Our Story

Auduzhe is an Indigenous Interprofessional Primary Care Team that began through a partnership with Native Men’s Residence (Na-Me-Res), Call Auntie Clinic, and Well Living House. We started as a community-led, comprehensive First Nations, Inuit, and Métis (FNIM) specific COVID-19 response program.

Our Beginnings

We’ve achieved significant milestones worth celebrating throughout our brief yet impactful journey. Explore the highlights below, and stay tuned for even more accomplishments as we expand our scope and services to better serve our community.

WLH, Na-Me-Res, and SGMT begin co-developing a comprehensive Indigenous-led COVID-19 response program that combines community-led healthcare services with research led by and for urban Indigenous communities, embodying the resilience, adaptability, and the goodwill of First Nations, Inuit and Métis (FNIM) peoples.

Auduzhe Mino Nesewinong (Auduzhe) officially opens its doors on October 16th, 2020,as an Indigenous-led COVID-19 testing and support clinic open to FNIM and their household members in Toronto and surrounding areas.

Auduzhe began hosting COVID-19 mass vaccination clinics in partnership with Sunnybrook Hospital, the University of Toronto, and the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto. Through these outreach clinics, 3,000 community members received COVID-19 vaccines.

Auduzhe hosts the Na-Me-Res vaccine Pow Wow at U of T Varsity Stadium. Read more here: U of T hosts vaccine clinic pow wow at Varsity Stadium | University of Toronto (utoronto.ca)

 

 

Auduzhe begins the “Home-Visit Vaccines” initiative, bringing COVID-19 vaccines to the homes of FNIM community members who have difficulty accessing onsite vaccine clinics. This initiative has led to more than 200 households receiving visits by Auduzhe, opening doors to realizing a “meeting people where they are at” approach.

 

Auduzhe begins to co-host COVID-19 vaccination outreach clinics with Indigenous community partner organizations. This partnership expands to 18 community organizations with more than 100 clinics providing vaccination to 1,700 community members.

 

In addition to the COVID-19 vaccines, Auduzhe begins to offer a variety of publicly-funded vaccines to the Indigenous community members, addressing the gaps within the healthcare system for the FNIM people.

 

 

The number of community members having received COVID-19 vaccines from Auduzhe reaches 10,000 on November 26, 2022.

 

As the 2022-2023 flu season ends, requests from those FNIM community members who recognize and trust Auduzhe as a culturally safe place for vaccines begin to shift from COVID-19 to various publicly funded vaccines and broader health concerns, leading to the inception of an Indigenous-led holistic primary health care team.

 

Auduzhe receives funding from the Ministry of Health to become an Indigenous Interprofessional Primary Health Care team.

Our Team

Our Governance Board

Steve Teekens
Auduzhe Governance & Executive Director of Na-Me-Res (Native Men’s Residence)

Steve is a member of Nipissing First Nation, and has a master’s degree in public administration from Queen’s University. He is the Executive Director at Na-Me-Res (Native Men’s Residence), where he has worked since 2008. He has been working with the marginalized and homeless sector in Toronto since 1995 and has been involved with Auduzhe Mino Nesewinong by providing strategic leadership from its inception.

Steve is very active in Toronto’s Indigenous Community, where he volunteers at the Toronto Aboriginal Social Services Council (TASSC) and Aboriginal Legal Services’ Community Council Program. Steve also teaches traditional drumming to the youth and men at various Native organizations inside and outside of Toronto. Steve enjoys working and volunteering in the Indigenous community and wishes to see people overcome their obstacles and find the resilience in themselves to succeed in life.

Cheryllee Bourgeois
Auduzhe Governance & Exemption Midwife, Call Auntie Clinic

Tansi Nitotemtek! My name is Cheryllee Bourgeois, and I am a Red River Métis exemption midwife. I have been a midwife at SGMT since 2007 and Program Lead at Call Auntie since 2019. My clinical focus is on team and program building to provide low-barrier, Indigenous-specific sexual and reproductive health care as a path into ongoing primary care. I have worked from local to international arenas to advocate for Indigenous midwifery and Indigenous health.

I have lived in Toronto since 2002 and have been volunteering and working towards improving culturally safe healthcare access and delivery for the urban Indigenous community. This includes helping establish SGMT, the Toronto Birth Centre, and Call Auntie. I have the privilege of being involved with Auduzhe Mino Nesewinong from its planning stages and look forward to participating in its continued growth.

Our Governance Board

Our Partners

Our Funders