TD Indigenous Nurse and Youth Diabetes and/or Mental Health Care Research Program Award

I wanted to start by thanking the TD Aboriginal Nursing Fund. My name is Jessy Dame, and I am a proud Two-Spirit Métis Registered Nurse. Though my Cree ancestry is from Manitoba, I was raised in Abbotsford, British Columbia and give thanks to my parents for their support. I graduated with my Bachelor of Nursing from TRU in 2015, and had the honour of being the valedictorian for my graduating class. This road was not easy, but with the help of friends and faculty members who gave me the guidance and support I needed, I was able to succeed. This love gave me the strength I needed to find my voice in this world; to find my voice in advocacy. Advocacy is supporting, strengthening, standing up, and speaking up; this is what I am most proud of and why I became a nurse. I truly believe as nurses we have one of the most influential roles and a responsibility to advocate. Through this ability to advocate I was named one of the top 150 nurses in Canada in 2017. I have recently finished my second year within the Masters of Nursing at UBC with a focus on Queer/Two-Spirit Health and with this support will continue on with my studies.