Author Archive

June 19, 2019

The National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH)

The National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH) is a national Indigenous organization established in 2005 by the Government of Canada and funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada to support First Nations, Inuit, and Métis public health renewal and health equity through knowledge translation and exchange. The NCCIH is hosted by the University of Northern BC (UNBC) in Prince George, BC. To visit the NCCIH website, click on …

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November 9, 2015

BRAIN Dance for Seniors: Integrating Mind and Body

UPDATE: For a full article about this event see page 23 of the Winter Edition of Healthier You! In March 2015, a group of 34 people began a journey of dance, health, movement, and wellness at the Telkwa Senior’s Community Centre using BRAIN Dance. By Lynn Shervill “The very first time I did it, my brain was just snapping.” – Anne Greene, retired teacher What began several years ago as a …

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June 28, 2015

Inaugural Gathering of HARC Advisors and Guiding Collaborators

Over three days in May 2014, the Health Arts Research Centre held a gathering in the Waap Galts’ap Longhouse on the Northwest Community College campus in Terrace, BC.  Our intention for this inaugural gathering with HARC Advisors and Guiding Collaborators was to connect and reconnect with one another on the issues, principles, and experiences that draw each one of us to working with the arts, humanities and creative expression to renew health …

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October 1, 2014

HARC presents a Literary Lunch for ‘Ut’loo Noye Khunni ~ Weaving Words Celebration

On October 2nd, 2014, HARC presents a collaboration between the ‘Ut’loo Noye Khunni ~ Weaving Words Celebration and Spiritual Health at University Hospital of Northern BC to bring Indigenous literary arts to a spiritual sanctuary in a health setting. This promises to be a wonderful event, and with catering of a salmon and bannock lunch from The Smokehouse it will be nourishing for the body and the heart.  

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Arts in Northern Medical Education

Local news coverage, aired April 2014 on CKPG, discussing arts and health in Northern British Columbia. Featuring  2nd year NMP medical student and Health Arts Research Centre (HARC) contributor. Click image to link with story.

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April 20, 2014

Creative Expressions of Well Being: Art, Stories and Healthy People in Northern BC

The Health Arts Research Centre is thrilled to announce the opening event to our inaugural spring gathering, “Creative Expressions of Well Being: Art, Stories and Healthy People in Northern BC”. On May 9th HARC will be hosting a night of ideas, discussion and performance exploring the connections between art, stories, health and well being from 8.00 to 9.30pm at the Waap Galts’ap Longhouse on the Northwest Community College Campus in Terrace, …

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March 25, 2014

HealthArts Café Scientifique: Connecting Creative Arts, Health and Indigenous Perspectives

On Friday, April 4th, 2014, The Health Arts Research Centre is sponsoring an exciting event in partnership with the Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George, BC.  This Café Scientifique event, made possible through funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, will convene a discussion around Indigenous perspectives on health, healing and creative arts. A wonderful panel of artists, social and medical practitioners will present their perspectives on exploring health and …

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February 6, 2014

Telling Stories About Stories

This is a story about stories. Like any good story, we’re going to wander down a few storied paths. One of the paths leads back to three award-winning stories. Remarkable stories by remarkable physicians who take seriously the power of stories. Who have written powerful stories. One of the story’s paths is about the importance of stories for human health and well-being, as thought about from the perspectives of some …

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January 13, 2014

Ars Medica: A Journal of Medicine, The Arts, and Humanities

Ars Medica is a biannual literary journal, started in 2004, that explores the interface between the arts and healing, and examines what makes medicine an art. Ars Medica remains the only medical literary journal in Canada, and one of a handful of such journals in the world, in the rapidly developing international field of the humanities in healthcare. This journal allows a place for dialogue, meaning-making, and the representation of experiences of …

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January 9, 2014

Questioning Medicine’s Discipline

A new publication that explores the potential of creative arts and expressions in expanding the relevance of emotion in medical education and practice. Abstract: This paper engages our struggles with the discipline of medicine. Specifically, and sometimes from very personal perspectives, we question if the geographies in which undergraduate medical education unfolds are healthy. As three women broadly trained as geographers who are emotionally, politically, personally, and professionally tied to …

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December 19, 2013

Words, vision, work and values

Arts and creative expression are ways of making meaning, conveying experiences, exploring our history and culture, and building relationships with place, with one another and with the world around us. HARC team members have chosen words to describe the thinking, visioning and ways of working and understanding around the links between arts, creativity, expression, health, healing and well-being.

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December 13, 2013

Jennifer Annaïs Pighin

Jennifer Annaïs Pighin is a visual artist, student, educator, and mother. She is a proud member of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation with Wet’suwet’un, French Canadian, and Italian ancestry. She sits with the Gitumden clan in the house of Midik. As a current Graduate student and teaching assistant at UNBC in First Nations Studies, she also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts from Emily Carr and a Bachelor …

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November 30, 2013

Jane Inyallie

Jane is TseK’ehne First Nations from McLeod Lake, BC. Her mother was Lena Inyallie and her father was Walter Solonas. Jane was born in Prince Rupert BC, and lived in McLeod Lake with her Mother Lena, Maternal Grandmother Harrieta A’Huille as well as her Paternal Grandparents Monique and Theodore Toodick; and other Elders and extended family in McLeod Lake. She later moved with her family to outskirts of Prince George. Jane attended Lejac Residential …

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Terri Aldred

Dr. Terri Aldred is Carrier from the Tl’Azt’En Nation whose traditional territory is North of Fort St. James near the geographical centre of British Columbia.  Tl’Azt’En are a matriarchal people and therefore she follows her great-grandmother Cecilia Prince’s line and is from the Lusilyoo (frog) clan. Terri was born in Prince George and ultimately graduated form high school there, however, she spent over 6 years in between living on the Tachet …

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November 8, 2013

Caroline Shooner, MD

Caroline Shooner Caroline grew up in Montreal and completed her medical degree at McGill University (1996) and her Family Medicine residency at Memorial University (1998). She spent the first years of her medical career traveling and working across the country, while also recording music and performing as part of the original folk duo Her Sweet Time.  ​​ In 2007, Caroline joined the Queen Charlotte medical team and has been practicing on Haida …

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October 30, 2013

Drawing on Identity: Inkameep Day School & Art Collection


An exhibit of the Virtual Museum of Canada, “Drawing on Identity” tells the story of the Inkameep Day School on the Nk’Mip Reserve and profiles the art produced by children of the Osoyoos Indian Band who attended. A beautiful exhibit cataloguing the artwork and experiences of Inkameep students, and the importance of the art to the Osoyoos Indian Band.  

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