Cameco Chair in Indigenous Health and Wellness University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Background: Indigenous Peoples in Canada—First Nations, Inuit and Métis—experience a disproportionate burden of cardiovascular and neurological diseases due to colonial policies, systemic inequities, inaccessibility to traditional foods and culturally unsafe healthcare. The 7-Directions Summit (7DS), under the leadership of Pewaseskwan (the Indigenous Wellness Research Group), responds by reframing heart health through Indigenous knowledges, relational methods and community-led practices.
METHODS AND RESULTS: Objectives The 7DS reframes heart health as a wholistic, relational and spiritual journey rooted in land-based knowledge and lived experience. Healing must be done with communities, reflecting diverse ways of knowing and being. The Summit builds on the strengths within Indigenous medicines to address the gaps in Western medicine, acknowledging that colonization, disconnection, trauma and emotional stress live in the heart. This approach is human-centered, story-driven and systemically informed.
Mitewekan provides guidance to national research collaborations—such as the Cardiovascular Network of Canada, the Canadian Heart Function Alliance and the Brain-Heart Interconnectome—on embedding cultural safety and community relevance. These relationships were launched in ceremony, establishing trust and accountability with host communities.
Overview & Purpose The Summit is taking place in seven Indigenous communities across Canada, including urban, rural and remote locations. Each community will host two one-day sessions focused on brain-heart health and regenerative healing, guided by community-specific ethical and cultural protocols. Through gatherings, storytelling and digital knowledge tools, the 7DS co-creates safe spaces for Indigenous wisdoms to emerge. Voices are uplifted through ceremony, art and dialogue that connect the brain, heart and land. Methods are guided by Indigenous governance and ethical relationality. In partnership with the Brain-Heart Interconnectome and the Canadian Heart Function Alliance, the 7DS integrates Indigenous frameworks with scientific research to map the neural, cultural and emotional pathways that influence heart health.
Impact and Relevance The 7DS framework has the potential to transform care by: • Equipping providers with culturally respectful strategies • Recognizing the role of emotion, spirit and trauma in cardiac health • Promoting relational models grounded in trust and accountability • Reframing clinicians as listeners and learners
Community insights will be shared through curated video clips and digital tools, informed by traditional teachings and research developed with Indigenous scholars and health leaders.
Conclusion: To care for the heart, we must also care for the stories it carries. The 7DS advances equity in cardiovascular research and care by weaving together ceremony, relational science and Indigenous knowledge. True healing begins with connection, community and respect.
