Recent Work

Coming Soon! Applications for the 2022 Northern Indigenous Youth Summer Science Camp In-Community Grant Program AND the On-Campus Camp. For more information contact Laura.Mcnab-Coombs@unbc.ca OR marion.erickson@unbc.ca.  

The Health Arts Research Centre invites health care learners and professionals to Pope Mountain Arts in Fort St. James to participate in a research project titled “Cultural Agility in Northern BC‘s Healthcare System: Increasing Indigenous Employment Participation and Responsiveness to Indigenous Well-Being.” Please click the following link to be registered as a participant in this research: https://forms.gle/MFqnvmrYwJYtVCvv9.

HARC is excited and proud to be partnering with The National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health to support health care professionals to address anti-Indigenous racism, practice in anti-oppressive ways, and foster cultural humility. The Hearts-based Education and Anticolonial Learning (HEAL) project will promote cultural safety and recognize Indigenous knowledge and anti-colonial approaches in health service provision. Check out the News Release here: https://www.canada.ca/en/indigenous-services-canada/news/2022/07/university-of-northern-british-columbia-institutes-working-to-increase-safety-and-respect-for-indigenous-peoples-in-canadas-health-systems.html  “We need to remember that achieving optimal …

The HARC team is thrilled to announce that HARC member and interdisciplinary master’s student, Kelsey Chamberlin, recently won both CIHR Canada Graduate Student – Master’s – $17,500 (https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/50513.html) & BC Graduate Student Scholarship – $15,000 (https://www2.unbc.ca/financial-aid/graduate-awards-overview)! Kelsey’s research explores ways to promote perinatal well-being of northern and Indigenous young people as they navigate pregnancy to parenting journeys in northern BC. This summer she will be doing land- and story-based interviews …

The HARC held a wonderful event as part of the ‘Ut’loo Noye Khunni ~ Weaving Words Celebration’s Festival. The event, titled Elders of the Future AN INDIGENOUS-LED STORYTELLING AND ART MAKING WORKSHOP THAT EXPLORES THEMES OF HEALTH EQUITY ACROSS GENERATIONS (please see the attached poster for additional details) and facilitated by Katrina Plamondon and Laura McNab-Coombs, was an incredible success!   We had 23 participants, from nurses to medical students, …

The HARC team recently contributed a poster presentation at the University of Northern British Columbia’s ‘Research Week 2022’ conference in a session that focussed on rural health equity. The poster presentation provided a snapshot of some of HARC’s achievements over the past 3 years. Please click on the photo below for a copy of the poster!  

HARC director, Sarah de Leeuw launched her latest book of poetry, Lot, to an engaged audience of 71 participants, in an Elder-opened event that featured past and present HARC researchers, artists, and trainees. To watch the entire event, please click on this link .

HARC contributor and Health Sciences PhD student, Christine Añonuevo, recently set up a fibre arts exhibit at the Misty Rivers Community Arts Centre Gallery!   About the exhibit: In this solo exhibit, Christine connects sensorial memories of being a child to her parent’s homeland of the Philippines. Her mother was one of the first diasporic Filipina women to settle in Penticton in the late 1960s. Growing up in the Okanagan …

The HARC recently hosted an event for health and medical students at the University of Northern British Columbia and the College of New Caledonia to discuss racism in healthcare while participating in a creative, quill dyeing art activity! The activity was a great success as can be seen from the photos below. Thanks to everyone who participated in this workshop!

On December 14th, 2021, HARC partook in a showcase about health and medical research out of Prince George. Hosted by Life Sciences BC and Michael Smith Health Research BC, the first presenter (Dr. Sarah de Leeuw) offered an overview of health humanities. The presentation linked the exciting discipline of health humanities to work specifically in and for Northern BC. Please see the video below for a recording of the presentation. …

Current and past HARC contributors, Christine Anonuevo and Vanessa Sloan Morgan, worked on a document which is now publicly available titled All Eyes on Witsuwit’en. This document is intended to be used as an educational resource for those interested in learning more about the complex relationship between ‘Canada’ and the Witsuwit’en Nation which is largely defined by colonial power dynamics. To access this document, please click on the photo below.  

The HARC team is happy to be a collaborator of the PLURAL project through having conversations about renewing health in Northern BC through creative, geographically, and socio‐culturally specific means. The PLURAL project seeks to gather knowledge and experiences in health care decision making from rural and remote communities in Northern BC to learn about the health care priorities of these community members. To learn more about the PLURAL project, please …

Are you interested in learning a new artistic skill? Do you have experiences with healthcare, illness, disability, caretaking, or other topics related to health? Then please join us for the Embodied Books workshop series! What: The purpose of Embodied Books is to investigate how creating and reading artists’ books (fine art that takes on the form of a book) can help us to understand these experiences in more complete or …

Members of the HARC team successfully submitted the following abstract for the Calgary Health Humanities Symposium to deliver and arts-based, anticolonial, reflective workshop: “In November 2020, the “In Plain Sight” report was released in what is now called British Columbia. The report documents what communities have long stated: a persistent and systemic anti-Indigenous racism exists across BC’s healthcare system. Critically Humane is facilitated by a diverse group of Indigenous and …

The Health Arts Research Centre was honoured to support an amazing, giant mural project which took place on Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Prince George in celebration of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. While churches have been dangerous and fearful places for those who identify as LGBTQIA2S+, this mural is a means of re-claiming this space as one which can promote healing and healthy relationships. As part of the Pride Car Rally …

The HARC’s 2021 Northern BC Indigenous Youth Summer Science Camp was a success! Please find a video of our 2021 Northern Indigenous Summer Science Camp below!   Although we were unable to host an in-person camp in Prince George in 2021 due to the unique challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, our team worked hard to bring our fully-funded Summer Science Camp directly to campers through a community-based virtual hybrid …

The Health Arts Research Centre (HARC) will be producing and distributing a visually engaging, low-barrier, and inviting learning experience entitled “Anti-Colonial Healthcare in a Box.” HARC is very thankful to our project partners at www.youneedthisbox.ca . HARC is also grateful for a generous financial contribution from UBC’s Anti-Racism Initiatives Fund. This contribution allows us in Northern BC to support learners in health professions, medical students, and practicing clinicians across the …