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Laura Bearskin Named Director of Mîniwâchihiwâukimikw Land-Based Healing Lodge

ᒦᓂᐙᒋᐦᐃᐙᐅᑭᒥᒄ
Summary

The CBHSSJB is proud to announce the nomination of Laura Bearskin to the position of Director of the Mîniwâchihiwâukimikw Healing Lodge.  

Content

As Director, Laura Bearskin will lead the planning and development for the Mîniwâchihiwâukimikw Healing Lodge, a new permanent land-based facility for people in Eeyou Istchee who are struggling with addictions. The Lodge will be built near the Cree Nation of Chisasibi.  

Laura Bearskin brings to the Mîniwâchihiwâukimik project her decades of experience as an advocate for Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Pathways to Miyupimaatisiuun.

The Lodge is part of our organization’s strategic plan to develop more services on Cree territory, and will offer a culturally-based healing approach in a peaceful, natural surrounding.  

Laura Bearskin earned a Bachelor of Social Work in 2003 from UQAT. She also has a Certificate in Public Administration from ENAP, and a Diploma in Health and Social Services Management from McGill University.  

Laura Bearskin has been with the CBHSSJB for thirty years. Her experience includes frontline and management roles. She has been part of CBHSSJB senior management since 2006, and has led the Nishiiyuu Department since 2015.  

During Laura Bearskin’s tenure as AED of Nishiiyuu, the Department has been working to connect Traditional Knowledge and Pathways with modern-day services and to deepen cultural safety throughout the organization. Significant achievements include documenting and reclaiming Traditional Knowledge relating to rites of passage, medicine and healing, a collaboration agreement with the Nishiiyuu Council of Elders, and the launch in 2018 of Midwifery services rooted in Cree traditional practices. 

Laura Bearskin started her new role on March 14, 2022. Recruitment will begin for the vacant position of AED Nishiiyuu. Juliana Matoush Snowboy, Director of Organizational Quality and Cultural Safety is the acting replacement for now, until an AED-interim is appointed by the Board.

 

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