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Welcome to iCON Indigenous

The interCultural Online Health Network (iCON) partners with communities and health authorities to advance cultural safety for Indigenous communities, support patients in navigating primary care, and build capacity for older adult multicultural patients in chronic disease prevention and self-management. None of this work is possible without the support of our key collaborators. Current funders include the Ministry of Health Patients as Partners Initiative and the Vancouver Physicians Staff Association. We also work with closely with Vancouver Coastal Health Indigenous Health, First Nations Health Authority, and Island Health.

Past iCON-VCH Indigenous Health Round Sessions

FNHA’s Primary Care Vision and Strategy

Date & Time: Monday, December 4, 2023, 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. PT
Location: Virtual Zoom Meeting

Featured Speakers:
Dr. Terri Aldred, Executive Medical Director for Primary Care, First Nations Health Authority
Lisa Montgomery-Reid, Vice President of Regional Operations, First Nations Health Authority
Dr. Michael Dumont, Medical Director, Lu’Ma Medical Centre

This activity is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by UBC CPD.

iCON has partnered with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Indigenous Health to develop Indigenous Health Rounds, which serve as a platform to bring Indigenous voices to health care providers, policy makers and health administrators for knowledge sharing, dialogue, and brainstorming solutions to combat racism and foster culturally safe healthcare settings for Indigenous patients and families.

Watch Recording

Developing Educational Tools to Support Cultural Safety

In 2015, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and iCON jointly created a video and facilitation guide featuring First Nations and Indigenous Traditional Practitioners, to share knowledge and promote culturally safe care.

Watch video here

A Coming Together of Health Systems

Community-based Cultural Safety and Healthcare Transformation Dialogues

Since 2016, iCON has partnered with Indigenous communities and health authorities to co-host community Dialogue Events, bringing together Indigenous communities, patients, local western and Traditional Practitioners and administrators to discuss health system transformation and integration of traditional practices into healthcare settings.

Three Dialogue Events have been co-developed and co-hosted across 2017 and 2018 to explore improving access to traditional healing practices. Specific objectives include to:

  1. Inform local health authority about best practices for incorporating traditional healing practices from a community and physician perspective.
  2. Improve health professional understanding of traditional healing and the role of traditional practitioners.
  3. Introduce traditional practitioners’ perspectives to shift practices and incorporate traditional healing into delivery of health care in acute care.
  4. Invite Indigenous patients, caregivers and communities to share their perspectives and vision of attaining health and wellness.
  5. Identify areas for improvement in current processes in hospitals, emergency departments and other acute settings in BC to honour patient requests for access to traditional practitioners.


Header photo caption: Reconciliation Pole, Hereditary Chief 7idansuu (James Hart), Haida, photo credit to Hover Collective / UBC Brand & Marketing

Resources and Education
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Visual Guide for Trauma-Informed Care
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Visual Guide for Intergenerational Trauma
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