This conference runs over two days:

Wednesday December 2, 2020, 3 pm to 5 pm

Thursday December 3, 2020, 3 pm to 5 pm

Background

The University of Toronto’s annual Indigenizing Health Symposium began in 2011. The overarching goal of this Symposium is to build on our previous and current conceptions of Indigenous health and to provide new and innovative research, inquiry, and synthesis of health issues and solutions from Indigenous knowledges. Through the development of new insights regarding Indigenous health throughout the Symposium, cutting edge and creative practices and models for addressing current health needs will be presented.

The 2020 Symposium will host the Ontario NEIHR Indigenous Knowledges Virtual Exchange.

The Ontario NEIHR & IMN-Ontario

The NEIHR team comprises Indigenous academics and community partners who specialize in:

· Mental health and research training in the utilization of Indigenous knowledges perspectives;

· Indigenous research ethics, methodologies and community participatory approaches to research;

· The refining of existing mental health models and interventions combined with conducting evaluations based on Indigenous knowledges;

· The development of Indigenous assessment tools and frameworks.

The Indigenous Mentorship Network of Ontario (IMN-Ontario) is a five-year health training program committed to supporting and growing a network of Indigenous health scholars. Through training programs and mentorship, students involved in the IMN-Ontario have the opportunity to partake in Indigenous health and wellbeing research to serve the research needs and capacities of Indigenous communities located in Ontario, as well as advance Indigenous health equity in the province.

What is the Indigenous Knowledges Virtual Exchange?

The Ontario NEIHR Indigenous Knowledges Virtual Exchange, brings together NEIHR team members (academics, students, partners, community research assistants, and traditional knowledge keepers) and IMN-Ontario sBackground

The University of Toronto’s annual Indigenizing Health Symposium began in 2011. The overarching goal of this Symposium is to build on our previous and current conceptions of Indigenous health and to provide new and innovative research, inquiry, and synthesis of health issues and solutions from Indigenous knowledges. Through the development of new insights regarding Indigenous health throughout the Symposium, cutting edge and creative practices and models for addressing current health needs will be presented. In 2020, the Symposium will host the Ontario NEIHR Indigenous Knowledges Virtual Exchange.

The Ontario NEIHR & IMN-Ontario

The NEIHR team comprises Indigenous academics and community partners who specialize in:

• Mental health and research training in the utilization of Indigenous knowledges perspectives;

• Indigenous research ethics, methodologies and community participatory approaches to research;

• The refining of existing mental health models and interventions combined with conducting evaluations based on Indigenous knowledges;

• The development of Indigenous assessment tools and frameworks.

The Indigenous Mentorship Network of Ontario (IMN-Ontario) is a five-year health training program committed to supporting and growing a network of Indigenous health scholars. Through training programs and mentorship, students involved in the IMN-Ontario have the opportunity to partake in Indigenous health and wellbeing research to serve the research needs and capacities of Indigenous communities located in Ontario, as well as advance Indigenous health equity in the province.

What is the Indigenous Knowledges Virtual Exchange?

The Ontario NEIHR Indigenous Knowledges Virtual Exchange brings together NEIHR team members (academics, students, partners, community research assistants, and traditional knowledge keepers) and IMN-Ontario students to provide researcher and student training. The virtual exchange will be available to the general public, as well as academic and community audiences who register via the Eventbrite page.

In a panel format over two days, presenters from the ON NEIHR and the IMN-Ontario will share cutting-edge, community-driven Indigenous science and knowledges research processes, procedures, knowledge translation, and policy development that are being conducted aligned with the NEIHR research themes.

Symposium Objectives

This Symposium will achieve several central objectives. First, to get a clear understanding of Indigenous health and healing by articulating conceptual cultural foundations that expand the current deficit model of health, enrich knowledge by focusing on the social processes of socio-political contexts, culture, and traditional knowledges and medicines, and how these are linked to Canadian health systems. Secondly, to bring together IMN-Ontario students and NEIHR leaders and innovators in the field of Indigenous health from traditional, academic, and practitioner backgrounds.

The sharing of ideas and ensuing dialogue of the diverse expertise of these high-profile speakers will allow all attendees at the Symposium to take part in the creation of Indigenous healing solutions to health intervention and system challenges. These solutions will be developed out of the strengths and resources from Indigenous individuals and communities to explain the key intersections of health, socio-political realities, and Indigenous knowledges. Thirdly, The Annual Indigenizing Health Symposium was developed to address a dire need for the advancement of health systems to better reflect Indigenous knowledges, given the overwhelming lack of culturally based theory and models used, and the growing population of Indigenous peoples migrating to cities, many of whom access harmful health services from non-Indigenous perspectives.

More specific Symposium objectives include:

• Reaching a diverse audience of those interested in Indigenous health, including researchers, academics, students, practitioners, policymakers, and community service administrators.

• Developing new and refining existing traditional Indigenous approaches to current health issues.

• Engaging Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals and communities in meaningful dialogue on Indigenous mental health and healing.

• Training and/or enhancing the careers of Indigenous scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and administrators.

• Infusing Indigenous ways of knowing into current applied health interventions and practices.

• Preserving and documenting Indigenous knowledges within the various levels of research, practice, and policy/administration.

• Identifying knowledge mobilization tools to extend research and practice impact to Indigenous communities first, and then more broadly to non-Indigenous contexts.

• Considering diverse modalities for Indigenous health: e.g. traditional Indigenous, academic, Western, Turtle Island, Global, hybrid, etc.

Indigenous Knowledges Virtual Exchange

Specifically, the Symposium will explore six key topic areas of the NEIHR via oral panel presentations by leading Canadian Indigenous health and healing practitioners. We also invite student researchers from the IMN-Ontario and the NEIHR’s international partners to present panels. There will be six panels in total over two days (three panels each day) on a virtual platform within the following themes:

• Indigenous land-based and planetary health solutions

• Healing from trauma and reducing addictions

• Enhancing wellbeing and eliminating suicide

• Translating Indigenous knowledges data into practice and policy