Crossing the threshold
In a ceremony filled with culture and tradition, eight Indigenous medical students and two Indigenous midwifery students graduated from UBC’s Faculty of Medicine
On May 21, Indigenous Elders and community members, alongside family members, friends, faculty and staff, gathered in the Sty-Wet-Tan Great Hall of the UBC First Nations Longhouse to honour and celebrate the achievements of this year’s Indigenous medical and midwifery graduates.
This year’s graduates join a growing and vibrant community of Indigenous alumni who have graduated from the Faculty of Medicine’s (the Faculty) Indigenous MD Admissions Pathway and Bachelor of Midwifery program and who are now providing culturally safe and accessible health care for families and communities across British Columbia (B.C.) and Canada.
Launched in 2002, the pathway continues to serve a pivotal role in encouraging and creating new opportunities for more Indigenous students to study medicine while supporting them on their journey to becoming doctors.
The Midwifery program was also created in 2002 with the goal of making care more accessible and responsive to the diverse needs of pregnant people, including Indigenous people, by incorporating cultural learning experiences and mentorship provided by Indigenous midwives and Elders.
Since the launch of the programs, 139 Indigenous doctors and 14 Indigenous midwives have graduated from UBC and are now practicing midwives, family doctors, psychiatrists, pediatricians, surgeons, health leaders, educators and more. They are also inspiring future generations of Indigenous youth to follow their dreams of becoming healthcare providers.
At the start of the ceremony, Elder Jean Wasegijig and Elder Roberta Price led the procession of graduates through the ceremonial door while drumming.
The ceremonial door is only opened a few times each year in celebration of First Nations, Métis and Inuit graduates. For Indigenous medical and health professional graduates at UBC, crossing the threshold into the Longhouse marks a significant and symbolic transformation from student to practicing healthcare provider.
Meghan MacGillivray, Indigenous Student Initiatives Manager, Faculty of Medicine, greeted the graduates and attendees and guided the celebration’s proceedings. Elder Jean Wasegijig and Elder Roberta Price thanked Musqueam and shared blessings with the graduates. Dr. Joely Viveiros, Acting Director of the UBC First Nations House of Learning, spoke about the significance of the Longhouse for Indigenous students and the history behind the beautifully carved house posts and beams that can be seen in the Sty-Wet-Tan Great Hall.
Dr. Dermot Kelleher, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and UBC’s Vice President, Health, congratulated the graduates on their outstanding achievements and reinforced the Faculty’s strong commitment to bringing about meaningful, long-lasting and beneficial change in health care by inspiring and supporting more Indigenous students to pursue educational opportunities through the MD and health professional programs.
He also remarked on the incredible energy in the room and the sense of pride radiating from all the guests as each graduate entered the Longhouse through the ceremonial door.
“You did not walk through that door alone, but with an entire community standing alongside you, lifting you up, all of whom could not be more proud of you today.”
Dr. Dermot Kelleher, Dean, Faculty of Medicine & Vice President, Health, UBC
Dr. Randi George, Resident Director of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, UBC MD alumna and fourth-year UBC psychiatry resident doctor, shared her journey into medicine and the importance of having more Indigenous health care providers.
“You are so incredibly needed and appreciated by so many across Canada. You are uniquely positioned to offer the gift of Indigenous physician representation, seeing two perspectives at once.”
Dr. Randi George, Resident Director, Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada
Dr. Danièle Behn-Smith, Deputy Provincial Health Officer of Indigenous Health, gave the keynote address where she spoke about the important contributions that each graduate will make in improving health and transforming healthcare systems.
“What you have achieved is incredible…Your ancestors are dancing today.”
Dr. Danièle Behn-Smith, Deputy Provincial Health Officer of Indigenous Health
On behalf of her classmates, Dr. Samantha Gibbon, a graduate of the Southern Medical Program, spoke about the importance of continuing to respond to the calls of action heard from their communities and to demonstrate the resilience of their ancestors. She also urged her peers to continue advocating for safe and protective educational opportunities for Indigenous youth to learn, heal and share their culture so that they can become the care providers they desire to be.
“I hope that today recognizes that our resilience serves as an indication that our ancestors’ fight lives on from the care we provide, not only for our patients, but for ourselves.”
Dr. Samantha Gibbon, UBC MD graduate
Elders Roberta Price, Jean Wasegijig and Marr Dorvault provided the final remarks and shared words of wisdom with the graduates while offering them sachets of sacred plants from Elder Fred John of the Xaxli’p First Nation to help ward off negative energy. They closed the ceremony with the gratitude song, “Thank You, Grandmother,” which they sang with graduates and guests.
After the ceremony, the graduates gathered together with Dr. Kelleher, Dr. Roger Wong, Vice Dean, Education, James Andrew, Associate Director of Indigenous Initiatives, Meghan MacGillivray and Katia Mordak, Indigenous Student Coordinator with Midwifery, to celebrate, while family and friends watched and took photos to capture memories of the event.
Starting this summer, the graduates will begin the next chapter of their journey as practicing midwives and resident doctors in fields such as family medicine, general surgery, pathology, obstetrics and gynaecology, serving urban, rural, remote and Indigenous communities across B.C. and Canada.