In response to rising tensions and unmet needs in its downtown core, the City of Edmonton’s RECOVER Urban Wellbeing team and partners questioned assumptions and embarked on a journey of deep listening and co-creation of solutions with residents to cultivate connectedness and well-being. Check out this episode, featuring former RECOVER project manager Sue Holdsworth, to discover how RECOVER’s well-being framework can be used to transform how we design, deliver and evaluate programs and services to foster essential, but often overlooked, non-material aspects of health and well-being.

(00:00) Introduction

(2:10) Interview with Sue Holdsworth

Episode Guest:

With two interdisciplinary degrees, Sue Holdsworth has worked for three local governments and an NGO as an urban planner, a social planner and a project manager. From 2020-2024, she was the project manager for RECOVER Urban Wellbeing at the City of Edmonton. It focused on people living on the margins and used social R&D to find and test new solutions. Sue has a love for learning and systems thinking, and she is drawn to complex, transformative projects.

Learn more:

• City of Edmonton's Recover: Edmonton's Urban Wellness Plan
• The Soulful City Report (includes Framework for a Culture of Wellbeing of page 146) (2020)
• Soloss

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Pemma Muzumdar, Rebecca Cheff and host Bernice Yanful (NCCDH). The Mind the Disruption project team is led by Rebecca Cheff, with technical production and original music by Chris Perry. Promotion by Caralyn Vossen (NCCDH). Artwork by comet art + design. Mind the Disruption is a podcast by the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. NCCDH is hosted by St. Francis Xavier University and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the PHAC. 

Engage Nova Scotia is working to better measure, understand and improve well-being for all Nova Scotians through a large Quality of Life survey, accessible data tools and deep community engagement. Over two episodes, you will meet multiple members of the vibrant Engage Nova Scotia team: Chief Engagement Officer Danny Graham, Outreach and Participation Lead Tammy Ewing, Community Outreach Lead for Equity Deserving Communities kamilah apong, and public health leader and Chair of Engage Nova Scotia’s Board of Directors Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed. Check out this episode (Part 2 of 2) to discover how they are disrupting usual approaches to data collection, embedding equity and accessibility, and building relationships and trust to tell a more complete story about what drives well-being.

(00:00) Introduction

(2:10) Interview with Engage Nova Scotia team

Episode Guests:

Danny Graham has worked to advance justice reforms with the United Nations and countries spanning four continents. From 2005-2014 he was the Chief Negotiator on Aboriginal Reconciliation for the Province of Nova Scotia. He is the Chief Engagement Officer for Engage Nova Scotia – a non-profit that is equipping all sectors, and all levels of government in Canada with data-driven analysis about statistically unknowable, and sometimes ignored, issues. He is the Chair of the Craig Foundation, which is focussed on causes that promote acceptance and inclusion for autistic individuals and families.

kamilah apong is constantly dreaming of new futures, using hope as discipline (Mariame Kaba). she is a curious facilitator that uses the arts and participatory engagement strategies to change the way we think about research, knowledge, and connection. she is a student of the elders who came before her. she has 15 years of community arts practice and a Bachelor of Arts in critical studies in equity & solidarity from the University of Toronto.

Tammy Ewing is dedicated to advocating for and elevating opportunities that help people overcome challenges faced by Nova Scotia communities. She champions opportunities that uplift and empower people to overcome adversity. Driven by collaboration with like-minded individuals, she believes in giving voice to those traditionally overlooked and is a staunch advocate for equity for all Nova Scotians. Tammy likes to give back by being active in her community and others.

Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed is the Associate Dean of Serving and Engaging Society for Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Medicine, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, and the Chair of the Board of Engage Nova Scotia. She is a public health specialist physician with 19 years’ experience, and formerly served as the Medical Officer of Health for the Halifax area and Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health for Nova Scotia. Gaynor is a passionate advocate for high-quality public health services and for anti-oppressive health care in Canada.

Learn more:

• Engage Nova Scotia
• Eight Domains of Wellbeing Framework
• An Exploration of Wellbeing in Nova Scotia: A summary of results from the Nova Scotia Quality of Life Survey (2020)

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Pemma Muzumdar, Rebecca Cheff and host Bernice Yanful (NCCDH). The Mind the Disruption project team is led by Rebecca Cheff, with technical production and original music by Chris Perry. Promotion by Caralyn Vossen (NCCDH). Artwork by comet art + design. Mind the Disruption is a podcast by the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. NCCDH is hosted by St. Francis Xavier University and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the PHAC. 

Engage Nova Scotia is working to better measure, understand and improve well-being for all Nova Scotians through a large Quality of Life survey, accessible data tools and deep community engagement. Over two episodes, you will meet multiple members of the vibrant Engage Nova Scotia team: Chief Engagement Officer Danny Graham, Outreach and Participation Lead Tammy Ewing, Community Outreach Lead for Equity Deserving Communities kamilah apong, and public health leader and Chair of Engage Nova Scotia’s Board of Directors Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed. Check out this episode (Part 1 of 2) to discover why it is important to think differently about how we understand what makes communities and societies successful, equitable, healthy and well.

(00:00) Introduction

(2:10) Interview with Engage Nova Scotia team

Episode Guests:

Danny Graham has worked to advance justice reforms with the United Nations and countries spanning four continents. From 2005-2014 he was the Chief Negotiator on Aboriginal Reconciliation for the Province of Nova Scotia. He is the Chief Engagement Officer for Engage Nova Scotia – a non-profit that is equipping all sectors, and all levels of government in Canada with data-driven analysis about statistically unknowable, and sometimes ignored, issues. He is the Chair of the Craig Foundation, which is focussed on causes that promote acceptance and inclusion for autistic individuals and families.

kamilah apong is constantly dreaming of new futures, using hope as discipline (Mariame Kaba). she is a curious facilitator that uses the arts and participatory engagement strategies to change the way we think about research, knowledge, and connection. she is a student of the elders who came before her. she has 15 years of community arts practice and a Bachelor of Arts in critical studies in equity & solidarity from the University of Toronto.

Tammy Ewing is dedicated to advocating for and elevating opportunities that help people overcome challenges faced by Nova Scotia communities. She champions opportunities that uplift and empower people to overcome adversity. Driven by collaboration with like-minded individuals, she believes in giving voice to those traditionally overlooked and is a staunch advocate for equity for all Nova Scotians. Tammy likes to give back by being active in her community and others.

Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed is the Associate Dean of Serving and Engaging Society for Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Medicine, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, and the Chair of the Board of Engage Nova Scotia. She is a public health specialist physician with 19 years’ experience, and formerly served as the Medical Officer of Health for the Halifax area and Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health for Nova Scotia. Gaynor is a passionate advocate for high-quality public health services and for anti-oppressive health care in Canada.

Learn more:

• Engage Nova Scotia
• Eight Domains of Wellbeing Framework
• An Exploration of Wellbeing in Nova Scotia: A summary of results from the Nova Scotia Quality of Life Survey (2020)

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Pemma Muzumdar, Rebecca Cheff and host Bernice Yanful (NCCDH). The Mind the Disruption project team is led by Rebecca Cheff, with technical production and original music by Chris Perry. Promotion by Caralyn Vossen (NCCDH). Artwork by comet art + design. Mind the Disruption is a podcast by the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. NCCDH is hosted by St. Francis Xavier University and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the PHAC.

Many public health practitioners provide a range of supports focused on sexual and reproductive health. Listen to this episode to hear about how Dr. Saraswathi Vedam and her team at the Birth Place Lab are disrupting the status quo for reproductive health research in Canada by intentionally centring the voices and priorities of communities that are under-represented and excluded from health research. Saraswathi speaks with host Bernice Yanful about how she works with others to bring the Lab’s vision for “reproductive freedom, safety, and justice for every person” to life.

Episode Guest: Dr. Saraswathi Vedam is Lead Investigator at the Birth Place Lab and professor of midwifery at University of British Columbia. Over 38 years, she has been a midwife, educator, parent, and researcher. Her scholarly work includes several community-based participatory action research projects on health equity. She worked with service users to develop new quality measures of autonomy, respect, and mistreatment in perinatal care. These accountability tools have now been applied in 65 countries at the institutional, health system, and country levels.

(00:00) Introduction

(07:07) Interview with Dr. Saraswathi Vedam

Learn more:

• The Birth Place Lab
• The Giving Voice to Mothers Study
• The RESPCCT Study: Community-led Development of a Person-Centered Instrument to Measure Health Equity in Perinatal Services (Vedam et al., 2024)
• Beyond Complacency: Challenges (and Opportunities) for Reproductive Justice in Canada (LEAF, 2022)
• Visioning New Futures for Reproductive Justice Declaration 2023 (Sister Song)

Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Pemma Muzumdar, Carolina Jimenez, Rebecca Cheff and host Bernice Yanful (NCCDH). The Mind the Disruption project team is led by Rebecca Cheff, with technical production and original music by Chris Perry. Promotion by Caralyn Vossen (NCCDH). Artwork by comet art + design. Sound credits: clips used from the Birth Place Lab, “talking people.MP3” by szalonegacie (CC0 1.0), “conference chatter 3.aif” by reecord2 (CC0 1.0), and “Walla_ses1.wav” by freesound (CC0 1.0). Mind the Disruption is a podcast by the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. NCCDH is hosted by St. Francis Xavier University and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the PHAC. 

Check out this episode to learn from Chloé Cébron and Shezeen Suleman who are part of a growing movement mobilizing for the right to health care for all people living in Canada, regardless of immigration status. In this episode, Chloé, the director of policy and advocacy at Médecins du Monde, shares lessons from a successful advocacy campaign to expand health care coverage for all children living in Quebec. Then Shezeen, a midwife and co-chair of the Health Network for Uninsured Clients in Toronto, reflects on using advocacy as a strategy for health equity.

(00:00) Introduction

(6:44) Interview with Chloé Cébron

(40:04) Interview with Shezeen Suleman

Episode Guests: Chloé Cébron is a lawyer in international humanitarian law and human rights and the director of policy and advocacy at Médecins du Monde Canada. For nearly 15 years, she has worked for humanitarian health organizations as a legal, policy and advocacy advisor in a dozen countries. Since 2017, she has been working for Médecins du Monde Canada and coordinates the organization’s advocacy on access to health care for migrants with precarious status in Canada. Shezeen Suleman is a midwife in Toronto, co-leading the MATCH program at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre. She has worked as a midwife in the city for over 10 years and before this worked as a youth worker in neighborhoods across the city; these roots in community work inform her practice as a midwife. Shezeen also co-chairs the Health Network for Uninsured Clients in the GTA, aiming to create and maintain dignified pathways to care for people living without OHIP.

Learn more:

Precarious immigration status, precarious health: Working together to ensure healthcare for all women living in Quebec (MdM, 2023)

Bill 83: Implementation & Information (MdM, 2021)

Health Network for Uninsured Clients resources & report (HNUC, 2023)

Let’s Talk: Advocacy & health equity (NCCDH, 2015)

Does public health advocacy seek to redress health inequities? A scoping review (Cohen & Marshall, 2017)

Disrupting Migrant Work [Season 1, Episode 4] (NCCDH, 2023)

Episode Credits: Production for this episode was led by Rebecca Cheff, with contributions from Carolina Jimenez, Pemma Muzumdar and host Bernice Yanful. The Mind the Disruption project team is led by Rebecca Cheff, with technical production and original music by Chris Perry. Promotion by Caralyn Vossen. Artwork by comet art + design. Mind the Disruption is a podcast by the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. NCCDH is hosted by St. Francis Xavier University and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of PHAC.

As Director of the Community Climate Resilience Lab, Dr. Imara Rolston recognizes that the climate crisis is a health emergency that will disproportionally impact racialized communities. Listen to this episode to hear how Imara and his team are bringing together non-profit leaders, grassroots leaders, academics, and policy makers and creating a Toronto-focused Racial Justice Climate Resilience framework. Through this work, they are supporting cites to reckon with historical slavery and colonialism and integrate community-driven solutions. Community outreach worker Diana Chan McNally then reflects on opportunities for public health to improve community engagement efforts.

(00:00) Introduction

(8:09) Interview with Imara Rolston

(40:49) Interview with Diana Chan McNally

Episode Guests: Dr. Imara Ajani Rolston is a social psychologist, policy maker, and Associate Professor and director of the Community Climate Resilience Lab at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Dr. Rolston has contributed to research and publications in the areas of HIV/AIDS, health promotion and community development and has advanced racial justice and urban responses to climate change with the City of Toronto. He has over 15 years of experience working across Sub-Saharan Africa with organizations including the Stephen Lewis Foundation, Oxfam Canada, and Greenpeace Africa. Reflective guest Diana Chan McNally (Dipl. CW, BFA, MA, MEd) is a frontline worker supporting unhoused people in Toronto's downtown east side. As someone with lived experience of social services and homelessness, her work focuses on human rights and equity issues for people without housing, and particularly encampments. She is an alumnus of Maytree Canada and a fellow of the McNally Project for Paramedicine Research.

Learn more:

• Climate Change Resilience Part 2: Public health roles and actions (NCCDH, 2021)
• Keeping It Political and Powerful: Defining the Structural Determinants of Health (Heller et al., 2024)
• Let’s Talk series: Community Engagement, Racism, and Whiteness (NCCDH)

Episode Credits: Production for this episode was led by Pemma Muzumdar and host Bernice Yanful, with contributions from Rebecca Cheff and Carolina Jimenez (NCCDH). The Mind the Disruption project team is led by Rebecca Cheff, with technical production and original music by Chris Perry. Promotion by Caralyn Vossen (NCCDH). Artwork by comet art + design. Sound credit: "Central Park Ambience.aif" by logancircle2 is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Mind the Disruption is a podcast by the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. NCCDH is hosted by St. Francis Xavier University and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the PHAC.

Transcript (PDF or download Word document)

As the National Director of Disability Without Poverty, Rabia Khedr is building a vibrant intersectional movement led by people with disabilities to end disability poverty through a new federal Canada Disability Benefit. Listen to this episode to learn from Rabia about why this benefit is so necessary and what is still needed to deliver meaningful change. Jonathan Heller, a visiting scholar at the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health, then shares practical strategies that public health can use to build community power and support movements like Disability Without Poverty.

(00:00) Introduction

(6:49) Interview with Rabia Khedr

(40:46) Interview with Jonathan Heller

Episode Guests: Rabia Khedr is dedicated to equity and justice for persons with disabilities, women, and diverse communities. She is the National Director of Disability Without Poverty and CEO of DEEN Support Services. A founder of Race and Disability Canada, she is also a board member of the Muslim Council of Peel and the Federation of Muslim Women. Rabia draws on her lived experience of being blind and advocating for siblings with intellectual disabilities. Reflective guest Jonathan Heller (he/him) is a Visiting Scholar at the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health and a Senior Health Equity Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. He is the co-founder and until 2020 was the co-director of Human Impact Partners, a US-based non-profit focused on bringing the power of public health to campaigns and movements for a just society.

Learn more:

• Disability Without Poverty
• Let's Talk: Redistributing power to advance health equity (NCCDH, 2023)
• Building community power for health equity: A curated list (NCCDH, 2023)

Episode Credits: Production for this episode was led by Carolina Jimenez and Rebecca Cheff, with contributions from Pemma Muzumdar and host Bernice Yanful (NCCDH). The Mind the Disruption project team is led by Rebecca Cheff, with technical production and original music by Chris Perry. Promotion by Caralyn Vossen (NCCDH). Artwork by comet art + design. Sound credits: Clips used from Elisa, Jen Gammad, Hon. Carla Qualtrough, Michelle Hewitt and Where's the bill? Mind the Disruption is a podcast by the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. NCCDH is hosted by St. Francis Xavier University and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the PHAC.

Wendie Wilson is a mother, educator, artist, writer, community advocate and a member of the African Nova Scotian and Black Food Sovereignty working group for the Halifax region’s JustFOOD Action Plan, alongside registered dietitian Nickaya Parris. In this episode, Wendie and Nickaya provide a window into the transformative work happening to advance community-rooted food sovereignty action in Nova Scotia. Listen to this episode to learn about the food sovereignty movement and why it matters for public health.

(00:00) Introduction

(6:35) Interview with Wendie Wilson

(39:06) Interview with Nickaya Parris

Episode Guests: Born and raised in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Wendie L. Wilson is a descendant of African Nova Scotians who have history in the province for 400+ years. Wendie is an Executive Staff Officer BIPOC Engagement and Advocacy with the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, instructor at Mount Saint Vincent University and co-founder of the African Nova Scotian Freedom School. She works with Food Secure Canada, Halifax’s African Nova Scotian and Black Food Sovereignty Working Group, the PanCanadian Black Food Sovereignty Network, the Indigenous and Black Food Sovereignty Advisory Circle, and the Coalition for Healthy School Food NS. Born and raised in the Community of Uniacke Square, Northend Halifax, Nickaya Parris is a recognized role model within the African Nova Scotian community, who allows her passion for nutrition, healthcare, and underserved communities to lead her daily. Currently working as a Food Security Policy Analyst for the Government of Nova Scotia, Nickaya is also a Registered Dietitian.

Learn more:

• Disrupting Food Insecurity & Fat Phobia
• Disrupting Environmental Racism
• JustFood Action Plan for the Halifax Region
• Nyéléni 2007 Forum for Food Sovereignty
• Sovereignty: What is it and why it’s important (NowThisEarth, 2021)
• How Food is at the Heart of African Nova Scotian Culture (Wilson, 2024)
• Health Inequities and the Shifting Paradigms of Food Security, Food Insecurity, and Food Sovereignty (Borras & Mohamed, 2020)

Episode Credits: Production for this episode was led host Bernice Yanful, with contributions from Carolina Jimenez, Rebecca Cheff and Pemma Muzumdar (NCCDH). The Mind the Disruption project team is led by Rebecca Cheff, with technical production and original music by Chris Perry. Promotion by Caralyn Vossen (NCCDH). Artwork by comet art + design. Sound credits: "RoomTone_TrafficJam.wav" by TMPZ_1 is licensed under CC BY 3.0; clips used from Food Secure Canada. Mind the Disruption is a podcast by the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. NCCDH is hosted by St. Francis Xavier University and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the PHAC.