- Dr. Brittany Bingham has worked in various capacities of research and policy with Indigenous communities for over 15 years, is of mixed ancestry and a proud member of the Shíshálh nation,
- In her role as Director of Indigenous Research at CGSHE, she is the Indigenous lead for a newly launched Access to Responsive Justice Project, which focuses on access to responsive and restorative justice for marginalized and racialized women, including Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people, who experience gender-based violence across communities in B.C.,
- The new Director of Indigenous Research is a formal partnership between the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Aboriginal Health. Both organizations are commitment to reconciliation through conducting research that is framed within the context of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and directly responsive to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls to Justice.
- Quote: “This joint role will enable our research teams to collaborate on community-driven research that is directly responsive to international and national calls to action and justice for Indigenous peoples health and develop recommendations for achieving health equity for Indigenous peoples, with a particular focus on Indigenous women’s wellness.”
- Quote: “I specifically hope to work on projects and research that directly address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls to Justice. Most importantly, I plan to create a supportive and culturally safe research structure that will support training and building capacity for the next generation of Indigenous community-based researchers.”
- She was recently awarded a MSFHR funding on Informing COVID-19 Response for Vancouver’s Urban Indigenous Populations
- Hopes to centre all of her work around the importance of elevating Indigenous community voices in research and keeping these perspectives central to findings and interpretations and contribute to system-wide transformational change for Indigenous peoples
- Quote: “Indigenous women’s roles in communities were dismantled by colonialism, and returning to a focus on women’s leadership roles is key to decolonizing and reconciliation efforts.” – Dr. Bingham
Quotes:
- “Indigenous women have such resiliency and wisdom to inform research that has an impact on their health, wellness, and the policies that affect them. The research at CGSHE and VCH Aboriginal Health are closely linked with policy change and recommendations, which presents an amazing opportunity to engage Indigenous women in the research and elevate their voices to impact action and change.” – Dr. Brittany Bingham
- “Indigenous peoples have largely been marginalized from the research that creates the evidence base from which system level decisions are made and resources are allocated.” – Dr. Brittany Bingham
- “We need to work with the Indigenous experts in the community to inform our use of data that will help us mitigate COVID-19 risk in these populations, creating responses that are led by and for Indigenous peoples.”
- “Indigenous people have faced structural level racism and barriers to service access as a direct consequence of colonial policies, it is essential these structural level barriers are considered in COVID-19 responses.”
- “I specifically hope to work on projects and research that directly address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls to Justice. Most importantly, I plan to create a supportive and culturally safe research structure at CGSHE and VCH Aboriginal Health that will support training and building capacity for the next generation of Indigenous community-based researchers.” – Dr. Brittany Bingham
