Aboriginal council to provide input on culturally appropriate health services

The 19-member council, part of Alberta Health Services, was created to help provide culturally appropriate health services to Aboriginal people throughout the province.

Council members, who were announced in late September, include doctors, nurses, traditional healers, Elders, business people and a former professional football player.

The council will hold its first official meeting on Nov. 27-28 in Morley. The order of business will include selecting a pair of council co-chairs.

“There needs to be some leadership to help in moving (the council) forward,” said Valerie Austen-Wiebe, executive director of the AHS’s Aboriginal health program.

The Aboriginal Wisdom Council will report to Dr. Chris Eagle, the AHS president and CEO.

“They’ll be meeting a minimum of two times per year and up to four times per year,” Austen-Wiebe said. “And they can also have working sessions as well, if needed between meetings.”

The plan is to alternate the council meetings between Edmonton and Calgary. Other locations, however, might also be chosen.

The AHS has 12 other health advisory councils throughout the province as well as two provincial advisory councils that provide information and guidance on health services in their area.

Austen-Wiebe says the Aboriginal Wisdom Council has been over three years in the making. But it isn’t the first time an Aboriginal health council has existed in the province.

The Aboriginal Mental Health Wisdom Council operated for 11 years up until 2008. At that point, it, as well as all other health councils, was abolished.

“All councils were stopped when the AHS was formed,” Austen-Wiebe said.

In recent years, though, AHS officials continued to seek opportunities to engage various groups within the province.
The creation of the Aboriginal Wisdom Council is one of the results of these efforts. More than 50 names from across the province were put forward as possible members for the Aboriginal council.

The recruitment process sought people with strong connections to Aboriginal communities and who also had experience with Aboriginal health issues.

Those eventually selected for the council were chosen by AHS’s executive committee.

Council members were appointed to two- or three-year terms, in part to stagger turnover but also to maintain some experience among members.

Those on the council will be responsible for gathering knowledge, ideas, opinions and stories to preserve and promote Aboriginal health and well-being. AHS will then utilize this feedback to validate its strategic direction.

Besides submitting an annual report of its activities to the AHS executive council, the Aboriginal Wisdom Council will also develop an annual work plan for its actions, which needs to be reviewed and approved by the AHS.

The council members include Dr. James Makokis, Dr. Lana Potts and Robb Campre.

Makokis, who is from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, is now a family physician on the Siksika Blackfoot Nation. Potts, a member of the Piikani First Nation, is a physician with the Elbow River Healing Lodge and the Siksika Health and Wellness Centre. And Campre, a member of the Ft. McKay First Nation, is a former Canadian Football League player who is now a business owner.