1405 St. Matthews Avenue,
WINNIPEG, MB R3G 0K5, Canada
April 8, 2025 - April 8, 2025
09:00AM - 04:00PM CST
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| Description: | Within Manitoba and Saskatchewan, pre-existing health inequities amongst Indigenous groups were intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Service disruptions in the health and social service sector – combined with the effects of intersectional stigma – disproportionately impacted Indigenous peoples living with HIV (IPLH) who use substances. IPLH who use substances experience structural violence and necropolitical exclusion through system forms of stigma situated within Canada’s expansive colonial history. Utilizing the theoretical foundation of structural violence and necropolics this qualitative study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic amplified preceding states of inequity for IPLH who use substances. This critical analysis of the stories shared within the Gigii-Bapiimin project provides a framework of the depth of health inequity intentionality and the radical change required to prevent similar outcomes during future pandemics. Methods: 60 participants across Manitoba and Saskatchewan in (45 Indigenous people living with HIV and 15 service providers) shared stories through semi-structured interviews focusing on health and social services, harm reduction, substance use, and experiences in providing services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using thematic analysis several common themes arose from the data. Results: Three main avenues for the perpetuation of structural violence and necropolitics for IPLH within the context of COVID-19 were identified: (i) restrictions and removal of care, (ii) bureaucracy and institutional care politics, and (iii) discrimination and systemic racism within the Canadian healthcare system. |
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| Description: | With increasing recognition of toxic work environments and a lack of management support or communication, workers are experiencing rising rates of burnout (Stoller, 2024). Employees are starting to take matters into their own hands and are finding ways to support one another in these challenging circumstances. Michelle Klimzcak, and Chris Trimble will use a story-telling approach to explore how they fostered a culture of resilience, unconditional support and professional boundaries, within harm reduction outreach team. Using Indigenous knowledge, the pilot team for the Program to Access HIV Treatment and Supports (PATHS), built in supports for the team’s mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Participants will hear how rather than having a one-time event or an all-staff presentation, the PATHS Team made the health of the team a priority on a daily and weekly basis. The goal of this presentation being that the audience to walk away with practical strategies or ideas to implement in their work to support the health of themselves and those they work with. Stoller, William. (2023, May 24). Canadian Employees are Burnt Out – Companies Must Act or Risk Losing Workers. Globe Newswire. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/05/24/2675283/0/en/Canadian-Employees-are-Burnt-Out-Companies-Must-Act-or-Risk-Losing-Workers.html |
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| Description: | Come for an opportunity to meet like-minded professionals from across the province and build your networks. |
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| Description: | (Hailey Bird Matheson and Eli Bird) Meissner, Darlene. (2024). Exploring the Needs of Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ Young People in Child Welfare in Manitoba. Retrieved from: https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/bitstreams/e57bfe72-5a9f-4122-8a6b-6a20cb79b0df/download. |
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| Description: | (Martin Morberg) With the spirit of self-determination at the forefront, many leaders involved in the response to HIV/AIDS have identified a need for Indigenous-led knowledge mobilization among all our Indigenous communities affected by HIV/AIDS. To support this need, two organizations – the Two-Spirit Program at CBRC and CATIE – have joined strengths with a national working group – 12 Indigenous leaders – to create a new Indigenous-led knowledge mobilization project to ensure that knowledge of HIV/AIDS truly reaches Indigenous people. We understand that the weight of HIV education has largely been carried by Indigenous people living with HIV/AIDS (IPHAs). It is our hope to encourage and support all members of our communities to share knowledge of HIV/AIDS within their families, circles, and communities. We, as Indigenous people all have a role to play in addressing HIV/AIDS and supporting wellness in our communities. Families, aunties, uncles - everyone in our communities can responsible to support wellness and HIV responses. Our collaborative acknowledges and honors not only the validity, but the power of Indigenous knowledge systems that are deeply embedded within our communities. This project is not about hierarchal or settler approaches to knowledge translation. Rather, it is to explore Indigenous knowledge, expertise, and wisdom and to collectively find ways to integrate HIV prevention methods into these existing systems of Indigenous knowledge. In September 2023, our newly established working collaborative created a foundational Indigenous-led strategy to mobilize HIV prevention knowledge within Indigenous communities. Our first goal – in resistance to colonial hierarchies – was to ensure a grassroots community-driven approach. In the spirit of Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, we hosted several Indigenous community sharing circles to have open dialogue to explore Indigenous knowledge systems and Indigenous ways of knowledge sharing. Mapping a way forward, this presentation will highlight our initial work, as we continue to pursue a grassroots approach to Indigenous-led knowledge mobilization on HIV prevention. (https://sites.google.com/iswp.info/home/iswp) |
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| Description: | Our team of Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQIA+ researchers and Community Guiding Circle have been working towards exploring how Indigenous HIV/STBBI doulas can address the gaps in HIV/STBBI diagnoses, treatment and care for Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQIA+ in Manitoba. |
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| Description: | Learning to Walk with Grief is a First Nation culturally based and trauma informed presentation which provides the audience with: defining loss and grief, how it collectively is experienced by First Nations due to impacts of intergenerational effects and colonization, provides beneficial information on the impacts and effects of loss and grief, as well as wholistic strategies promoting connection to healing and wellness. Many of our communities have unresolved grief due to the impacts of loss of loved ones, relationships, employment, disconnect to land and culture, and resources that are considered sacred to our people. Individuals often ask questions when experiencing loss and grief, how can I manage? How can I heal? Why is it important for me to reach out for help? These questions are answered throughout this presentation as this presentation identifies how it can impact individuals, families and communities, and provides positive culturally sensitive strategies on how one can heal and work on the path to wellness. This presentation will look at a First Nation culturally based healing and wellness lens that will provide wholistic ways to heal. It is considered a path of grieving well and keeping a balanced holistic life. The audience is encouraged in the beginning of this presentation to take stock of the information to use in their healing and wellness plans. It is the objective of this presentation to move people forward while addressing loss and grief in a culturally sensitive and positive way.
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| Description: | Chris Trimble Using the table-top discussion model, participants will be invited to tour up to four tables representing certain regions and groups from across the province (selection TBD), and to discuss housing issues, solutions and opportunities for both housing as harm reduction and how to incorporate harm reduction in housing. Participants and hosts will also be provided with some example questions to help prompt discussion if needed. The entire group will be welcomed back to close on a reflection of one action/main takeaway from the session that they can use in their community. |
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| Description: | Objectives: Racism towards Indigenous Peoples in the health care system is expressed through stereotypes, discrimination, stigmatization, violence and harmful colonial systems. Indigenous specific racism harms physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing, and can lead to death. The long-term impact is a loss of trust in health systems that results in reduced utilization of services, and, ultimately, to poorer health outcomes for Indigenous People, including higher incidents of complex health care need from preventable conditions, and premature death1. Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin (KIM) Sākihiwēwin Client Advocates (SCAs) are First Nations advocates working in a northern MB hospital, bringing life experience and spirit of Ithinisewin to empower clients through a rights-based lens. SCAs provide support with kind, compassionate and trauma/violence informed approaches. Advocacy focuses on indigenous harm reduction principles that reduce the violence of everyday racism. It is the very presence of First Nations advocates that has shown to have saved lives and reduce harms for many accessing healthcare. Through the story telling of real experiences, the learning objectives will be met, and participants will gain insight into an impactful approach to bringing love and humanity to a harmful colonized system. |
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| Description: | “We have described for you a mountain, we have shown you the path to the top. We call upon you to do the climbing.” Mazina Giizhik-Iban The Late Honorable Murray Sinclair made the above statement at the release of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015. In describing the pragmatic work of disrupting anti-Indigenous racism, decolonization and reconciliation what he was reminding us is that we can’t do the work of climbing for others. We may understand the concepts of racism, we may have some understanding of how systemic racism operates in public health, we may theoretically get why anti-racism is core to harm reduction. And yet people continue to experience racism in our systems often without visible anti-racism intervention by others in the room. How do we understand the gap between anti-racist intention and action, and start to climb this mountain? |
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| Description: | (Carol, Sarah and Kim) |
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| Description: | The HEP C Pilot project was a 12 week pilot project that allowed for 8 individuals living with HEP C to receive education, linkage to care and/ or treatment in rural and remote Manitoba. As each week passed we learned more and more about the system barriers and peer barriers. This allowed us to work with service providers to bridge the gaps in the system, such as having the referral process & blood work streamlined, and increasing local prescribers for HEP C. These changes are a result of the individuals work and participation throughout the project, which will now ensure a smoother journey for future clients in need of HEP C Treatment. Our findings of the HEP C pilot project were that people living with HEP C were not hard to reach but the systems were difficult to navigate. Which brings us to our new project “Navigators” which will link peers to care who are living with HIV, HEP C and syphilis in their Community. The Navigator will inform the expansion of the Community Based Education & Treatment Toolkit to include HIV and Syphilis Care. |
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| Description: | Art in Action: Youth Experiences of Homelessness through a Harm Reduction Lens
Jaydin Peters, Sunday, Cheyenne Traverse Peer Research Advisors from the Art as Knowledge Mobilization Project team will share experiences and learnings from a series of harm-reduction-focused, art-based youth workshops. Workshops brought together youth with lived experience of being unhoused who used a variety of artistic mediums to share perspectives and harm reduction recommendations for organizations to better support youth and families to prevent youth homelessness. Speakers will circulate hard copies of a collective Zine that includes art and quotations from the workshops. Created and curated by young people with lived experience, the Zine captures the voices of youth who should be at the forefront of shaping future youth-focused harm reduction research and interventions. |
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| Description: | Come for an opportunity to meet like-minded professionals from across the province and build your networks. |
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| Description: | This session teaches about how to stay safe and calm while supporting a person's psychosis in a harm reductive manner. |
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| Description: | In 2007, the HIV Legal Network published Hard Time: HIV and Hepatitis C Prevention Programming for Prisoners in Canada (Hard Time), analyzing health and harm reduction policies and practices in Canada’s prisons. The present study explores what those measures look like today. In 2023, the research team conducted over 25 interviews with key informants, including formerly incarcerated individuals, people who work in prisons, and community organizations. The team also identified and analyzed health and harm policies applicable to prisons across the country. In the nearly two decades since Hard Time, healthcare in prison has improved. Health and harm reduction policies and practices exist across federal, provincial, and territorial prisons in Canada. Yet, they vary widely in practice. In some prisons, practices mirror promising community efforts. In others, significant gaps remain, which are particularly harmful to Indigenous people and racialized people, who are overrepresented in prison, and to gender diverse people and women, who have particular healthcare needs. At the federal level, Correctional Services Canada has policies regarding safer sex materials, Post-Exposure Prophylaxis, Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT), naloxone, Prison Needle Exchange Program, Overdose Prevention Services, and Indigenous programming. In practice, broad disparities exist between institutions. At the provincial and territorial level, greater gaps and variations exist. Few provide for healthcare in policy. British Columbia and Saskatchewan are exceptions. In practice, most jurisdictions provide STBBI testing and treatment, OAT (continuation), naloxone (via prison staff), and Indigenous programming. Significantly, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon are far behind, failing to consistently offer essential health services throughout their institutions. The study revealed several enabling policies and promising practices, such as transferring responsibility for health care in prison to provincial or territorial health ministries, offering comprehensive STBBI testing and treatment to all upon admission, and offering prompt and easy OAT to all who qualify. These policies and practices highlight the ways in which governments, community organizations, incarcerated individuals, and others, can implement comprehensive and effective health care and harm reduction programs in prison. |
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| Description: | HIV PrEP for people who use drugs (Zoe) The consistent and correct use of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective strategy to help prevent transmission of HIV through sex and from sharing equipment used to inject drugs. This session will begin with a review of HIV core biomedical knowledge, including HIV prevention strategies. Following this, we will discuss considerations around the use of PrEP for people who use drugs and the role of service providers in supporting the uptake of this prevention strategy. Attendees will be encouraged to share successful strategies for supporting people who use drugs in accessing PrEP and incorporating this HIV prevention strategy within established harm reduction services. This workshop aims to increase knowledge of HIV PrEP for service providers who work with people who use drugs. Specifically, this workshop aims to:
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| Description: | The Harm Reduction Nurses Association (HRNA) is a Canadian National organization with a mission to advance harm reduction nursing through practice, education, research, and advocacy. Join us at the Manitoba Harm Reduction Conference to network with like-minded nurses, identify needs and priorities for life-saving initiatives and enjoy some light refreshments.
Harm reduction nursing in the prairies offers unique perspectives and challenges. We want to hear from current and future nurses about priorities to advance and support harm reduction initiatives in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. HRNA is hosting a roundtable at the Manitoba Harm Reduction Conference to set priorities for advocacy in the prairie provinces. We want to hear from you! Join HRNA Prairie Representative, Rachael Edwards, for an opportunity to network with harm reduction nurses from across Canada. If you are a nurse working in harm reduction, or advocating for the dignity and human rights of people who use drugs, become a member! Member perks include access to regional and national education, consultation support for harm reduction advocacy in healthcare settings across Canada, mentorship opportunities, emerging trends in drug policy, and many more! |
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| Description: | Megan Malette & Sophie Butler |
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| Description: | The session will explore the need to address Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in harm reduction services. The presentation will include how to provide harm reduction services with an FASD lens. According to CanFASD: “Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the leading cause of neurodevelopmental disability in Canada, affecting 4% of the population” (Canfasd.ca). |
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| Description: | (Rebecca Haines-Saah) This talk will specifically focus on youth cannabis use, highlighting the Young Adult Digital Storytelling Cannabis Harm Reduction Project and other youth initiatives such as Get Sensible. These projects empowered young people to share their stories through creative mediums (e.g., digital stories, short film, zines, etc.), allowing them to reflect on their unique experiences with cannabis and incorporate harm reduction practices, such as mindful consumption and safer use. By creating supportive, non-judgmental spaces, these initiatives enabled participants to challenge traditional narratives around cannabis use and reframe their relationships with it. Through interactive discussions, we will explore how peer-led initiatives foster youth leadership, reduce stigma, and support young people in shaping their own narratives around cannabis. Drawing from the Young Adult Digital Storytelling Cannabis Harm Reduction Project and Get Sensible’s work, the session will also explore the value of these models for priority and underserved groups, such as 2SLGBTQIA+ youth, and their potential applications in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities. By the end of the session, participants will leave with practical strategies and tools to implement peer-based harm reduction approaches in their own work, creating inclusive environments that elevate youth voices and promote meaningful harm reduction practices. |
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| Description: | In this interactive session we'll be focusing on how to utilize anti-oppressive and harm reduction approaches in health for youth aged 12 and up. For materials see the downloadable outlines for emotional well-being, healthy relationships, values and beliefs, consent, social identities: privilege and oppression, gender literacy, sexual orientation, substance use information, body image, media literacy and more are available at https://womenshealthclinic.org/resources/health-education/resources-educators for no charge. |
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| Description: | Over the past five years, we have witnessed incremental wins and dramatic setbacks in laws and policies that regulate and police people who use drugs. These developments include a 3-year pilot to decriminalize simple drug possession in B.C., followed by the recriminalization of public drug consumption in the province, the withdrawal of safer inhalation supply distribution in Saskatchewan, calls for involuntary treatment across the country, the forced closure of supervised consumption services in Alberta and Ontario, and increasingly hostile and violent rhetoric towards people who use drugs and the frontline staff who support them. |
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| Description: | Community Supported Opioid Access Main Street Project launched a community supported opioid access pilot program in the Spring of 2024. In collaboration with Northway Pharmacy, Manitoba Harm Reduction Network, The College of Pharmacy, The College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the College of Nurses, this life-saving program was initiated in response to the overdose crisis, and it has brought folks a safer and regulated supply of opioids to prevent drug poisonings, while providing wrap-around care. Managed Alcohol Program In early 2024, Main Street Project initiated a Managed Alcohol Program (MAP) at The Bell, MSP's long-term supportive housing space. MAP's have been proven to increase access to healthcare, improve connections and relationships and pursue personal goals. |
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| Description: | In October 2024, driven by Indigenous youth/young adults in Winnipeg, End Homelessness Winnipeg, and The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, hosted a kick-off exploratory event called ‘Youth Homelessness Prevention – Duty to Assist’, whereby approximately 80 lived/living experts, community members, and representatives from the four levels of government came together for 2.5 days, to discuss strategies for combating youth homelessness. According to the Homeless Hub (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness), the term ‘Duty to Assist’, refers to a statutory obligation, or a legal duty, that requires local authorities to make reasonable efforts to end a person’s homelessness and/or stabilize their housing. In practice, this means offering support to those at risk of, or experiencing homelessness, and providing stable housing and support services required to prevent their homelessness from reoccurring. Innagakeyaa Bimadizewin (Towards the Good Life): Unifying Voices for Youth Addiction System Change
Informed by survey data, internal program analysis, and a detailed system map, MACY hosted two Youth Addiction Services Roundtables: the first in Winnipeg in April 2024 and the second in Thompson in September 2024. These roundtables served as systemic advocacy interventions rooted in the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which sets out the minimum international standards for the realization of children’s rights, including their rights to health, to be protected from substance-related harms, to be heard, and to non-discrimination. This presentation highlights the effectiveness of collaborative advocacy methodologies in advancing children’s rights and addressing complex systemic challenges. By moving beyond traditional siloed and hierarchical approaches, this initiative adopted a grassroots, inclusive framework to identify and address pressing issues. The findings from these efforts culminated in the November 2024 publication of Innagakeyaa Bimadizewin (Towards the Good Life): Unifying Voices for Youth Addiction System Change, and are intended to be used as a resource to develop an ‘all of Manitoba’ intersystem youth addiction strategy. At the heart of this work lies the conviction that any efforts towards meaningful and sustainable change for youth must center their voices, needs, and rights. This presentation will delve into the initiative’s key achievements, limitations, and aspirations, showcasing how youth-led insights are shaping equitable and effective systems. Featuring the Manitoba Advocate and key members of her project team, this panel discussion will spotlight actionable items that emerged from the initiative. It will also provide updates on MACY’s ongoing efforts to drive systemic change through working groups, exploring the next steps in the advocacy journey and how collaborative approaches can sustain momentum, fostering transformative change in youth addiction services across Manitoba. |
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| Description: | Come for an opportunity to meet like-minded professionals from across the province and build your networks. |
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| Description: | Navigating the power of communication is critical for anyone seeking to support well-being in our communities and challenge systemic barriers, whether you're building a grassroots movement, challenging discriminatory policies, or building support for harm reduction services. In this workshop, we'll explore key elements of effective communication. You’ll learn the basics of how to craft compelling, persuasive narratives while avoiding common pitfalls that can undermine your work. You'll practice creating messages that resonate, inform, and create momentum—whether you’re posting on social media, interviewing on live TV, or having one-on-one conversations with community members and decision-makers. |
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| Description: | In this session we will be looking into the unique challenges BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour) frontline workers encounter in healthcare to better understand the systemic racism and discrimination that lead to a more complex burnout. |
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| Description: | Although there is indisputable evidence that supervised consumption services (SCS) help to keep people safe and decrease the major harms associated with substance use, the Canadian public holds divergent and polarized views about SCS. Further, people who identify as politically conservative are often reluctant to endorse –or are vehemently opposed to—SCS as a public health measure, leading to delays in service provision. Unfortunately, providing factual information often fails to change people’s minds about SCS. Method: We conducted a survey across Canada’s prairie provinces to determine factors that predict support of, and opposition to, SCS, using instruments that measure moral foundations, stigmatizing views of people who use drugs (PWUD), and personal experiences with PWUD. Results: The study involved 2,116 participants from the three prairie provinces in Canada. Higher scores on the Harm/Care and Fairness/Reciprocity subscales were associated with higher levels of support for SCS and are also aligned with what is typically considered the political left/liberal. Conversely, higher scores on the Authority/Respect and Purity/Sanctity subscales predicted lower levels of support for SCS and are also aligned with what is typically considered the political right/conservative. Conclusion: People who identify as politically conservative may oppose SCS due to their underlying moral foundations, which differ fundamentally from people who identify as politically liberal. By speaking to people’s moral foundations, we can have better conversations while also shifting the proverbial needle towards greater acceptance of SCS in our communities and towards better policies that support PWUD. |
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| Description: | Mobile Overdose Prevention and (soon to open) Supvervised Consumption Site MOPS |
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| Description: | This session explains how to support Frontline Workers in Harm reductive ways through leadership support and collective community strategies. The founders of Frontline Baddies share the results of the Quality of Life Survey of Frontline Workers from the 2024 year showing targeted ways to support Frontline Workers in their quiet struggles. |
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