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Beʼsha Blondin ^[1] is noted as a "respected elder and healer of the Dene people. ^[2] Co-author of six publications on Indigenous healing practices, she is co-founder and director of the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation and the founder and director of Northern Integrated Culture and the Environment (Northern ICE.)

Career

Blondin is a First Nations' Elder from the Sahtu Region who follows the spiritual practices and protocols of the " Dene Way of Life". ^[3] Denendeh is part of the Northwest Territories that stretches from Alaska to the Southern tip of North America. ^{[4] [5]} She is the co-founder and director of the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation and the founder and director of Northern Integrated Culture with the Environment (Northern ICE), which strengthens Aboriginal communities in the North. ^{[6] [7]} She is an Elder advisor at the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research (ICHR), a nonprofit organization that engages in health research relevant to the people in the circumpolar regions of Canada. ^[8] She is a director and one of the leaders at Pull Together Now, a non-profit that connects people to each other and the Earth. ^[3] She is an advisor for the inVivo Planetary Health Network and one of the speakers in the opening session of the 2021 inVivo Planetary Health Conference. ^[9]

She is health administer and community development expert who has worked to revitalize Aboriginal cultural knowledge and belief systems and heal her people by "delivering land-based healing programs, developing wellness plans, and teaching ceremonies, healing practices, cultural competency, and traditional knowledge approaches to wellness." ^{[3] [8]}

Dene National Chief Noeline Villibrun asked Blondin to come ^[10] forward and pray during her keynote speech at an International Indigenous Conference at Ben Gurian University in Beersheba, Negev in 2004 ^[2] Blondin helped lead and spoke at the opening ceremonies of the Parliament of the World's Religions Conference in Salt Lake City in 2015. ^[11]

Publications

Blondin is the co-author of 6 publications, one of which is a scoping review that attempts to give Western practitioners, and communities an understanding of the role of traditional medicine in clinical settings and policy advances. ^{[12] [13]} She is a midwife and one of seven Aboriginal elders who contributed to Kim Anderson's "Notokwe Opikiheet--"Old-Lady Raised": aboriginal women's reflections on ethics and methodologies in health research." ^[14] Her co-written article, "Indigenous perspectives on education for sustainable healthcare" was an academic journal finalist with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Her publications include

• Redvers, Nicole & Celidwen, Yuria & Schultz, Clinton & Horn, Ojistoh & Githaiga, Cicilia & Vera, Melissa & Perdrisat, Marlikka & Mad Plume, Lynn & Kobei, Daniel & Kain, Myrna & Poelina, Anne & Rojas, Juan & Blondin, Be'sha. (2022). Personal View The determinants of planetary health: an Indigenous consensus perspective. The Lancet Planetary Health. 6. E156-163. 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00354-5.
• Blondin, Be'sha & Cherba, Maria & Boer, Kaila & Etter, Meghan & Healey, Gwen & Horlick, Sidney & Redvers, Nicole & Russell, Laurie & Ruttan, Jimmy & Tabish, Taha. (2022). An Aajiiqatigiingniq (consensus) process to develop an evaluation tool for health and wellness outcomes of land-based programs in the Canadian North. 6.
• Redvers, Nicole & Blondin, Be'sha. (2020). Traditional Indigenous medicine in North America: A scoping review. PLoS ONE. 15. 10.1371/journal.pone.0237531.
• Redvers, Nicole & Schultz, Clinton & Prince, Melissa & Cunningham, Myrna & Jones, Rhys & Blondin, Be'sha. (2020). Indigenous perspectives on education for sustainable healthcare. Medical Teacher. 42. 1–6. 10.1080/0142159X.2020.1791320.
• Redvers, Poelina, A., Schultz, C., Kobei, D. M., Githaiga, C., Perdrisat, M., Prince, D., & Blondin, B. (2020). Indigenous Natural and First Law in Planetary Health. Challenges (Basel), 11(2), 29–. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe11020029
• Redvers, Nicole & Marianayagam, Justina & Blondin, Be'sha. (2019). Improving access to Indigenous medicine for patients in hospital-based settings: a challenge for health systems in northern Canada. International Journal of Circumpolar Health. 78. 1577093. 10.1080/22423982.2019.1577093.

References

External links

• "Greenpeace - Portrait of Be'sha Blondin".
• "Pull Together Now Leader's Circle"
• "Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation - Elders"