The FNHA says these “women and girls are the current and future matriarchs of our communities; they are the life givers, the grandmothers, mothers, aunties, sisters and daughters who are vitally important caretakers of First Nations culture – they keep it alive and communities strong. They are, and have always been, both sacred and strong.”

We invited Dr Shannon McDonald, the acting Chief Health Officer of the First Nations Health Authority, to join Stu for a Conversation That Matters about developing supportive systems that are the roots of wellness that ensure healthy bodies, minds and spirits of First Nations women and girls.