Daadibaajimo - "One who tells stories"
Daadibaajimo reflects the important role of storytelling in shared knowledge, values and lived experiences. It carries a responsibility to hold and share teachings with care. Rooted in Ojibwe language and teachings, the name Daadibaajimo honors story telling as a way communities share history, strengthen connections, and sustain collective memory, shaping and guiding community.
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As we welcome the Spring Equinox, we honour this moment of balance, renewal, and the return of light. For many Indigenous Nations, this season is a sacred time that reminds us of our interconnectedness with the land, the medicines that will soon emerge, and the teachings that guide our responsibilities to one another.
Spring invites us to pause and reflect on the cycles that sustain us. As the earth awakens, we too are called to move forward with intention and carrying the lessons of winter while embracing new beginnings. These teachings resonate deeply with our work at the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council, where renewal, relationship, and reciprocity remain at the heart of every initiative.
Over the past months, IPHCC has continued to advance Indigenous-led solutions that strengthen primary care across the province. Through our Anishinaabe Mino’Ayaawin – People in Good Health approach to Indigenous Cultural Safety, we are supporting health system partners in building compassionate, culturally grounded environments for Indigenous clients, families, and communities.
We are also expanding opportunities for knowledge sharing, including land-based teachings, cultural programming, and community-driven resources that honour Indigenous ways of knowing. These offerings reflect our commitment to supporting wholistic wellness, mind, body, and spirit, while uplifting the strengths of our member organizations.
As we step into this new season, I want to express my gratitude to our Elders, Knowledge Holders, community partners, and member organizations whose guidance continues to shape our shared path. Your leadership ensures that our work remains rooted in culture, community, and the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples.
May this Spring Equinox bring renewal, clarity, and hope to all. Together, we continue to walk forward in a good way guided by the light returning to the land and the relationships that sustain us. ~Caroline Lidstone-Jones | IPHCC | CEO
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Spring Equinox
A Time of Renewal and Returning Light
(Teachings referenced: Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee)
The Spring Equinox marks the moment when daylight and darkness return to balance, symbolizing the renewal of life. In many Anishinaabe teachings, this is the season of Ziigwan, when the earth wakes from winter’s rest and new beginnings emerge. It is a time to cleanse, set intentions, and prepare for planting. Ceremonies often focus on gratitude for the waters, as the spring thaw signals the return of flow and movement.
For Haudenosaunee communities, this period aligns with the Maple Ceremony, honouring the first medicine to run through the trees. Maple sap is seen as a gift that nourishes the body and spirit, reminding people of the Creator’s generosity. The maple teaching reminds us of generosity, balance, and our responsibility to harvest with care. By thinking seven generations ahead, we honour this gift and ensure that future generations can continue to offer thanks for what the land provides. Read more: Honouring the Four Seasonal Transitions
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Ontario Marks One Year Milestone in Primary Care Action Plan Ontario is marking one year of progress on its $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan, which is already delivering results and connecting more people to convenient care as part of the government’s plan to protect Ontario’s health-care system. Since the initiative began, Ontario has already attached over 275,000 new patients to a primary care provider, putting the province on track to meet or exceed its target of connecting 300,000 new people to care in 2025-26 and every Ontarian to a primary care provider by 2029. Our government is protecting Ontario’s health-care system and leading the country with investments that give Ontarians the highest rate of access to a regular health-care provider in Canada,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made in the first year of our plan as we continue to take bold action to connect every Ontarian to care and help more people live fuller, more active lives.”
Read more here
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IPHCC Program Area Updates
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Health Systems Transformation (HST)
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Over the past quarter, the HST team has continued to advance meaningful, relationship‑centered work with partners, members, and Ontario Health Teams (OHTs). Our focus remains on supporting culturally safe systems change, strengthening collaborations, and aligning efforts with member‑identified priorities.
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Medicine Wheel–Guided Agenda Approach IPHCC has introduced a renewed agenda approach for quarterly partnership meetings, grounded in the Medicine Wheel as a guiding framework. This approach supports a balanced, relational, and culturally grounded structure for joint discussions, ensuring that each meeting intentionally reflects the interconnected aspects of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellness.
By integrating the Medicine Wheel, partners created space for dialogue that honours Indigenous worldviews,
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strengthens relationship‑building, and promotes more meaningful, wholistic planning. This approach also ensures that future meetings remain rooted in shared values, mutual accountability, and a commitment to culturally safe system transformation—strengthening collaboration across health system partners and Indigenous primary health care organizations. Medicine wheel illustration by Devin Naveau
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Advancing Indigenous Cultural Safety
with Ontario Health Teams
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The HST team, alongside the Traditional Wellness & Reconciliation team, delivered Circle of ACTION: Turning Commitments into Change on February 18. The session supported OHTs in applying the ACTION Framework that emphasizes trust, humility, and consistent relationship‑building as foundational to Indigenous Cultural Safety (ICS).
Guest contributors included Équipe Santé Ontario Cochrane District OHT, Mississauga Health OHT, and The Indigenous Network. They shared teachings and practical insights on engagement, reciprocity, and cultural protocols. Participants described the session as inspiring and emphasized needs such as coaching, Indigenous data supports, and practical ICS tools.
This work builds on feedback from the In Good Relations event held in Toronto on November 12, 2025, and continues to guide ongoing improvements to the ACTION Framework. Ongoing Collaboration with Ontario Health Teams (OHTs)
The HST team has been planning upcoming activities and identifying new opportunities to strengthen support for OHTs. This includes ongoing collaboration with Ontario Health and the Ministry of Ontario Health to ensure system‑level opportunities and resources remain aligned to the needs of OHTs and reinforce shared accountability.
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Strengthening Relationships at the
Chiefs of Ontario Health Forum
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IPHCC attended the Chiefs of Ontario Health Forum, connecting with First Nations leadership, health professionals, and system partners under the theme “Rooted in Wellness: Meeting Needs, Reducing Harm, and Building Strength for Generations to Come.”
The gathering highlighted shared priorities, including Health Human Resources and the need for a strong, sustainable workforce.
IPHCC hosted an information booth that created space for meaningful dialogue with community representatives and partners. These conversations offered valuable insight
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into community‑identified needs, particularly around workforce recruitment and retention and the importance of culturally grounded care. Team members also joined workshops and discussions, learning from local innovations and strengthening relationships across the province.
Events like this reaffirm that meaningful progress is rooted in relationships. By showing up, listening, and engaging in shared learning, IPHCC continues to build partnerships grounded in respect, collaboration, and a shared commitment to improving health and wellness for First Nations communities.
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Safespace Networks
The Safespace Networks launched at the end of September 2023 and the IPHCC is excited to be using this innovative platform for anonymous reporting in healthcare. This tool focuses on taking an approach that identifies and works towards preventing negative experiences in healthcare settings. By anonymously sharing experiences, healthcare workers, patients, and bystanders can contribute to a safer, more accountable healthcare system. The collected data helps in understanding patterns and trends, to lead to more proactive solutions to care delivery.
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Report anonymously in three ways: If you have any questions or to learn more, please email us at ics@iphcc.ca.
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Honouring Madeleine Kétéskwēw Dion Stout
Madeleine was a nurse, scholar, Cree knowledge holder, and a fierce advocate for Indigenous self determination in health. A survivor of Blue Quills Residential School, her work reshaped how health, wellness, and care are understood across Turtle Island.
Through her leadership, teachings, and lifelong commitment to Indigenous health, Madeleine showed us what it means to care for one another in ways that honour culture, language, land, and community.
She taught us that health isn’t just care, it is culture, relationship, and resilience in community.
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Afro-Indigenous Canadians share their experiences
Black History Month was a time to honour Black Canadians and their communities. But we often don’t hear about the experiences of those of the Afro-Indigenous community. The CBC's Angela Sterritt spoke to three Black Indigenous women about the intertwining of their identities and what this month means to them.
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Professional Development | Reimagining Research
(April 16 – May 15, 2026, weekly sessions)
When research extracts knowledge without any form of community accountability, it distorts truths, flattens complexity, and controls narratives to uphold the status quo. This is a form of epistemic violence. Reimagining Research is a five-week, hands-on cohort for researchers, educators, artists, and changemakers who are ready to unlearn colonial research frameworks and co-create something radically different.
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Podcast | Two Row Medicine
Navigating relationships from a Traditional Indigenous perspective in the 21st century. From marriage to work, neighbors to frienemies, red to white. This first episode introduces the Two Row concept of relationship envisioned by my ancestors, the Rotinonshonni and opens some of the questions I ponder and invite you all to ponder with host Karenna’onwe Dr. Karen Hill.
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Podcast | Rekindling the Fire – A Podcast for and with the Indigenous mental wellness workforce
Drawing on more than 25 years of experience, Dr. Restoule reflects on the strength of the Indigenous mental wellness workforce, the role of land, water, culture, and lived experience in healing, and the realities of working within systems not designed for Indigenous ways of caring. Together, they discuss responsibility for worker wellness at individual, organizational, and system levels—and what it truly means to live well while caring for others.
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Academic Article | Designing a mandatory course on Indigenous health in Canadian pharmacy program (Runa, et al. 2026)
The mandatory course on Indigenous health and cultural safety found that students responded positively and desired further learning on this topic. However, to see continued benefit there must be concurrent university and pharmacy practice reform to create opportunities that can encourage students to apply this learning.
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Academic Article | Decolonizing Methodologies Through Dialogue: A Relational Literature Review on Urban Indigenous Health (Legault, et al. 2026)
This article uses Indigenous epistemologies and relational, conversational methods to review trends in urban Indigenous health research, highlighting shifts in focus, authorship, and methodology. Guided by Indigenous scholars, it shows how funding and sociopolitical forces shape the field. Despite growing recognition of Indigenous scholarship, challenges remain in sustaining authentic, community‑driven approaches. The article calls for deeper decolonization and relational methodologies that honour Indigenous ways of knowing.
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Artwork provided by Hawlii Pichette, unless otherwise stated.
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