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First Nations, Inuit and Aboriginal Health

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Nurses in Profile

The nurses providing health care services in First Nations and Inuit communities across the country are an inspiring group of people. Here we take a closer look at a few of the truly exceptional individuals who make up that group.

Read about the passion and dedication of one of our exceptional nurses:

Debbie Kanate, Round Lake Health Centre

Awards of Excellence in Nursing

The Award of Excellence in Nursing celebrates the dedication, initiative and excellence of nurses employed by First Nations communities, Health Canada and Inuit communities who work in partnership to improve the health of Canada's Aboriginal peoples.

It is presented every year during National Nursing Week and nurses are nominated for this award by their peers, to recognize the contribution of nurses to First Nations and Inuit communities.

The 2009 award recipients are:

Susan Stoneson
As a 'nurse in-charge,' Susan travels the entire province of British Columbia visiting communities with temporary nurse in-charge needs. Alternating months between her home in Chilliwack and often remote and isolated locations, Susan works in emergency trauma care and community health. Destinations may include Port Simpson, a 15-minute flight from Prince Rupert, Hartley Bay, a coastal community with no roads and a unique travel system that uses golf carts and boardwalks, or Telegraph Creek, a northern community close to the Alaskan border. Susan loves to learn, and is completing her post-graduate diploma in Advanced Nursing Practitioner through Athabasca University, believing nursing practitioners are the way of the future. Susan is known as an exceptional nurse and a person of great drive and integrity.
Judy Wilson
Judy is the nurse in-charge at the Rosie Ovayuk Health Centre in Tuktoyaktuk - a busy 4-nurse health centre in a community of 1000 people. Judy works in acute care (assessment, diagnosis, and treatment) and delivers public health care programs, including well man, well women, prenatal, and postpartum. She also finds time to mentor new nurses in-charge for their positions in remote health centres. Judy received her Masters of Public Health from the University of Melbourne and has presented at a number of international conferences. Her nursing career has taken her from working with aboriginal communities in Australia and New Zealand to the Inuvialuit and G'wichen First nations in the North West Territories. Judy is a very dedicated nurse and a credit to the nursing profession.
Liza Sam
Liza works as community health nurse at the Nak'azdli Health Centre in Fort Saint James. Since Nak'azdli is her home community, Liza seeks new ways to promote health awareness among people she has known and loved. One such unique activity is her use of 'house parties'. Women meet at various homes to make bread, knit or do beadwork. In this comfortable and safe environment, Liza teaches and discusses a wide range of sensitive health topics with the women like HIV/AIDS, sexual health, and issues surrounding tuberculosis. By creating a safe, relaxed environment, Liza is able to reach groups in the community that she might not otherwise be able to reach. Liza emphasizes that her work is very much a team effort, saying emphatically that without the support and ideas from her team, she couldn't do the work she does. In 2006, she represented British Columbia First Nations at an Aboriginal Symposium in Alice Springs, Australia. Liza continues to be a valuable asset to her community and profession.