Carlene Dingwall is a Cree/Métis graduate student at UBCO and a relative newcomer to the Okanagan Valley. A considerable portion of her professional career involves working with Aboriginal communities and people in addressing the social and health inequities that continue to be the lived reality of many Aboriginal people today. Carlene has focused her work on HIV/AIDS and the concepts of mental health and well being. Most recently, she has been working with the Okanagan Nation and other Aboriginal communities to develop health related curriculum for UBC Okanagan. As a lifetime “bush” woman, Carlene is passionate about the potential for Indigenous knowledge to address the current inequities within our health, education and justice and economic systems, and also to pave the way for a more human sustainable future for all. Her PhD research draws on Indigenous knowledge to enhance and reframe our current understanding of mental health and mental health systems and practices.

Sarah de Leeuw is an award winning researcher and creative writer whose work focuses broadly on marginalized peoples and geographies, Sarah de Leeuw grew up and has spent most of her life in Northern British Columbia, including Haida Gwaii and Terrace. She is the Research Director of the Health Arts Research Centre and teaches in the areas of Indigenous peoples well-being and health humanities.

Michael Evans is a professor of Anthropology in the Department of Community, Culture, and Global Studies at UBCO. He has been involved in several community based research initiatives, and in particular has a long-term relationship with the Prince George Métis Elders Society. He has also worked extensively with colleagues at the Métis Nation of British Columbia on a number of research projects dealing with historic and contemporary Métis communities in BC, some of which are discussed in this volume. Together with Elders and community leaders in Prince George he put together a Métis Studies curriculum for UNBC and a number of publications including What it is to be a Métis (Evans et al 1999, 2007), A Brief History, of the Short Life, of the Island Cache (Evans et al 2004). He has also worked on a number of participatory video projects with collaborators from the Métis community and videographer and new media artist Stephen Foster. He is also involved in a number of active research projects concerned with Cultural Safety and Aboriginal health, especially in the Urban Aboriginal and Métis communities in Canada.

Murry Krause is currently a city councillor of Prince George, British Columbia. He also serves as a Director in the Regional District of Fraser Fort George. He was the Executive Director of the Central Interior Native Health Society for 22 years and was the Executive Director of the Prince George United Way Program for 13 years.

Barb Ward Burkitt is a member of the Fort McKay First Nation and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Prince George Native Friendship Centre. She’s been involved with the Friendship Centre movement for 45 years, and also has significant experience as child care worker with Aboriginal students and special needs students in the Quesnel School District. Barb is very active in her community, co-chairing the Minister’s Advisory Council on Aboriginal Women (MACAW) and serving as President of Prince George Nechako Aboriginal Employment and Training Association. She completed her Masters of Education Degree from Simon Fraser University in 2001 , holds a Provincial Instructor’s Diploma from the Vancouver Community College, and a Native Adult Instructor’s Diploma from the B.C. Ministry of Education, Skills and Training.

Barb was invested into the Order of British Columbia in 2010, and along with her husband has been proudly raising her five grandchildren for the past 13 years.

Vanessa West (she/her) is a member of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation and had served as an elected member of Council from 2001 to 2009 and from 2015-2019. She previously worked as the Treaty Office Manager for the Lheidli T’enneh Treaty Office for nine years from 1998-2007. Prior to taking on the role of Chief of Staff for the BC Assembly of First Nations, she worked with Positive Living North, an Aboriginal HIV/AIDS non-for-profit service organization, transitioning her career from First Nations politics to the social services field. Initially managing the street-level HIV/AIDS/HCV Prevention Program, the Fire Pit Cultural Drop-In Centre in 2007, she then moved into the role of Executive Director, which she held from 2008 to 2018.To expand her knowledge and understanding around addictions and street- involved populations, she began working for the AIDS Prevention Program/Needle Exchange in Prince George from 2008 to 2013 as an after-hours Intake/Support Worker. During this time, Vanessa also volunteered as a Board Member for the Canadian AIDS Society and served two terms with this national organization.

Vanessa is the proud mother of three children, Jordan, Alexandria and John-Michael. She currently lives in her community with her partner of ten years, Randy, and joined the BCAFN team in April 2018.

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