Session Info:

Explore respectful and meaningful engagement approaches with Indigenous Peoples.

Engage in critical self-reflective practices and create a space to explore cultural safety & humility.

Speaker Bios:

Joanna Meawasige Vautour, Anishinaabe Kwe (she/her), MSW, RSW

Joanna Meawasige Vautour is an Anishinaabe band member of Serpent River First Nation (SRFN). She was born and raised in Toronto by her Anishinaabe mother, who ensured a connection to their family and community in SRFN. Joanna’s ancestry from her paternal side is French Canadian from New Brunswick. Joanna is a mother to twin daughters, Shyanne and Sienna.

Joanna is a Clinical Social Worker with experience working in the Indigenous community in Toronto in youth recreation, family & community development, child welfare, mental health and patient navigation in cancer care. In her current work, she is the Regional Indigenous Cancer Lead for the Toronto Central Regional Indigenous Cancer program. Joanna has an interest in Palliative Care, where she was the lead in First Nation, Inuit and Metis Engagement for the Ontario Palliative Care Network in Partnership with the Indigenous Cancer Care Unit at Ontario Health. Her work continues in Palliative Care education and research as a community facilitator for Palliative Care Training for Frontline Workers in Indigenous Communities with the Centre for Education and Research on Aging & Health at Lakehead University and as a Senior Research Coordinator in the Supporting the Journey Home: Growing the Community Bundle to Care for Those with Serious Illness in the Department of Oncology at McMaster University.

As a clinical social worker, Joanna has developed curriculum and provided instruction in the Social Service Worker and Mental Health & Addictions programs at FNTI. She is an Adjunct Lecturer/Cultural Teacher in the Masters of Social Work Indigenous Trauma and Resiliency Program in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. In her consulting work, Joanna works in Mental Health and writes curriculum for Indigenous Social Work programs.

Holly Prince, MSW, PhD Candidate

Holly Prince is an Anishinaabekwe and a member of Opwaaganisiniing in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. She has a Master’s Degree in Social Work and is a Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Studies at Lakehead University. Holly’s research focus is on decolonial and Indigenist education and Indigenous health, and community-based research. She is the Lead for the Indigenous Peoples’ Health and Aging Division at the Centre for Education and Research on Aging & Health at Lakehead University, where she works as Project Manager. A part of her role involves planning, implementing and evaluating palliative care education and health equity initiatives for Indigenous peoples across Canada. She has devoted the last 20 years to advancing the right of Indigenous peoples’ access to culturally appropriate and equitable palliative care and has mobilized her efforts as a national champion of human rights and dignity for people preparing to journey back to the spirit world.