Tansi Nitotemtek!
My name is Cheryllee Bourgeois, I am a Metis midwife and follow Cree / Metis teachings in line with my ancestry from the Red River District in southern Manitoba and North Dakota. I have been a midwife at SGMT since 2007 and helped to develop and set up SGMT when I was a student midwife at Ryerson.
I worked as a Registered Midwife for 11 years before give-up my registration in 2018 to work under the exemption clause, which is unique at SGMT. This means that I am able to provide care in line with needs identified by the Indigenous community in Toronto. I provide sexual and reproductive health care through the life cycle and I am very committed to both increasing access to Indigenous focused health care and supporting more Indigenous folks to become midwives.
I am very grateful to live and work in the Dish with One Spoon territory as a midwife and to raise my three kids here.
Cheryllee Bourgeois, Exemption Metis Midwife
Dr. Suzanne Shoush, Physician
Dr. Suzanne Shoush is a First Nations/Black physician and mother who lives and works in Toronto’s downtown core where she has spent more than a decade providing medical care in the city’s shelter system. She also spent many years working in remote communities in Northern Ontario as a rural family physician. She is the Indigenous Health Faculty Lead at the DFCM, University of Toronto and holds degrees in both Engineering and Medicine.
Dr. Shoush grew up surrounded by Aunties. She has always understood and deeply appreciated the importance of kinship networks of support and community. Through her work alongside Call Auntie she hopes to contribute to that network of care, wellbeing and wellness for her patients and their families.
Jay MacGillivray, Registered Midwife
Jay has been providing harm-reduction rooted, trauma-aware care for over 35 years.
Her clinical focus is sexual and reproductive care with clients living with HIV and those with a greater chance of acquiring HIV imposed upon them by Social Determinants of Health (SDH).
Jay works with folks who are street affected and made marginalized. Most are reluctant/unable to access appropriate health care because of LGBTQQII-phobia, institutional racism, HIV stigma, and other devastating effects of SDH.
Her work involves an active outreach to tent encampments, ravine and bridge communities, street agencies, and respite centres. She particularly works those affected by severe mental illness, life-altering substance use, histories of incarceration in conflict zones or migration trails, interactions with the Canadian 'justice/'protection' industry, and non-autonomous sex work. Many have been trafficked either in Canada or globally. All have experienced extreme-often intergenerational-trauma.
Jay is also Co-founder and Co-director, alongside Dr. Mark Yudin, of the ‘Positive Pregnancy Program’ (P3). P3 is a large, multidisciplinary, and community-involved reproductive program working with the HIV + community. P3 has worked with hundreds of HIV-affected families choosing to have a child. P3 is placed at St Michael’s hospital.
Jay is settler background. Her pronouns are she/her.
Tasha Macdonald, Registered Midwife
My name is Tasha MacDonald and I am a registered midwife at the Call Auntie Clinic. I was raised in Tkaronto and am of Scottish, Irish, Chinese and Metis descent.
I have been a midwife since 2001 and have worked at SGMT on and off since 2006. I am very grateful to have joined the Call Auntie Clinic in 2021 and to be working with and learning from the wonderful aunties and clients of the program.
In addition to being a ‘hands-on’ midwife, my work has focused on finding ways to make health care research more accessible, including writing midwifery practice guidelines. I am very interested in finding ways to make sexual and reproductive health care as accessible and meaningful to people as possible.
When I’m not working, I like to spend time in nature (especially in a canoe or in a hammock), walking my dogs and reading.
Dr. Ryan Giroux, Pediatrician
Tansi!
Dr. Ryan Giroux is a General Pediatrician working at St. Michael’s Hospital and the Inner City Health Associates in Toronto. He works in the Ode’I Min Clinics in Toronto and Scarborough, and in the Call Auntie Clinic. He is Métis from the Métis Nation of Alberta, and grew up on Treaty 6 and Treaty 8 territory in rural Alberta prior to completing degrees in Anthropology and Medicine. He sees infants, children, and teenagers from birth up until 18 years of age, and he is a proud uncle to his sister’s two children. He is grateful to be included as an “honorary Auntie” in the Call Auntie Clinic!
Lucille Durand, Community Health Worker
My name is Lucille Durand-Smith and I have been working at SGMT on the Baby Bundle and Call Auntie team since 2019.
I am a Settler of Scottish and French descent and was born and raised here in Toronto, in the Dish with One Spoon Territory.
My daughter is 18 years old and is Anishinaabe.
My background is in Social Work and I have been working with people and families since 2016.
I love this work because I get to connect with people and collaborate which is what I live for!
Niiohontéhsha, Community Health Worker
Shė:kon!
My name is Niiohontéhsha (English name Gillian Kyle), I am Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) and Onontowane’á:ka (Seneca) from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and I belong to the Turtle Clan. I am of mixed ancestry, the other side of my family is Scottish and British. My pronouns are they/them and I identify as Two-Spirit/ Indigiqueer.
I volunteer with Action Canada’s access line, and I am an Auntie with the Native Youth Sexual Health Network. I am so honoured to be a part of Odemin Ghizis Doula Collective and find great joy in supporting Indigenous folks in all stages of life cycles.
What keeps my fire lit is community organizing, community care, land-based teaching and learning, learning my language one mispronounced word at a time, and radical reproductive justice and birth keeping practices. I have deep respect for our plant relatives and hope to continue learning from and with them.
Krysta is Lenape (Delaware) and Turtle Clan with family from Moravian of the Thames First Nation, ON. She is an urban Indigenous community member, traditional singer and hand drummer. Krysta is an Indigenous full spectrum doula / community birth worker and sexual / reproductive justice freedom organizer with the Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN).
Krysta Williams, Community Birth Worker
Maureen Iserhoff, Community Health Worker
Hi, my name is Maureen Iserhoff, I am Oji-Cree, my reserve is Constance Lake, in Northern Ontario. My native name is Blue HummingBird Woman, the color blue represents my strong connection with my family and friends, and the hummingbird as I was told represents my curiosity.
My mother was an Indian day school survivor and I am rediscovering my culture and language. My husband and I share 3 children, 1 adult daughter and 2 teen sons. I have been a Personal Support Worker since 2015. I am currently a Community Health Worker with the Call Auntie and Baby Bundle Team, and loving it!
I am passionate about helping people in the community, I love finding solutions, brainstorming with the team and continuous learning.
Chii Miigwetch