The focus of our program is reconciliation in all its forms. We seek solutions and encourage our listeners and supporters to look at old problems through new eyes.

Seeing with new eyes is an approach which tries to take a fresh look at something, bypassing the pattern recognition and seeing the issue with a different perspective. Such an approach is critical if we are to work and walk together on the road of reconciliation.

We well know that leadership matters. It is essential in every sector, in every community, and in every country. In these times of unprecedented change, organizations, communities, and governments need more leaders and now more than ever we need leaders who can unite and mobilize others in a common cause.

In our BC Health Care System, we have the Office of the Provincial Health Officer, a team that is tasked with overseeing the health of British Columbians and advising on public health concerns and situations to our ministers and public bodies.

“Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe” is something the Office of the Provincial Health Officer is also known for now, words many British Columbians became familiar with during the pandemic, words that still ring true today. This sentiment comes from our Provincial Health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and her team, a sort of slogan now for many people across our province.

Today we are so happy to have both Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC Provincial Health Officer and Dr. Danièle Behn Smith, Deputy Provincial Health Officer, Indigenous Health with us; two pivotal figures in the health and wellness of citizens in BC today. They have worked tirelessly through the pandemic, devoting themselves to protecting the citizens of BC, and are monumental in the efforts to improve access to equal health care and wellness for Indigenous communities.

Our province is at a turning point in how we address racism and colonial views intertwined with our healthcare system and Dr. Henry and Dr. Behn Smith are both playing important roles in this shift and how the future of equal access to health care and community wellness will look for Indigenous Peoples in British Columbia moving forward. With this I am happy to welcome Dr. Henry and Dr. Behn Smith to our show!

In the recording of this episode, Dr. Henry and Dr. Behn Smith joined us from and respectfully acknowledged their gratitude to work and reside in the traditional territories of the Lekwungen peoples and the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.