Projects
The next 7-Directions Summit will be held the week of Sept. 22 in Nova Scotia!
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7-Directions Summit
The 7-Directions Summit on brain-heart health and regenerative healing in Indigenous communities
In 2025, Pewaseskwan (the Indigenous Wellness Research Group), is hosting the 7-Directions Summit at various locations across Canada.
The summits will bring together individuals with lived or living experience, caregivers, health care workers and professionals to engage in meaningful conversations about brain-heart, heart health and the transformative potential of regenerative healing. Summits will provide an invaluable opportunity for meaningful connections, fostering dialogue and collaboration on these topics.
Together, we aim to bridge cultural perspectives and scientific research, sharing wisdom and building mutual understanding for the benefit of our communities, while also addressing the unique challenges faced by our communities. Intersecting themes underpinning the barriers to healthcare within Indigenous populations and identifing factors hindering fair access will be examined at each summit.
Our aim is to generate culturally appropriate solutions that resonate with the rich tapestry of Indigenous values and traditions, ensuring the proportional representation of Indigenous people in regenerative healing. Additionally, we will seek to address the historical wounds caused by untrustworthy health research practices, including unethical medical experiments.
In essence, the 7-Directions Summit will strive to design a roadmap toward a future where brain-heart health and regenerative healing are embraced, understood and accessible in a manner that respects and aligns with the cultural fabric of Indigenous communities in Canada.
Consultations were held prior to holding the first summit. The first consultation was at Dakota Dunes outside Saskatoon in March 2024 and involved several Knowledge Holders, Elders, Moshums/Kokums and other wise ones from across the country. The second, which also contained an element of an experiential pilot, was held at Sturgeon Lake First Nation in December 2024 and involved healers and wise ones from that community.
The first summit was held at Enoch Cree Nation, outside Edmonton, in March 2025. Folks from a variety of geographic locations attended, from northern Alberta to Saskatchewan. The summit, facilitated by Elder Russell Auger and Pewaseskwan team member Carrielynn Lund, included a day to discuss brain-heart health in sharing circles and through an arts-based activity, followed by a second day focused on regenerative healing. Anyone was welcome to register for the sharing circles, however we privileged First Nation, Métis and Inuit participation.
The participants shared personal experiences with:
• Regenerative healing
• Brain-heart
• Heart health conditions
• Providing care to individuals affected by these conditions
• Working in these areas from a healthcare professional’s perspective
Please email us for more information about upcoming summits in 2025: pewaseskwan@usask.ca
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Most of our team lives and works on Treaty 6 territory and the Homeland of the Métis. The original peoples of these lands are the Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, and Métis. Others are based in Vancouver, on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. We encourage everyone, wherever they are, to learn about the Indigenous people of the lands on which they live and work. We seek to become engaged allies together. In the spirit of truth and reconciliation, we respect the self-determination of First Nations, Métis and Inuit – in their cultures, languages and their pursuit of wellness.
© 2023 Pewaseskwan (the Indigenous Wellness Research Group) | Office of the Cameco Chair in Indigenous Health and Wellness, University of Saskatchewan.