The WoW project began with three British Columbian-based HIV Olders who came from Nations in the west and east of the province. Together with the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN), they initiated and continue to guide this journey to support the ‘rising up’ of the Indigenous HIV community. We wish to acknowledge their contributions to the community, other HIV Older champions who work anonymously to share their wisdoms and teachings, those whom have departed, and all our relations.
Meet the team
The First WoW Team Gathering, Bella Bella, BC (July 2018)
Steering CommitteeThe WoW team’s steering committee members are longtime HIV and AIDS advocates within the Indigenous community and beyond and are the HIV Olders who have been instrumental in designing this project. The committee is central to project leadership and the governance structure of this project.
HIV Olders
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Project Governance Structure
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HIV Olders
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Valerie NicholsonHIV Older, Steering Committee , Haida/Mi'kmaq
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I am introducing myself in my traditional ways. I acknowledge the Ancestral Traditional unceded Territories of all the Coast Salish Peoples who’s lands and waters I live work and play on. Honouring my given names; The One the Eagles watch over, given to me 4 days after my arrival on Mother Earth (birth), NoDe WenD (wolf Eyes) gifted to me from Dene family and in ceremony, Auntie from the Torres Straight Islanders. I am Mi’kmaq, Haida, Gypsy and English descent.
I am a mother of four boys and a grandmother to four grandsons and one granddaughter. I am a story teller. I am living with HIV since 2004. In my journey I have experienced homelessness, injection and drug use, food insecurity, living in single room occupancy, and street life. My todays are working in research at the BC Centre for Excellence at all levels from co- principle investigator, community-based researcher, designing and implementing research, co authoring papers, and bringing my knowledge back to my communities. I am also an advocate and artivist using research words to present at the House of Commons Human Rights Committee in Ottawa and speaking in front of Parliament. I am actively working with the Canadian Coalition to Reform the Criminalization of HIV, Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, a Peer Navigator with Positive Living Society of BC, and a trainer with PLDI (Positive Leadership Development Institute).
I am Elder for Camp Moomba, YouthCo , First Directions and Yuusnewas.
In 2018 I received the CAHR Red Ribbon Researchers Award and in 2019 the CANFAR Excellence in Research Award.
All my Relations
I am a mother of four boys and a grandmother to four grandsons and one granddaughter. I am a story teller. I am living with HIV since 2004. In my journey I have experienced homelessness, injection and drug use, food insecurity, living in single room occupancy, and street life. My todays are working in research at the BC Centre for Excellence at all levels from co- principle investigator, community-based researcher, designing and implementing research, co authoring papers, and bringing my knowledge back to my communities. I am also an advocate and artivist using research words to present at the House of Commons Human Rights Committee in Ottawa and speaking in front of Parliament. I am actively working with the Canadian Coalition to Reform the Criminalization of HIV, Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, a Peer Navigator with Positive Living Society of BC, and a trainer with PLDI (Positive Leadership Development Institute).
I am Elder for Camp Moomba, YouthCo , First Directions and Yuusnewas.
In 2018 I received the CAHR Red Ribbon Researchers Award and in 2019 the CANFAR Excellence in Research Award.
All my Relations
Sandy LambertHIV Older, Steering Committee, Cree
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Chad DickieHIV Older, Steering Committee, Dene
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Chad is a Dene HIV Older originally from the Fort Nelson First Nation in northern BC. Diagnosed with HIV in 1989, Chad’s involvement in HIV began after completing the Pacific AIDS Network Positive Leadership Development Institute (PLDI) training in 2015. Since then, he’s been involved in HIV community-based research, HIV cure research, a patient voice in primary & community care initiatives, and is a Board Member of AVI Health & Community Services Society (formerly AIDS Vancouver Island). In 2019, Chad was awarded the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council Quality Award for “Leadership in Advancing the Patient Voice.”
Knighton HillstromHIV Older, Steering Committee, Cree
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Hello my name is Knighton Hillstrom. I am a First Nations Man from the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. I was born in the summer of 1963 at the Holy Family Hospital in Prince Albert, SK. Shortly after being born, I was taken home to La Ronge where I started to live my life on the Reserve for a short periods, then we would go to the trap line for the majority of the year.
Knighton has generously shared his story about living on the trap line, some of his Kokum's teachings about medicines and teas that she taught him there, and how he has come back to these tea teachings in his wellness journey living as an HIV Older. You can link to his story here: Growing up on a Trap Line.
I went home the summer of 2010 to be with my family members as I thought I did not have long to live. My Mother and her siblings extended family, invited me to get out of the house to gather the many different varieties of berries as they flourished and bloomed with fruit. As we picked berries it came back to me of how my Kokum used to dry the berries entire plant to be used for medicine. It occurred to me that I could try and heal myself with my Kokum’s teas. While I was out there on the Land a health representative from my Reservation invited me to bring my tea teaching at Cultural Day Celebrations, Lac La Ronge Indian Band. I accepted and since 2010 I have been helping our community to get our tea teaching back. I have been using these teaching from my Kokum’s knowledge of berries and herbs as my showcase and as part of my healing journey. These are some of the tea’s that are available in our Natural Garden. I use them all for myself, friend’s extended family and special events for wellness education.
Since 2010 I have been very fortunate to have My Mother’s blessing and help to bring these medicines back into my wellness and life. I have been able to share these gifts far and wide. I was invited to All Nations Hope Network, Buffalo Feast in Regina to feature my tea and teach as well. I also took my tea to Toronto to the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network AGM Conference to share my tea with my fellow peers and co-workers. It has truly given me a new appreciation of nature and what it has to offer. I thought I had lost this part of my life. I am so happy to have this again and to help to teach others about the true benefits these plants have to offer. My trap line life has been a blessing in so many ways. I feel healthier and satisfied to know I could share this knowledge of the land with other people interested in learning.
Knighton has generously shared his story about living on the trap line, some of his Kokum's teachings about medicines and teas that she taught him there, and how he has come back to these tea teachings in his wellness journey living as an HIV Older. You can link to his story here: Growing up on a Trap Line.
I went home the summer of 2010 to be with my family members as I thought I did not have long to live. My Mother and her siblings extended family, invited me to get out of the house to gather the many different varieties of berries as they flourished and bloomed with fruit. As we picked berries it came back to me of how my Kokum used to dry the berries entire plant to be used for medicine. It occurred to me that I could try and heal myself with my Kokum’s teas. While I was out there on the Land a health representative from my Reservation invited me to bring my tea teaching at Cultural Day Celebrations, Lac La Ronge Indian Band. I accepted and since 2010 I have been helping our community to get our tea teaching back. I have been using these teaching from my Kokum’s knowledge of berries and herbs as my showcase and as part of my healing journey. These are some of the tea’s that are available in our Natural Garden. I use them all for myself, friend’s extended family and special events for wellness education.
Since 2010 I have been very fortunate to have My Mother’s blessing and help to bring these medicines back into my wellness and life. I have been able to share these gifts far and wide. I was invited to All Nations Hope Network, Buffalo Feast in Regina to feature my tea and teach as well. I also took my tea to Toronto to the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network AGM Conference to share my tea with my fellow peers and co-workers. It has truly given me a new appreciation of nature and what it has to offer. I thought I had lost this part of my life. I am so happy to have this again and to help to teach others about the true benefits these plants have to offer. My trap line life has been a blessing in so many ways. I feel healthier and satisfied to know I could share this knowledge of the land with other people interested in learning.
Project Team
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Sherri Pooyak
WoW Nominated Principal Investigator, Cree
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Sherri is the Community Based Research (CBR) co-manager with CAAN’s project, the AHA Centre (Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Community-Based Research Collaborative Centre). She is the first Indigenous Co-Chair for Island Health's Human Research Ethics Board and has been involved in Indigenous CBR and health for over 10 years and is a leader in the field of Indigenous CBR in HIV. Learn more about Sherri and her journey to HIV Reseach here.
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Renée Monchalin
Co-Investigator, Algonquin/Scottish/Huron/Métis/French
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Dr. Monchalin is an Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria in the department of Public Health and Social Policy. She has been involved in sexual health outreach and HIV prevention research for about 7 years since her involvement as a youth research participant.
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Stephanie Nixon
Co-Principal Investigator
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Dr. Nixon is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Physical Therapy and Dalla Lana School of Public Health and has been an HIV social science researcher for 20 years conducting CBR in Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Renée Masching
Co-Principal Investigator, Iroquois Nation
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Renee is the Director of Research and Policy at CAAN and co-Director of the AHA Centre. She has dedicated her professional energies to working with Indigenous Peoples in health related programs and has been involved in the Indigenous HIV movement for over 20 years.
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Marni Amirault
Research Team Member
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Marni is the Community Based Research co-manager with the AHA Centre’s Knowledge Translation focus area. She brings expertise in knowledge translation information and exchange.
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Tracey Prentice
Research Team Member
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Dr. Prentice is a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Victoria, School of Public Health and Social Policy and is a long-time collaborator with CAAN. She is known for her leadership on the CBR study, Visioning Health, an innovative research project exploring the health of Indigenous women living with HIV. She will be instrumental in designing and implementing the land-based program which is the main data collection phase of this project.
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Charlotte Loppie
Research Team Member, Mi’kmaq/French Acadian
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Dr. Loppie is a well-respected Indigenous researcher in the fields of Indigenous health inequities, Indigenous HIV/AIDS, and the social determinants of Indigenous health. She is a professor at the University of Victoria and will provide overall support to the project.
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Andrea Mellor
Research Coordinator (2018-2020), Chinese/British ancestry
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Andrea supports the WoW study by coordinating day-to-day operations and logistics of the project including providing planning, coordination, analysis, and interpretive support. She is a PhD Candidate at the University of Victoria where her research focuses on community engagement to support cultural continuity with Indigenous youth in care.
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Madison Wells
Research Assistant
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Madison is a student in the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria, working towards a Master's of Public Health with an area of focus on Indigenous Peoples' Health. In addition to supporting the development of community-based research and knowledge translation materials for the AHA Centre, she supports the development of WoW recruitment materials, planning, analysis, and interpretation of participant feedback.
Dinner out with the Project Team (June 2019)