Sarah Wright Cardinal

Sarah Wright Cardinal, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health & Social Policy at the University of Victoria. She is Bush Cree from treaty 8 territory, her late maternal grandparents Narcisse Cardinal and Agatha Desjarlais were recognized traditional healers in the communities of Fort Smith, NT and Fort Fitzgerald, AB. Sarah is the first generation born in the hospital, speaking English, and raised away from family, community, and land-based worldviews and wellness practices. The importance of these connections is what drives her research Healing from Colonial Disruptions to Indigenous Identities & Lifeways; co-creating community wellness frameworks that engage land, language, culture, and ceremony; and crafting an approach to community wellness research Being a Helper where Invited. She currently holds a four-year CIHR project grant “Sharing medicine bundles and pathways to community wellness: Land-based connections to address youth protective factors and intergenerational healing in four Indigenous nations.” She is a 2022 recipient of the CUFA BC Academic of the Year award, former President of Aurora College (2009-2012), a community auntie and helper mentor.