As National Nurses Week begins, Grandmother’s Voice honours Indigenous Nurses, Indigenous nursing students, and every Indigenous woman working in care across Turtle Island.
We honour the students carrying textbooks, placements, family responsibilities, financial pressure, grief, hope, and purpose, often all at the same time. We honour those sitting in classrooms, labs, clinical settings, and online learning spaces, preparing to enter a profession that needs them, while often asking them to carry more than their share. Too many Indigenous nursing students are still asked to explain their presence, defend their knowledge, or become the cultural educator in rooms where those responsibilities should already be shared.
To honour Indigenous Nurses, we also have to remember the longer story.
Before nursing was a regulated profession in Canada, Indigenous Peoples had their own systems of care. Grandmothers, Aunties, Midwives, Medicine People, Knowledge Keepers, Healers, and Helpers cared for families and Nations through teachings that were carried over generations. They knew the medicines of the land. They knew how to support birth, illness, grief, recovery, ceremony, spirit, and community balance. They understood that health was never only about the body. Wellness was connected to land, language, food, water, kinship, ceremony, safety, belonging, and responsibility to one another.
That care was not informal because it lacked value. It was relational because it understood life.
Colonization tried to interrupt those systems. Indigenous medicines were dismissed. Ceremonies were criminalized. Midwives and Healers were pushed aside. Children were removed from families and communities where those teachings would have been passed down naturally. Health care institutions were built in ways that often excluded Indigenous knowledge while expecting Indigenous people to trust systems that had caused harm.
And still, Indigenous care continued.
It continued through Grandmothers who remembered which plant helped a fever. Through Aunties who knew when someone needed food, quiet, or company. Through Mothers who carried children across long distances to reach medical help. Through community Helpers who sat with the sick, buried the dead, welcomed the newborn, and kept showing up. Through Indigenous women who entered nursing schools despite racism, distance, poverty, colonial policy, and the constant pressure to leave parts of themselves behind.
Indigenous nursing in Canada carries this history. It includes early trailblazers like Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture, who became the first Indigenous registered nurse in Canada after being denied nursing education here and forced to train in the United States. It includes Jean Cuthand Goodwill and other Indigenous Nurses who helped build a national voice for Indigenous nursing in the 1970s, creating space for Indigenous Nurses to gather, organize, advocate, and push health systems toward more relevant and respectful care. The Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association traces its formal beginnings to 1975, when Indigenous Nurses came together around a shared vision rooted in their unique perspective as Indigenous caregivers caring for Indigenous people.
That history matters because Indigenous Nurses have never been simply participants in health care systems. They have been witnesses, advocates, educators, protectors, translators, bridge-builders, and changemakers. They have worked at bedsides, in nursing stations, in hospitals, in public health, in policy, in classrooms, in birth work, in community clinics, in mental health care, in long-term care, and in ceremony. They have carried professional training and ancestral responsibility together.
Today, we honour the Indigenous Nurses in hospitals, health centres, nursing stations, doctors’ offices, public health programs, long-term care homes, birth spaces, mental health services, harm reduction teams, and community clinics. We honour those who move between Western systems and Indigenous ways of knowing with strength, intelligence, and care.
Indigenous nursing is not only about clinical practice. It is about relationship. It is about listening with more than the ears. It is about understanding that a person’s wellness is connected to where they come from, who they belong to, what they have survived, and what they need in order to feel safe.
It is assessment and medication. It is also a warm blanket, a shared laugh, a familiar word, a quiet prayer, a cup of tea, a hand held without judgment, and the courage to speak up when a patient is not being heard.
We honour every Indigenous woman in care, whether she wears scrubs, a badge, a uniform, a ribbon skirt, or the tired face of someone who has been holding a community together for longer than anyone knows.
This week, we remember that Indigenous Nurses are not simply working inside health care systems. They are changing them. They are bringing cultural safety into places where harm has happened. They are bringing dignity into rooms where people have been dismissed. They are bringing memory, medicine, advocacy, and love into systems that still have so much healing to do.
To every Indigenous nursing student, keep going.
To every Indigenous Nurse, we see you.
To every Indigenous woman carrying care in her hands, voice, spirit, and teachings, Grandmother’s Voice honours you.
Presented by Samantha Doxtater
Presented by GRANDMA RENEE
In a world seeking direction, Indigenous teachings offer clear and enduring policies for how to live in harmony with one another and the Earth. This workshop invites participants to explore the profound lessons of the Two Row Wampum Belt and other wampum belts as frameworks for mutual respect, environmental care, and collective well-being. These belts, created long before colonization, embody ancestral agreements that guide humanity on how to coexist with honor, dignity, and reciprocity.
Led by Grandmother Renee, this session emphasizes the importance of relearning and honoring the policies established by our ancestors, rather than creating new paths disconnected from this wisdom. Through the teachings of the belts, participants will uncover the principles of self-care, stewardship of the land, and respect for all beings. This is not about inventing something new—it is about rediscovering the instructions that were always there and committing to uphold them.
Key Takeaways:
Through this workshop, participants will be reminded that the wisdom of the belts is not only a guide for Indigenous communities but a path for all of humanity to walk together in respect and care for one another and the Earth.
Presented by Grandma Gail and Angela DeMontigny
Ceremony is more than tradition—it is a deliberate practice rooted in wisdom, responsibility, and foresight. This workshop explores the “science of ceremony” as a guide to living with intention and accountability for the next seven generations. Our ancestors used ceremony to prepare for the future, ensuring that their actions would benefit not only their own time but also those yet to come. Now, it is our responsibility to carry that practice forward.
Led by Grandmother Gail, this session will examine what has been lost and the actions we must take to restore, respect, and reclaim the ceremonial practices that ensure the well-being of future generations. Participants will be encouraged to reconnect with ceremony as a means of healing, reflection, and renewal, building a foundation of responsibility to guide us in restoring balance and harmony.
Key Takeaways:
Through this workshop, participants will rediscover the transformative power of ceremony as a pathway to healing, accountability, and preparation for a sustainable and harmonious future. Together, we will reaffirm our responsibility to the generations to come.
Presented by Asha Frost
Join Asha Frost, an Indigenous healer, teacher, and bestselling author, for a transformative workshop rooted in traditional teachings and the power of self-discovery. Asha’s work often centers on reconnecting with ancestral wisdom, embracing one’s authentic self, and creating pathways for healing and empowerment. Drawing from her Anishinaabe roots, she weaves stories, teachings, and practical tools to inspire participants to reclaim their power and align with their purpose.
Through her signature blend of traditional healing practices and modern insights, Asha guides participants in understanding how to honor their own journey, navigate challenges with resilience, and embrace the interconnectedness of all beings. This workshop is an invitation to explore the sacred within and around us, fostering personal growth and collective transformation.
Key Takeaways:
Whether you are seeking personal healing, professional inspiration, or a deeper connection to traditional wisdom, this session with Asha Frost promises to be a profound and enriching experience.
Presented by Allen Sutherland
The Seven Fires prophecy, as shared by seven prophets across different time periods, offers profound guidance for humanity’s path forward. According to Anishinaabe oral tradition, these teachings speak to the choices we face when the world has been polluted, and the waters turned bitter by disrespect. The prophecy teaches that humanity must choose between materialism and spirituality—one path leading to survival and the other to destruction.
In this workshop, Mishoomis Allen will guide participants through the teachings of the Seven Fires prophecy, exploring its relevance in today’s world and its call for spiritual renewal. Additionally, he will share his Canadian Indigenous Historical Timeline, providing a broader context for understanding the cultural, social, and spiritual significance of these teachings.
Key Takeaways:
This workshop offers an opportunity to reflect deeply on humanity’s collective responsibility and the transformative power of choosing a spiritual path for the survival of future generations.
Presented by Thohahoken Michael Doxtater
In this session, Thohahoken Michael Doxtater explores the ongoing impact of Canada’s colonial policies on Indigenous communities and the historical journey toward Truth and Reconciliation. He examines the systemic attempts to erase Indigenous identity, from residential schools to the suppression of cultural practices, and highlights Indigenous resilience and legal resistance. The presentation also delves into the concept of the “Canada Rafter,” a historical agreement acknowledging Canada’s adoption into the Indigenous Longhouse, raising the question: Has Canada truly upheld its responsibilities in this relationship?
