HARC Contributors Present at the 2025 Northern BC Research & Quality Conference

On October 22-23, 2025, the annual Northern BC Research & Quality Conference brought together researchers, healthcare professionals, and community partners to celebrate and share innovative work in research, quality improvement, and evidence-informed practice in northern and rural contexts.

This year, several HARC contributors presented their work, highlighting creative, collaborative approaches to strengthening healthcare and education in northern BC.

✴️ The Power of Place in Transforming Hearts and Minds of Future Physicians

Presenters: Sarah de Leeuw, Viviane Josewski, and Katriona Auerbach

This presentation explored how participation in the First Nations Community Education Program (FNCEP) in northern and remote BC disrupts anti-Indigenous biases among medical students. Through narrative and visual reflections, students’ preconceptions and emotions were transformed by immersive, place-based experiences in First Nations communities. Findings highlight how place itself acts as an agent of learning—challenging assumptions, fostering humility and empathy, and supporting efforts to decolonize healthcare education.

Presentation Slides: The Power of Place

🎨 Arts to Change Hearts: Six Years of Anti-Colonial Health Humanities Education in Northern BC

Presenters: Kelsey Chamberlin, Lisa Striegler, and Sarah de Leeuw

This presentation shared insights from six years of arts-based, anti-colonial, and cultural humility training for healthcare professionals across northern BC. Through 29 workshops engaging over 600 participants, the program used art, storytelling, and Indigenous ways of knowing to build empathetic awareness and practical skills for culturally safer care. Findings highlight the importance of emotional engagement, place-based relationships, and reflective practice in addressing anti-Indigenous racism and cultivating culturally attuned healthcare environments.

Presentation Slides: Arts to Change Hearts

📚 Cataloguing Solutions to Northern Health Inequities: A Proposed Literary Fiction Analysis

Presenter: Evan J

In this poster presentation, HARC PhD student Evan J presented on their planned research that will explore how northern literary fiction can help us understand and address northern health inequities. Evan’s research is guided by three key questions:

  1. What kind of health-related content exists in northern fiction?

  2. Within these texts, what health-related topics emerge as most pressing?

  3. What potential solutions are being explored?

Poster: Northern Fiction as Qualitative Health Data

Together, these presentations reflect HARC’s ongoing commitment to advancing creative, place-based, and relational approaches to healthcare research and education in northern BC.