Featuring Dr. Rheanna Robinson from the Manitoba Métis Federation
Dr. Rheanna Robinson is a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation and an associate professor in the Department of First Nations Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1997, she has lived with an evolving lens of MS-related disease and disability for almost 30 years. Studying Indigenous traditional perspectives and contemporary experiences regarding disability is a primary focus of her academic pursuits where she is committed to mobilizing a greater understanding of the relationship between ableism and colonialism, and how settler conceptualizations of health and well-being impact Indigenous Peoples and their communities.
Event Details
🗓 Date: Sept 16, 2026
⏰ Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM PDT
📍 Location: Online Webinar
Workshop Description
**NOTE THIS WORKSHOP WILL NOT BE RECORDED**
In an era committed to reconciliation and renewing its relationship with Indigenous Peoples, Canada has legalized euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide with Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). Through Bill C-7 or Track 2 MAiD, legislative eligibility to participate in MAiD evolved to make medicalized death available to those with chronic health conditions or disabilities, and MAiD for mental illness is under review. Given systemic issues of ableism, colonialism, and racism in Canada, and the disproportionate eligibility for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples to receive Track 2 MAiD, Indigenous perspectives on this law should be amplified. Drawing on the presenter’s lived experience and scholarship, this talk will describe tensions between Track 2 MAiD and Indigenous Peoples and why this legislation represents an extension of settler ableism, settler colonialism, and state-driven eugenicist tendencies. How Bill C-7 is an affront to reconciliation must be shared.