Winter 2020/21 ECHO NETWORK UPDATE
A wintery stroll through part of the traditional and unceded Territory of the Lheidli T’enneh, east of Prince George, BC (courtesy of Meg Labron)
Welcome to our Winter 2020/21 ECHO Network Quarterly Update!
Welcome to the December 2020 ECHO Network Update. We hope this update finds you well and looking forward to a restorative holiday break. It has sure been a long year!
In this second half of the ECHO Network project, we are increasingly engaging in cross-ECHO workshops, knowledge exchange, and moving into action. You will notice that the format for this update has changed in accordance with this shift – rather than individual ECHO Regional Case updates, we are turning our attention toward cross-ECHO activities and the various knowledge exchange and output opportunities that our members are engaging in.
Despite the uncertainty of this year, our team has managed to engage in many different spaces for sharing what we’ve learned across cases.
We’re excited to report on what has happened in the final months of 2020 and are looking ahead to more cross-ECHO engagement in 2021.
News & Updates
Dawn Hoogeveen and Margot Parkes will be serving on ICCE Technical Advisory Committee (as a ‘shared’ seat from ECHO). https://www.icce-caec.ca
Canadian Public Health Association – Public Health 2020
On October 15th, a group of ECHO Members presented at the Canadian Public Health Association “Public Health 2020” virtual conference. The session, titled Fostering an eco-social future for public health: EDGE, ECHO and next generation intersectoral action for health, was well received and can currently be viewed on YouTube – see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_HmNXNmX64&feature=youtu.be.
FEEDBACK Proposal
Our FEEDBACK proposal was not invited to submit for a Full Proposal. Alongside the sense of disappointment (and some relief!), my strong reaction is one of gratitude for the opportunity that this LOI call provided to convene this group and lay the foundations for the work outlined in our Letter of Intent. We have received so many encouraging responses and reactions to the work we proposed, and I remain inspired and motivated by the vision, commitments and kaupapa our collective FEEDBACK efforts have already created. On December 2nd, members of the FEEDBACK project convened again on Zoom in order to continue conversations about where this work might go next.
Zotero Library
Zotero training of new trainees and collection of references in the ECHO Zotero library continues. Trainees have access to the Zotero library and can upload any resources they find or use relevant to their ECHO work. In the future we see this library becoming one of the first touch points when searching for literature on E-C-H topics.
Land, Health & Healing Project Update
Originally the Land, Health & Healing Gathering, we had to postpone our intended Gathering for June 2020 due to COVID-19, and subsequently designed an online Seasonal Touchpoint Series in order to keep up engagement and exchange over the course of this year. The first Seasonal Touchpoint was held on August 5th, 2020 at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park by the shore of the Lhtakoh (Fraser) River. This riverside event was opened with a virtual smudge led by Elder Darlene McIntosh and a welcome to territory by Chief Clayton Pountney. Our guest speakers included Yvonne Taura of Aotearoa, Sandra Harris of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, and a Youth Video contribution from the Inheritors of the Future project, led by Vanessa Sloan Morgan. The second Seasonal Touchpoint occurred on October 14th, 2020 at Cottonwood Island Park, at the confluence of the Lhtakoh and Nechako Rivers. We were able to host a small group there, keeping warm by the fire, while Kym Gouchie and Elder Darlene led us in ceremony, teachings, and song. Our guest speakers included Karyn Sharp from the Ancient Forest Enhancement Project, Ed Connors from the Feather Carriers: Leadership for Life Promotion project, and Terri Aldred on her experience providing Indigenous healthcare in the north. We look forward to a winter Touchpoint, likely in March 2021, and a culminating Gathering (likely online) in June 2021.
Critical Reading Group
ECHO Critical Reading Group met on September 2nd for a session led by Ben Brisbois on Two-Eyed Seeing. The group discussed two readings (Water is Medicine: Reimagining Water Security through Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Relationships to Treated and Traditional Water Sources in Yukon, Canada and Using Two-Eyed Seeing in Research With Indigenous People: An Integrative Review).
We’re looking forward to hosting a future Critical Reading Group in January or February 2021. Stay tuned for updates.
ECHOs from Across the Regional Cases
A slightly different format for our regional case updates… click the link below to learn more.
Team Updates
ECHO&YOU(th)
The ECHO&YOU(th) group is excited to begin funneling their energy into planning a cross-province and cross-ECHO youth activity. This group met only a handful a times in late summer to late fall and focused much of their discussion on youth engagement initiatives with Alberta regional case’s Lanie Parr. Lanie came on with the network in mid-summer to help develop ECHO youth engagement in Alberta. In October, a small group including Lanie, Makayla Skrlac, Serge LaRochelle, and Céline Surette were inspired to organize and host a watershed exploration and mapping youth activity for Spring 2021. A very similar activity was conducted a few years ago in New Brunswick with a Grade 5 and Grade 6 class and this group hopes to enhance the experience using the SMASH application and uploading their data to the Portal! SMASH, like the Geopaparazzi app we trialed at the 2020 Annual Meeting, is a free and open-source digital field mapping application that can be used on both IOS and Android devices. Makayla is working to code an ECHO&YOU(th) specific form on the SMASH app to help facilitate the activity and GIS data collection for teachers and their students from BC, AB, and NB.
Team Equity
On September 17th, Team Equity and ECHO&You(th) Members met with the altView Foundation. On September 25th, Team Equity contributors (Maya Gislason, Dawn Hoogeveen, Aleyah Williams, and Sally Western) gave a presentation on Gender Based Analysis + applications in research to the Trainee Team. Trainees had identified a need for a more in-depth guide on GBA+ as the basic tenets were understood but there was still some confusion on applications in research. The discussion was fruitful and a part two is anticipated in the new year.
Team Learning & Impact
Since our ECHO PDF, Holly Clermont, moved on to a wonderful new role as the Lead on the “We All Take Care of the Harvest “(WATCH) seafood and climate project at First Nations Health Authority, our team has been working hard to synthesize the information Holly collected for us, including the evaluation activities at the ECHO Annual Meeting (June 10-12, 2020) and the Mid-way Conversations Holly led. At the August 17th Team Learning & Impact Team Retreat we welcomed new members into the team, including Julia Bickford (Regional Director, Research Evaluation and Analytics at Northern Health) and Vash Ebbadi (Interim Regional Director, Quality & Innovation), with whom we are looking forward to working together over the remaining time of the project. Tanis Hampe will continue to work with us occasionally as she has taken on the role of VP Pandemic Response.
While we re-shuffle our Team, we’ve been fortunate to benefit from Shayna Dolan, a long-standing ECHO Network Member and now Research Associate with the Health Research Institute. Shayna is currently taking the lead on the ECHO Reflections in Art digital storytelling learning and impact activity.
The most recent Team Learning and Impact meeting took place on Dec 9, 2020. We're looking forward to starting the New Year building on the many learning & impact activities our team has engaged in over the past years.
We're pleased to be sharing our 2020 ECHO Network Annual Meeting Report. Please follow this link to view the report https://echo.gis.unbc.ca/s/2aTZWoHtDtXrxPJ.
Team Watersheds / Team Geospatial ECHO (GECHO)
This December, the BRWA/UofA Regional Case hosted a "show-&-tell" session to share an update on the “Health in the Watershed” Atlas. Various aspects of this project have been progressed in 2020, and the session provided a valuable opportunity to connect with other ECHO Network members and discuss how to enhance and build on this work going forward.
The session also explored how an “integrative tool and process” like the "Health in the Watershed" Atlas can feed to inform other activities across the ECHO Network and beyond. In particular – as some of you are aware - the Nechako Watersheds Roundtable in northern BC is preparing for some strategic planning processes in 2021, and we’re hoping that some of the tools we are working on for this can be informed by the BRWA “Health in the Watershed” work.
GECHO Team
The GECHO conversations happen about every 6 weeks, with some smaller ‘mini meetings’ to focus on specific work. A large focus over the last few months has been on the regional EnviroScreen work where there have been great cross-ECHO collaborations with shared ideas, resources, and expertise. All three regional EnviroScreen pilots/trials have arrived at preliminary scores for provincial health units, and related manuscript developments are underway. Next steps include the development of publicly shareable media via the watershed portal that will serve as an archive, as well as linking this up to a web app and platforms to share and explore the data and develop an asset-based ECHOScreen.
ECHO Network Team Member Profiles
Sandra Harris, ECHO PhD student, Wet’suwet’en tsako’ze (woman chief), and cultural supports helper
(Wii Esdes, Sandra A. Martin Harris) Sandra Harris - new ECHO PhD student
I am from the Wet’suwet’en Nation of the Laksilyu, Little Frog Clan and am a member of the Witset First Nation and I live in Tse Kya,BC in the Gitxsan laxyip, the Hazeltons’. I am the Communications Director for the Office of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, working primarily with the 5 Clans across the yintah. I spent 10 plus years working as a community developer, working to have integrated approaches for health and wellbeing advanced, supporting good governance practices, advocating for suitable housing and developing employment readiness projects; and I was the social development advisor at the Gitksan Government Commission (tribal council). I love community development work, community and watershed planning. I previously spent a decade working with the Office of the Wet’suwet’en in land use planning, managing culturally grounded social programs and was a part of the senior management team for treaty negotiations. I am also an Indigenous Focusing Complex Trauma (IFOT) practitioner working with health, social and justice workers, families and elders. This work helps me share teachings about intergenerational trauma, grief and loss, supports first responders, suicide prevention and debriefing support to front line staff using a body centered and land-based way; facilitating balance and strengths-based ways of Being. I am a mother and grandmother, am learning more of my Wet’suwet’en language each day and grateful for the many persons that helped me on my life journey.
Katya Karol – new ECHO graduate student
Katya grew up on Unama'ki (Cape Breton Island), the unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq people. She completed her undergraduate degree in Arts and Science at McMaster University where she studied the interaction between socio-political atmospheres and health. Through her courses and research assistance work, she developed an interest in addressing health inequities, particularly those experienced by Indigenous communities in Canada. After spending time working on organic farms in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Katya also became interested in the interaction between ecology, food systems and health. Katya is a Master’s of Interdisciplinary Studies student at UNBC. She's involved with the ECHO Network through providing support for the Network's commitment to using arts based and narrative approaches to reflect on the team's learnings and to translate knowledge. She's grateful to be a part of the ECHO team and is looking forward to learning more about the connectedness of environment, community, and health.
Katya Karol, MA Student, ECHO RA
Publications of Interest
Craig Stephen. (Ed.). (2020). Animals, Health, and Society: Health Promotion, Harm Reduction, and Health Equity in a One Health World. CRC Press.
Sloan Morgan, V., Hoogeveen, D., Farrales, M., Gislason, M., Parkes, M., Harder, H. Resource extraction and intersectoral research: Accountable relations in the Environment Community Health Observatory Network. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space. 0(0) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2399654420951805
Buse, C. G., Friberg, R., Arnold, L., Hanna, K. (2020). Unlocking the promise of ‘integrated’ regional and strategic environmental assessments based on a realist review of the scholarly literature. Prepared for Centre for Environmental Assessment Research, Kelowna, BC: University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus. Available here: https://bit.ly/2VLPbVI
Hoogeveen, D., Gislason, M., Hussey, A., Western, S., & Williams, A. (2020). Gender Based Analysis Plus: A knowledge synthesis for the implementation and development of socially responsible impact assessment in Canada. Available here: https://bit.ly/2VNubh4
Aldred, T.-L., Alderfer-Mumma, C., Farrales, M., Greenwood, M., Hoogeveen, D., O’Toole, R., Parkes, M.W., Sloan Morgan, V. (2020). Mining sick: Creatively unsettling normative narratives about industry, environment, extraction, and the health geographies of rural, remote, northern, and Indigenous communities in British Columbia. The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe Canadien, 2020, 1–15. DOI: 10.1111/cag.12660.
Recent ECHO Relevant Events & Webinars
Margot Parkes and Sandra Allison (workshop facilitators); Raina Fumerton, Sally Western, Chris Buse, Dawn Hoogeveen, Maya Gislason, Sarah Skinner (workshop speakers). (2020). “Fostering an eco-social future for Public Health: EDGE, ECHO and next generation intersectoral action for health”. Canadian Public Health Association, Public Health 2020. October 15, 2020, (online) Recording accessible from https://youtu.be/3_HmNXNmX64.
Jessica Humchitt and Katie Bauder (presenters; 2020). “Beyond engagement: Towards community-based and community driven knowledge exchange in Indigenous health research”. Jessica Humchitt (Indigenous Research Analyst at First Nations Health Authority, BC) & Katie Bauder (Knowledge Exchange Coordinator at First Nations Health Authority, BC). Watch the webinar session here.
Craig Stephen, Alice Oven, Colin Robertson, & Margot Parkes (Presenters). Stefan Iwasawa (Moderators). (2020, November 18). “Animals, Health and Society – reframing the historic narrative of people, animals and nature as risks to each other, to one where we think about health as a shared capacity”. CoPEH-Canada EcoHealth in Action Webalogue Series. Online: https://viuvideos.viu.ca/media/Animals%2C+Health+and+Society/0_nmhpoapd
Louisa Hadley, Diana Kutzner, & Maya Gislason (Presenters). Margot Parkes & Katie Bauder (Moderators). (2020, November 5). “EcoHealth Practice: Waterways to the future”. CoPEH-Canada EcoHealth in Action Webalogue Series.
Online: https://viuvideos.viu.ca/media/EcoHealth+PracticeA+Waterways+to+the+future/0_3yfywfgg