Episode 1: Stephanie Tooke - Community Care and Connection in Environmental Public Health | Our Voices, Our Work
Transcript for Episode 1: Stephanie Tooke
Text on screen:
Our Voices, Our Work
Conversations on Community, Care, and Connection
Stephanie Tooke
Environmental Public Health Manager
Todd Lyons:
Atamiskātōwin! Greetings, and welcome to Our Voices, Our Work—conversations on community, care, and connection. I'm Todd Lyons, and in each episode, I'll be chatting with folks across the country to talk about what they do and how it contributes to the larger story of Indigenous reconciliation in Canada. My team and I are in Ottawa, and I wish to acknowledge that we are gathered on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people.
And my guest today is Stephanie Tooke, Environmental Public Health Manager, and she's joining us from West Bank, B.C. Welcome, Stephanie.
Text on screen:
Todd Lyons
Indigenous Services Canada
Stephanie Tooke
Environmental Public Health Manager
First Nations Health Authority
British Columbia
Stephanie Tooke:
Thank you, Todd and Tansi. I just wanted to also acknowledge that I'm actually in travelling mode right now, and I'm calling in from the Tsinstikeptum territory in our northern region. So, I have the privilege and honour of working and playing in seven different nations across our interior region in British Columbia, so…
Todd Lyons:
Tell me about your role. Because environmental public health, I don't know anything about it, but it sounds really big and complicated and important. So how could you bring that down to a level that someone like me could—could get a grasp of?
Stephanie Tooke:
Absolutely. And you're not the only one. Many people actually have reached out and have been like, "Hey, what do you do? What does environmental public health services mean?" And it's actually a diverse role. And that's how I actually got into it, because food, food and food safety really brought me into the profession. But then once I entered the—the role or the field, the education part of it, it really opened my eyes to the very fact that there are about 8 program areas in which we serve, and food is just one of them.
So, as in, I'm a certified environmental public health officer, we also are known as public health inspectors, in some parts of Turtle Island or known as Canada. And we work with community to provide advice, guidance, education and public health assessments. And with regards to my work in First Nations communities, recommendations to community and leadership to help prevent and manage public health risks associated with the environment.
So we look at how our world in which we live in, whether that's on the land or within our homes and the built structures that we gather, if there are any public health hazards that we may encounter and impact our health as humans, and then we provide recommendations on how to—to remediate and protect oneself.
We also have a big component in education. So, we do a lot of health fairs and education within community, like food safe courses. We do drinking water symposiums and celebrations within, within community. And just to bring that education part, because I—I always tell everyone that it's about 99% of my job is around the education portion.
Todd Lyons:
What's the favourite part of your role?
Stephanie Tooke:
Oh, connection. Absolutely, 100%. Working with people visiting community just fills my cup. That relationship building and just meeting people and the networking aspect of it, it just really warms my heart. I—I love to educate. It was something that I never knew I would enjoy, but it really is a thrill to be able to provide the scientific knowledge that I've learned, but be able to share that and provide the rationale.
So I always, I always inform whoever I encounter that, yes, I'll provide the science aspect, but there's a rationale behind everything. And I think that collective understanding is so important in order to, to, to move forward in, in an action in any, any form, really.
Todd Lyons:
What does a typical day look like for you? Well, actually, with so many moving parts and things being complicated, I don't know whether a day, or a week, or a month is a more realistic way to get a grasp on—on what—what your routine looks like.
Stephanie Tooke:
Oh, Todd. Every hour could look something different. Given such a diverse role and the many different areas in which we work.
So, as I was mentioning before, we have a component in drinking water. We also do house assessments. We work in communicable disease, health emergency management, wastewater, food safety, facility assessments. So it really depends on every hour. So I could be doing one aspect of, you know, supporting my team, and maybe as a drinking water sampling program they have undertaken in their visiting community. But within that time frame, we can end up being called into if there's a health emergency management or, you know, a wildfire, an emergency event, we'll support community in order to ensure that they're being relocated to a space that is environmentally, has the environmental public health safety aspects to it. So we'll make sure that those measures are there, to then being called into something like, maybe an animal exposure bite or, not necessarily a bite, but an animal exposure. And then having to help support community health nurses and—and, working with our—our regional health authority partners in order to making sure that that individual or individuals end up getting the best care and advice that they need.
So it really, really does depend on an hourly basis. So it has that component of flexibility. So what we start our day with, we have great intentions in order to set forth, but it could really turn on a dime. And I think that's also an important aspect of our role. Is that flexibility and be able to serve where we're needed, when we are needed. And, to act at a—at a moment's notice.
Todd Lyons:
It sounds complicated and maybe a little bit exhausting. Are there ever some days where you just wake up and you're just—you're a little bit just overwhelmed at, at how much is going on and how big some of these responsibilities are?
Stephanie Tooke:
Yes, absolutely. It can get overwhelming. However, there are some strategies. We have an amazing team that we can really support and look to one another. I think that's so important to be able to, just have that collective camaraderie where we can bounce ideas off of each other or just some, you know, this is what I'm thinking, this is the approach I'm thinking: do you agree, not agree?
So I really feel that that community, working community is so important to be able to have that collective camaraderie, as I said, but also just knowing that at the end of the—the day and everything that we're doing, we're focusing on community and serving community and doing what we can to support community.
And so, within my role and—and within the organization I work—work with, our first directive is, community-led, nation-based. So it really is that we're taking direction from community. So it's not that we're acting alone. We may have the subject knowledge expertise or, you know, knowledge. I won't say expertise, but knowledge. But really, we are taking that direction from communities.
So I feel that it's not necessarily a siloed profession, in that it can get busy and can get chaotic, but we always have somebody that we can fall back on. And the one aspect that we have, that collaboration internally within our team, but ultimately we work with community and we support community in that sense, so, it helps be able to navigate some of the, the buzzing effects and everything that's coming at you.
If you keep that, that light of just knowing, you know, working with community and taking direction from community, it helps keep us on track.
Todd Lyons:
Now, I've talked to a lot of people about Indigenous reconciliation, and what I've learned from that is everyone…I never get the same answer twice, there are different aspects. It's a very big issue. And people have a personal attachment to things that—that, resonate with them in particular. So how does your work factor into Indigenous reconciliation in Canada?
Stephanie Tooke:
So with this, it's—it's really those relationships. And that's what I was saying earlier about what I really enjoy and the relationships building being in community but also, that directive that I ended up sharing is something that I hold near and dear, and that's that community-led, nation-based aspect. So it's building those relationships and coming into community, acknowledging and knowing that I'm a guest coming into community and that there's a sense of—of respect and just knowing that I need to build a rapport here.
And so making those connections is so, so important. Rather than coming in and—and steamrolling, and saying, "This is what I know and this is what I'm going to do, and—and etc." It really is that working relationship and taking that, the lead from communities. So essentially, coming in and saying, "Hey, this is what I have to offer." And basically, how can—can I help support community, in the way of environmental public health?
One of the components that we end up doing within my program is to have canning workshops and water bath canners or pressure canners, and we collectively gather, and community, from elders to youth will come, and that will have community decide on what food they want to do.
So right now, a lot is fish because the fish runs are happening. So it just, it fills my cup knowing that we can come in, showcase that knowledge, share that knowledge. But really, it's a skill set that—that can be then taken forward. And I think that's at the root of it is, is, that knowledge sharing to be able to continue forward for those seven generations and beyond.
And so it really is recognizing the cultural practices, reducing those barriers to—to knowledge and to be able to continue forth so that we can go forward utilizing our cultural practices in today's world.
Todd Lyons:
I was going to ask if you had any final thoughts to sum up, but you've done a really good job of just letting that passion for—for the work come—come through and what you've said and how you've said it.
Stephanie Tooke:
Thank you.
Todd Lyons:
So I want to thank you today. Kinanaskomitin. And for everyone listening in, kikīcinanāskomitināwāw. I'm grateful for you. Thank you for being here. And until next time.
Text on screen:
Our Voices, Our Work
Conversations on Community, Care, and Connection
Canada wordmark