Marilee A Nowgesic & Lea Bill
Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association, Canada
Biography
Marilee A Nowgesic is Executive Director at Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association, Canada. Her formal postsecondary education was obtained from Lakehead University and Carleton University. Additionally, she studied music with the Royal Conservatory of Music, and obtained achievements in Violin, Guitar and Music Theory. She has worked with several clients in the federal, provincial, territorial government and numerous Indigenous and non-government and private sector agencies to develop social marketing campaigns, communication strategies, education programs and policy development guidelines for Indigenous communities across Canada. It was from these experiences that an overarching and recurring theme in her work presented itself. Since that time, she has designed a workshop/seminar series that develops and provides awareness and positive understanding of the traditional knowledge, cultural protocols and current issues of Indigenous people to the mainstream population. Additionally, she has created a similar series for both the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population with a focus on youth development aimed at providing future leaders with the skills necessary for informed decisions and empowerment
Lea Bill is a Registered Nurse is Cree. She originates from the Pelican Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan and currently is the Research and Oversight Engagement Manager Project at Alberta First Nations Information Governance Center. She served as a BOD for Aboriginal Nurses Association from 1990 -1994 and as President from 1994-1999. Lea as a Traditional practitioner applies an integrated approach to her practice combining her Indigenous knowledge with her nursing knowledge, bio energy sciences and the research field. Lea Bill has been leading people in native spiritual discovery processes for more than 25 years through ceremony, vision quests and teaching the beauty and the wisdom of indigenous technology specifically the use and application of circle knowledge and natures wisdom. With more than 30 years of experience working in the health field in Community Health, and Home Care Lea continues to advocate for health equity for First Nation Inuit and Metes peoples. Her nursing career has provided the opportunity to work in many First Nation communities including the NWT at the local and the national level.
Abstract
Abstract : Cultural safety: Is it ok to be Indigenous?