Rachel Kiddell-Monroe is a lawyer, a humanitarian practitioner and an advocate. She is a Board Director at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), a founding President of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines and a Professor of Practice at McGill University. Rachel believes putting people and their community first is key to creating a more humane, just, and fair society.
Violeta Chapela is a doctor with humanitarian experience in the areas of sexual violence, migration, sexual and reproductive health, mental health for victims of violence and primary healthcare in exclusion and war zones. Violeta also has an interest in strengthening community networks from a gender perspective.
Sumeet is a family physician in the Toronto Western Hospital Family Health Team, an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and the Academic Lead for the Indigenous Health Partners Program at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Sumeet has led many global health initiatives, including indigenous health, diabetes, HIV, TB, primary care integration, community-based programming and chronic illness care.
Bayan holds a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering and is now pursuing her second degree in psychology at Concordia University. She is the Executive Assistant at SeeChange, where she provides administrative, financial, and operational support to the team. Bayan is interested in researching war trauma, family violence, and its effects on memory and daily life. Her goal is to complete her education and earn a PHD in the field so that she can support marginalized communities.
Jasmine Cumetti holds a B. Comm. in organizational behaviour and psychology from McGill University and is currently completing a M. Sc. in International Business at HEC. Jasmine coordinates efforts to foster decoloniality within the organization. She believes that an inquisitive and introspective process of decolonizing our minds is an important first step in becoming an agent of change and cultivating a society which is truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive at its core.
Naomi Tatty, from Iqaluit, Nunavut, was nominated “Inuit Woman of the Year” because of her tireless volunteer work assisting Inuit families in need across Canada and advocacy for Inuit culture and wellbeing. Fluent in Inuktitut and English, Naomi, is a strong advocate on the issue of tuberculosis in Inuit communities. Naomi is also well known by community members for organizing fundraisers to assist with the cost of travel and funeral expenses for those who have lost a loved one. Naomi proudly helps to keep Inuit culture strong by sharing her skills in sewing and the Inuktitut language. When asked what advice Naomi had for other Inuit women, she said, “Always give a helping hand and treat people with respect.”
Dawit was born and raised in Ethiopia, Eastern Africa, and is a public health and emergency management professional with a double master’s degree in public health (MPH) and Disaster and Emergency Management and more than 15 Years of working experience in Public Health and Emergency Management Programs in different organizations including World Health Organization (WHO), Bill and Melinda gates Foundation, Save The Children and Canadian Red Cross in different parts of the world mainly in Africa and Southeast Asia. Dawit used to work for First Nation Health Authority in Northern Ontario as an Emergency Preparedness Coordinator which gives me a perspective and deep understanding of the history and culture of indigenous communities in Canada.
Samantha holds a Bachelor in International Development from the University of McGill, Montreal, Canada. She has been working at SeeChange since 2020, bringing executive, admin, finance, fundraising and operational support as the Executive Assistant. Building on this experience, she recently stepped into the role of Project Coordinator, co-leading the Tuberculosis initiative in Nunavut, Canada.
Malcolm Ranta is the Executive Director of Ilisaqsivik Society. He is also Director of Operations for the social enterprise Tukumaaq Incorporated. Malcolm has years of experience working in Nunavut in government and non-profit sectors. He has worked in public health and community development with remote and urban Indigenous communities. Malcolm is also a wannabe weekend hunter.
Jessica Farber is leading SeeChange project with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), piloting the CommunityFirst approach in vulnerabilised communities globally. She works with community leaders and institutional partners to organise, prepare and respond to health crises. She also has experience in outreach, advocacy and project coordination with forced migrants and asylum seekers in Montreal and Mexico. Jessica holds a B.A. in International Development from McGill University.
Megan Corbett-Thompson holds a BSc in Ecological Determinants of Health from McGill University. She has gained diverse experience in protection work, community mobilization and environmental health promotion alongside NGOs in Latin America. Megan is committed to community empowerment and upholding the dignity of all persons. She holds a fellowship from York University’s Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research (DIGHR).
Huguette Ekambi Mbella is a global citizen – Cameroon-born, Paris-educated, Washington DC-based – with deep expertise in governance, risk management, and control functions. She is pursuing a distinguished career at the International Finance Corporation (IFC, member of the World Bank Group) and has served profit and not-for-profit international finance institutions across Europe and North America. Ms. Mbella is passionate about unlocking human potential, expanding financial inclusion, and all things Art related.
Denis Blanchette has spent 30 years bringing community first. He worked with communities in Africa and Latin America. After working at the Supreme Court of Canada, he is now a partner at one of Canada’s leading law firms supporting Indigenous communities. Denis is recognized as a leading practitioner in Indigenous law in Best Lawyers in Canada 2020.
Carol Devine was a founding member of SeeChange and is a Humanitarian Affairs Advisor with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Canada. Carol was a 2016 fellow of the Ecologic Institute’s Arctic Summer College. She is a member of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Humanities Expert Group and a Community Fellow at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research.
Yves is a French-Cameroonian McGill graduate from a Liberal Sciences Bachelors in Physics and Environment. Among his current interests are sustainable self-determination, colonization of the mind, deep adaptation, food sovereignty, energy transition, alternative and popular education, low tech, and modes of governance compatible with collective intelligence. He co-founded SymBioSyn in 2017 with some fellow students that shared his passion to find ways to live well together. Currently, he works at the University du Nous to learn more about Shared Governance methods.
Over the past 25 years, Michelle Osry has worked across North America, Europe and Africa as an academic and investment banker She is now a partner at Deloitte Canada, where she leads the firm’s Family Enterprise Consulting practice. Michelle is Vice Chair of the Family Enterprise Xchange, a Canadian organization dedicated to empowering enterprising families and their advisors.
Jasper Monroe-Blanchette studies Forestry at Cégep de Chicoutimi. Through his studies, he is working towards getting involved with Indigenous communities in relation to forest management. Jasper loves wild places and finds his calling in mountains and forests. He is a yoga teacher and finds his peace in practicing traditional forms, which include qigong and kung fu as well as yoga.
Stephen Lewis is co-director of the international advocacy organization AIDS-Free World and co-chair of the board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. He has previously served as the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, as Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, and as Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations.
Igah Sanguya currently sits on the Board of the Ilisaqsivik Society and serves as the Community Health Representative of Clyde River, Nunavut. In the past, Igah has also served on the Board of Directors of Pauktuutit and the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network.
Jerry Natanine was born and raised in Clyde River, Nunavut. He has been working with Ilisaqsivik for several years. He completed Ilisaqsivik’s Our Life’s Journey: Inuit Counsellor Training Program. Jerry has held many leadership roles in Clyde River, including Chair of the Hunters and Trappers Organization. Jerry is currently Mayor of Clyde River for a second time.
Dr. Jennifer Furin is an infectious diseases clinician and medical anthropologist who has spent 25 years working to address TB and HIV in vulnerable populations. She is a lecturer at Harvard Medical School and serves as a consultant for a variety of organizations to support person-centered care. She specializes in the care of children with drug-resistant forms of TB.
James Orbinski is professor and Director of York University’s Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. As a medical doctor, a humanitarian practitioner, a best-selling author, and a global health scholar, Dr. Orbinski believes in actively engaging and shaping our world so that it is more just, fair, and humane.
Dr. Courtney Howard is an Emergency Physician in Canada’s subarctic, and board President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE). She was the first author on the 2017 and 2018 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change Briefings for Canadian Policymakers, as well as being the 2018 International Policy Director for the Lancet Countdown.
Daniel Soloman is a businessman and trustee of the Heathside Charitable Trust which is a family charity based in London, United Kingdom. The charity funds projects both in the UK and overseas.
Georgia White is a Strategy and Policy Associate at the international advocacy organization AIDS-Free World. Over the past decade, Georgia has worked in the United States, Cambodia and her home country of Australia as an advocate and policy expert on health and social justice issues.
Grace Yang is the Chief Trouble Maker at TEDxMontrealWomen, curating and encouraging speakers to step outside of their comfort zones to deliver their most compelling talks. She leads a dynamic team of volunteers and fosters a creative culture where everyone can grow together. Previously, Grace worked in the investment industry on both the buy and sell sides of the Street.
Community initiated and community-based Inuit organization located in Clyde River, Nunavut. Ilisaqsivik Society is dedicated to promoting community wellness by providing space, resources, and programming that helps families and individuals find healing and develop their strengths. Ilisaqsivik Society is a Canadian registered charity and brings two decades of Inuit-based experience in training and community empowerment.
The Pathy Family Foundation (PFF) is Canadian foundation that works to build vibrant communities and promote equal opportunities for all. PFF invests in people, organizations and ideas that empower marginalized groups in Canada and globally. PFF is partnering with SeeChange and Ilisaqsivik Society to run a program based on trauma-informed TB empowerment activities in Inuit communities across Nunavut.
In partnership with SeeChange, the GN Department of Health is developing strategies to enable communities to develop autonomy and ownership of their health outcomes as part of their goal is to improve health outcomes and decrease health inequity by increasing Inuit involvement in and ownership of public health strategies in Nunavut.
Building on and complementing already existing Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors without Borders (MSF) community engagement initiatives, SeeChange is adapting the CommunityFirst framework to create a model for MSF that meaningfully involves communities at every phase of the project cycle, including handover and emergency preparedness. Currently piloting in indigenous communities in Peru and Sierra Leone.
SeeChange has partnered with CFLI, ECO-RE and the Lenca Women of Reitoca to strengthen and empower women’s leadership to improve the COVID-19 response and recovery in Reitoca, Honduras through skills development workshops, feminist leadership training, knowledge sharing, and mental health support.
SeeChange is a proud recipient of the COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Impact Grant Program (Co-RIG) with the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine, a research grant to investigate the outcomes of the CommunityFirst COVID-19 Roadmap to create a CommunityFirst Toolkit for Indigenous communities in Canada to adopt and adapt.
The DIGHR has partnered with SeeChange to advance research on CommunityFirst responses and how they are contributing to the global health and humanitarianism research agenda.
SeeChange is partnering with Mitacs to develop a Decolonisation, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Framework.
SeeChange is hosting a seminar course on Decolonising Humanitarian Action at the McGill Summer Institute in Infectious Diseases and Global Health.
SeeChange is hosting seminars on Global Health and CommunityFirst responses at University Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia.
SeeChange is a proud recipient of the Here to Be grant, lululemon’s social impact program that disrupts inequity in wellbeing through movement, mindfulness, and advocacy.
SeeChange Initiative is a non-profit organization and we count on the generosity of supporters like you who believe in our vision.
Your gift helps us put CommunityFirst and supports more communities to respond to the health and social challenges they face.
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Together with our partners, we co-create innovative solutions to health and social challenges. We invite community-led organizations to reach out to explore how SeeChange Initiative can support your work.
We always welcome passionate, motivated, and skilled volunteers to join us! If you have talent and time to share, we would love to hear from you.
Inuit are 300 times more likely to get sick from tuberculosis (TB) compared to non-indigenous, Canadian born citizens.
TB is a preventable and curable disease. Yet the rates of TB for Inuit are similar to those of many low- and middle-income countries.
TB in the North is not a new problem.
“It is a public health crisis and one that’s 60 years in the making.”
“We were taken down to the bottom of the ship. After the exam, we were informed we should not leave the ship or go on shore. I could not go off ship to see my family. It was so hard for us mentally. It broke us. Our life got shattered back then. I still feel scared of the CD Howe. When I left Broughton Island, I cried very hard. I was so homesick.”
Inuit who tested positive for TB were not allowed ashore to collect belongings. They could not say goodbye, or make arrangements for their families.
“My parents and my siblings were taken away on the CD Howe. I was just a child and I was left behind alone. It was the last time I would be seeing my parents and siblings for a long time. Even though I tried crying, nobody cared. I thought I was left because I was the only one that was not loved by my parents among all my siblings.”
Some Inuit today still do not know where their relatives lost to TB are buried.
Community-owned and community-driven programs are key.
“Inuit have used the oil lamp, qulliq (qul-liq), for thousands of years. I see our path as a qulliq. The base itself is made of hard thick stone that gets hot from the flames. The wick is a mixture of moss and cotton. The oil is from seal, whale or caribou fat.
The base is us starting with this tuberculosis project. The oil is us Inuit who want the knowledge but have no way of getting the answers around tuberculosis or other concerns. The flame is the knowledge. It starts out very small and spreads slowly to others. The more people want to learn, the more fuel we have and the bigger and hotter the flame becomes.
That’s how I see this project. Just like the qulliq my mother made for me, I will also carry this with me always and pass it on to the next generation.”
Workshops are held entirely in Inuktitut and facilitated by Inuit counsellors. Community members have space to heal from TB-related trauma. They can acquire knowledge about TB.
Workshops blend storytelling, narrative therapy, multimedia and passing of basic technical information. Participants and facilitators work together. Content is shaped by the community’s needs.
11 Clyde River and Iqaluit community members graduated from the first Community TB Empowerment Workshop. They are now TB Pijitsiit (community helpers).
“In the old days, they shipped us out, which was not beneficial to the community. We went through extreme hardship. We don’t want other people to go through what we went through. Thanks to the workshop, we are healing ourselves by talking about it. We now have information on TB. Now we can work together to help people.”
Workshop graduates become TB Pijitsiit (community helpers) who:
Community members are the changemakers
This is health decolonized. This is the revival of humanity, humility and solidarity.