Tylenol Bacc Award

I am Standing Strong Spirit Womxn from the Marten Clan. I am Anishinaabe/Métis from Treaty 1 territory. I grew up in an environment without safety or nurturing support systems as a direct result of Historical and generational trauma. My parents were haunted by their childhoods and my grandmother died at 55 after refusing cancer treatment and lost her will to live after surviving Colonial traumas including the loss of her children to CFS after every birth.

As a result of everything I have witnessed and experienced, I deeply value and admire individuals that are strong, honourable, and warriors for the people. I chose to become a nurse after experiencing a health care crisis and a violent assault from institutions designed by and committed to uphold Colonial values and the dehumanization of Indigenous people. I set my sites on nursing school and challenged myself to learn what it takes to make fundamental changes that will elevate the lives of Indigenous people out of the toxic stress, and destructive physical impacts of Colonial trauma and violence leaves behind, thus relieving many from chronic diseases. I am determined and bound by integrity and am tenacious in such a way that not even breast cancer can keep me down. I will reach my goal of becoming a nurse so I can bear witness and advocate for the vulnerable. I am becoming the person I needed. I am becoming the person others need me to be. I am strong, I am resilient, and a warrior ‘For The People’.