Our two community partners for the project are the UBC Farm, as well as the Institute for Aboriginal Health. The UBC farm is a 24 hectare farm located on the UBC campus that incorporates a variety of learning and community initiatives. Students and faculty also use the farm as a research space. Some indigenous initiatives that the farm hosts include: the Vancouver Native Health Society Garden Project, the Maya in Exile Garden, the Institute for Aboriginal Health Garden, and the Musqueam community who operate a plot at the garden and are important collaborators with other Indigenous programs on the farm.

The Institute for Aboriginal Health (IAH), aims to improve the health of Aboriginal people in British Columbia through its two divisions: the division of community liaison and the division of First Nations Health Careers. IAH works with both UBC and the broader community to “assist health and human service faculties, schools, and departments in program and planning development concerning Aboriginal health issues; and develops effective mechanisms that may connect with all Aboriginal communities”.

More information about the farm can be found here, and more information on the Institute of Aboriginal Health can be found here.

Eduardo Jovel and Hannah Lewis are our community contacts for this project. Eduardo is an Associate Professor at UBC and the Director of Indigenous Research Partnerships. He is interested in ethnobotany, mycology, natural product chemistry and Aboriginal health. He sees great value in Indigenous peoples’ worldviews and how they interact with their ecosystems to maintain the health and wellness of both people and the environment. Eduardo is especially interested in the use of plants and fungi as traditional medicine and is currently involved with a variety of research projects that centre around Aboriginal health. Hannah is the Garden and Community Kitchen Coordinator for the IAH. Her role includes tending to the food and medicinal plants, helping to run the Feast Bowl community kitchen and the Culturally Relevant Urban Wellness youth program, and organizing garden-based workshops. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and environmental studies as well as a master’s in an environmental studies program with a diploma in environmental and sustainability education. Her research focussed on place-based environmental education, using community mapping to facilitate change in the food system of a low-income neighborhood in Toronto. Hannah is also the Aboriginal Programs Liaison for the UBC Farm.

Kinnikinick at the Aboriginal Teaching and Research Garden.

Sources:
http://ubcfarm.ubc.ca/teaching-learning/indigenous-initiatives/
http://www.iah.ubc.ca/
http://www.landfood.ubc.ca/directory/faculty/professors-and-instructors/eduardo-jovel