(L-R) Graduate nursing students Jess Crawford, Ashley Bell, Jennie MacMillan Gomez and Adam Brandt at the Smartpark Innovation Hub.
Student research inspires symposium on gender and sexual minority health
Research from graduate students in the College of Nursing was the inspiration for the theme of this year’s Helen Glass Research Symposium.
The symposium, which is held annually in honour of Dr. Helen Glass, former director of the UM School of Nursing and a dedicated pioneer of the nursing profession, was held April 22 – 24 on Fort Garry Campus.
Symposium chair Dr. Marnie Kramer, an assistant professor in the College of Nursing, said the planning committee was guided by four master’s students – Jess Crawford, Ashley Bell, Adam Brandt and Jennie MacMillan Gomez – who were engaged in nursing research focused on gender and sexual minority health.
One change from previous years was holding a graduate student showcase instead of the traditional poster competition. Held at the Smartpark Innovation Hub, the showcase included a panel discussion with the working group, as well as oral and poster presentations from 18 master’s or PhD students on their research.
Crawford, who will graduate from the master’s program this year, presented their research on addressing the “trans problem” in undergraduate nursing education. They also delivered a land acknowledgement at the symposium’s opening event, the Helen Glass Lecture.
Elder Charlotte Nolin
Crawford said one of the highlights of the symposium was the time spent with Elder Charlotte Nolin, of Ongomiizwin – Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing, who was named the symposium’s first elder-in-residence.
“Being able to engage with a two-spirit Elder, to be able to have space and time to truly listen and be present with her, is such a value and a privilege. We need more queer, trans and two-spirit mentors,” they said.
Crawford said through those conversations, they learned more about colonization’s role in 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusive and affirming care.
“Colonization is ongoing and permeates norms in ways that we don’t think about. Colonizers brought with them ideas about gender and sexuality and what is appropriate or moral. Those ideas are ingrained in society. We are controlled by those, even if we don’t think about it.”
Moving and lively presentations at annual lecture
Nearly 150 people attended this year’s Helen Glass Lecture at the Desautels Concert Hall. The event, hosted by Kramer, featured presentations by Nolin and researcher-in-residence Dr. Athena Sherman, a leading transgender health researcher and assistant professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Nolin gave a moving presentation about her journey growing up with racism, homophobia and transphobia in Manitoba to eventually coming out and being able to live as her true self.
“We’ve changed a lot in the last 50 years. Where it was dangerous for me to come out during the day 50 years ago, now I can walk freely,” she said.
Dr. Athena Sherman
Nolin remained hopeful while addressing the current political climate in the United States, a theme that came up repeatedly at the lecture.
“I know the dark cloud that is hovering from the States … but we will not falter. We will keep moving forward, and we will stand up for all the 2SLGBTQIA+ children, youth and adults, and let them know they are loved, they are respected, they are welcomed, and we will be there for them.”
While introducing Sherman, Kramer spoke about how many projects related to the health of transgender people that were funded by the National Institutes of Health have been cancelled under the current U.S. government.
“Dr. Sherman’s visit and research are a continued act of resistance,” Kramer said.
Sherman gave a lively presentation on the importance of involving community in gender and sexual minority health-related research. They also spoke about their own funding challenges and being a queer researcher in today’s U.S.
“Love and value – those are privileges – and I have to continue to remind myself not to turn those privileges into targets for oppression and fight back against that,” they said.
Hon. Uzoma Asagwara
The Southern Thunderbird Medicine Drum Group opened and closed the lecture. Other speakers included Dr. Lynda Balneaves, associate dean (research) from the College of Nursing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, and Hon. Uzoma Asagwara, Minister of Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care. Asagwara is also a registered psychiatric nurse and Manitoba’s first non-binary MLA.
“When I was a nursing student many years ago, these conversations were not happening. These spaces were not being created, and it really shows us all, I think, how far we’ve come … and how important it is that we continue moving in a direction that welcomes people into these conversations,” Asagwara said.