Provincial health officer welcomes new aboriginal adviser

VICTORIA – Dr. Danièle Behn Smith has been appointed as the province’s new aboriginal health physician adviser, announced provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall.

In the position, Dr. Behn Smith will work alongside Dr. Kendall and deputy provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry to provide independent advice and support to the Ministry of Health on First
Nations and Aboriginal health issues. In support of the ministry’s strategic agenda, Dr. Behn Smith will focus on closing the gap in health outcomes between First Nations and other British Columbians. She starts in the role Oct. 13, 2015.

Dr. Behn Smith is Eh Cho Dene (Big Animal People) of the Fort Nelson First Nation in B.C. with Métis roots in the Red River Valley. Since getting her Doctor of Medicine from McMaster University and completing residencies at the universities of Ottawa and Manitoba, Dr. Behn Smith’s career has spanned the country and the globe.

She has practiced rural medicine in remote communities across Canada and was most recently a family physician at Tse’wulhtun Health Center in the Cowichan Valley. She was the board director for the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, the director of education for the University of Alberta’s Indigenous Health Initiatives Program and the site director of the University of British Columbia’s Aboriginal Family practice residency.

Dr. Behn-Smith was also the host of “Medicine Woman”, a 13-episode television series which explored traditional healing practices in ten countries on six continents.