Media Releases

Canada’s leading Indigenous Health Conference returns to discuss inequities and solutions for Indigenous populations

January 21, 2016

Toron­to, ON — The Uni­ver­si­ty of Toronto’s Temer­ty Temer­ty Fac­ul­ty of Med­i­cine, Con­tin­u­ing Pro­fes­sion­al Devel­op­ment is host­ing the 2nd Bien­ni­al Indige­nous Health Con­fer­ence at the Hilton Mead­ow­vale, May 26–27, 2016.

This year, the con­fer­ence will focus on how we can work togeth­er towards improv­ing the health inequities faced by Indige­nous pop­u­la­tions and pro­vide a forum to dis­cuss ways to move towards rec­on­cil­i­a­tion. Health Care prac­ti­tion­ers from across the coun­try, as well as some of the best aca­d­e­m­ic minds and com­mu­ni­ty part­ners work­ing in the field, will con­verge for two days of infor­ma­tive, ‘must-attend’ ses­sions.

“In line with the Truth and Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion Commission’s call-to-action items relat­ed to health, this con­fer­ence aims to share the dis­tinct health needs of Indige­nous peo­ples through the voic­es of Indige­nous peo­ples,” says Dr. Anna Baner­ji, course direc­tor and con­fer­ence chair. “Through this forum, health­care pro­fes­sion­als can become bet­ter edu­cat­ed, more cul­tur­al­ly com­pe­tent health care providers for Indige­nous peo­ples”.

Atten­dees from across Cana­da will gath­er to hear from some of the nation’s most knowl­edge­able and dynam­ic speak­ers includ­ing Chief Wil­son Lit­tlechild of the TRC; Chief Isadore Day, Natan Obed, pres­i­dent of the Inu­it Tapiri­it Kanata­mi; Dr. Evan Adams; Dr. Cindy Black­stock, and many more.

“Health care providers have a crit­i­cal role with Indige­nous pop­u­la­tions in advo­cat­ing for the improved sta­tus of an indi­vid­ual, fam­i­ly, com­mu­ni­ty. Through cre­at­ing dia­logue with Indige­nous peo­ples, health experts. Pol­i­cy mak­ers and health care providers, there is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to improve health care ser­vice, the under­stand­ing of health­care needs, and advo­ca­cy for Indige­nous peo­ples in Cana­da,” says Baner­ji.

Themes include deter­mi­nants of health, cul­tur­al com­pe­ten­cy, health dis­par­i­ties, chron­ic dis­ease and infec­tious dis­ease, men­tal health, tra­di­tion­al ways and self-deter­mi­na­tion, impact of the envi­ron­ment on the health of Indige­nous peo­ples in Cana­da as well as many oth­ers.

Vis­it www.cpd.utoronto.ca/indigenoushealth for addi­tion­al details and to reg­is­ter.

About the Orga­niz­ers
Con­tin­u­ing Pro­fes­sion­al Devel­op­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toronto’s Temer­ty Temer­ty Fac­ul­ty of Med­i­cine is a strate­gic part­ner in trans­form­ing health­care in Ontario and beyond. Its mis­sion is to improve the health of indi­vid­u­als and pop­u­la­tions though the dis­cov­ery, appli­ca­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion of knowl­edge.

Con­tact:
Dr. Anna Baner­ji
Direc­tor of Glob­al and Indige­nous Health
Con­tin­u­ing Pro­fes­sion­al Devel­op­ment
Temer­ty Temer­ty Fac­ul­ty of Med­i­cine, Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to
Email: anna.banerji@utoronto.ca
Tel: 416–978-8319