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Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle to honour traditional foods at annual event

The two-day virtual event will feature various guest speakers who will share their knowledge and wisdom on all aspects of traditional foods, diabetes wellness and indigenous holistic health
IDHC
The Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle will be hosting its annual event, honouring traditional foods, on October 14 and 15

This week the Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle is once again hosting its annual event highlighting and honouring traditional indigenous foods.

Says Yvette Amor, the organization’s communication director, “Working together and building the pathways across different communities makes everybody stronger. It’s about sharing knowledge, it’s about communicating together. Even non-indigenous people are invited to come to our event.”

The two-day virtual event will take place on Thursday, October 14 and Friday, October 15, and will feature various guest speakers who will share their knowledge and wisdom on all aspects of traditional foods, diabetes wellness and indigenous holistic health.

The Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle, which has its head office in Thorold, was founded 24 years ago in an effort to combat the ways diabetes disproportionally affects indigenous people.

Says Amor, “Diabetes in indigenous communities (has) reached epidemic proportions and we have a very strong vision that the solution to this challenge is one that should be created by indigenous people for indigenous people. It’s affected by cultural trauma and colonialism. That’s why we take this holistic approach: body, mind, and spirit.”

The IDHC uses this three-pronged approach to provide education and wellness resources to indigenous communities all over Ontario.

“Under the body area we supply information for example about foot care. We provide foot care education and clinics, we subsidize programs and we provide self care kits. Under the mind we provide culturally appropriate wellness resources and we also certify front line health workers, so we’re raising the bar in terms of preparing people to service indigenous people. In the third component, spirit, we provide awareness and education so we do presentations and workshops and interactive healthy living activities.”

Amor says she thinks the world is finally starting to listen and engage with indigenous issues.

“I think this is the time of an indigenous renaissance around the world. People are starting to understand that the experiences of indigenous people are real and they need to be addressed. It’s a renaissance.”

To learn more about the event, head on over to organization's Facebook page. Registration is required to attend.


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Bernard Lansbergen

About the Author: Bernard Lansbergen

Bernard was born and raised in Belgium but moved to Canada in 2012 and has lived in Niagara since 2020. Bernard loves telling people’s stories and wants to get to know those that make Thorold into the great place it is
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