Fort McMurray speaker series aims to improve cancer care for Indigenous people

An Edmonton-based charity is promoting a speaker series in Fort McMurray teaching about ways to support Indigenous people going through cancer. 

The speaker series is being organized by Compassion House, a non-profit that helps with lodging and support for women battling cancer. The organization has helped 2,000 women, including 200 from Fort McMurray. 

"Although our charity is based out of Edmonton, we don't serve Edmontonians," said Amber Blaszkiewicz, director of partnerships and engagement with Compassion House.

She said the speaker series is an opportunity to connect with more people and businesses in Fort McMurray, and help raise awareness in the community about Compassion House. 

Melinda Laboucan, the CEO of non-profit Goba Care, will be speaking about her experience in Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., bringing in different cancer care programs for the community. 

She lost her mother to cancer in 2011.

"I learned so much," said Laboucan. "I wanted to give back and find a way how I can help other families." 

Laboucan, a member of the K'asho Got'ine First Nation, helped organize a host of events to help those battling cancer: community meetings, sharing circles, feasts, radio talks, information sessions, spa nights and talks with elders about traditional medicine.

The organization also did fundraising to help people who had to go to Edmonton for treatment and had to pay for extra food and travel. 

There was also a translation workshop to help elders understand cancer terminology. 

"The cancer terms, we don't have the proper Dene language for some of these words," Laboucan said. 

During the speaker series on Oct. 28, Laboucan will share with community members her experiences using these tools to help the community cope. 

"Our community is so tiny and when somebody is diagnosed, everybody is impacted," said Laboucan. 

She said treatment for people in the Northwest Territories can be difficult as they have flights and long drives to get home from Edmonton. 

That can be a similar situation within the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, where people are traveling far distances to get treatment. 

She hopes that people in Fort McMurray will hear what worked in Fort Good Hope, and take those lessons to support their community. 

Her biggest piece of advice for local support groups is to set up a sewing circle as a space offering the opportunity to talk.

"Getting women together is No. 1," said Laboucan. 

Finding community

Sundas Shamshad, founder of Sisters in Cancer YMM, will be attending the discussion, and she's hoping to bring back what she learns to better support Indigenous women in Wood Buffalo.

Shamshad started the cancer support group in 2019 after her battle with cancer. 

The diagnosis and treatment was "very isolating, because we lived in Fort McMurray and there was not a lot of resources here," Shamshad said. 

But then she started staying at the Compassion House in Edmonton and found a community of people going through the same thing as her. It helped her get through the trauma, and she wanted to bring that healing to Fort McMurray.

Shamshad said she's seen limited cancer programming for Indigenous women. 

"I feel like Indigenous communities surrounding Fort McMurray are very underserved," she said. "They're not supported as much as people in big cities or even in Fort McMurray." 

Shamshad is going to the event to be as informed as she can be, and the series will help her understand what the challenges the community faces and how she can help.

The series will also be running in Grande Prairie, Alta., next month.