Date: 2022
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Karen Three Persons is a veteran Indigenous healthcare advocate and UNA local president. Growing up in the Kainai Nation, Three Persons and her siblings experienced an abusive childhood as they attended St. Mary’s Residential School. Devoted to serving her community, Three Persons specialized in different areas of nursing care and spent many years at the federal Blood Indian Hospital for Indigenous patients. A champion for improving healthcare, Three Persons created, developed and encouraged training for LPNs and HCAs, and mentored practicum students. The programmes graduated students at Lethbridge Hospital, Red Crow College, and other institutions. She also developed the Elders Inc. to provide specialized homecare and traditional care for elders.
Three Persons first became a UNA member/activist at Cardston Municipal Hospital on the Kainai Nation. UNA won equal rates equivalent to nurses off-reserve. She has helped to bring UNA to the Indigenous community, has served on three Contract Negotiating Teams, and has been a consistent delegate to conventions. Currently at the Blood Tribe Department of Health, Three Persons has 10 family members who are RNs or in healthcare.
Keywords: Blood Tribe; Discrimination; First Nations Reserve; Indigenous Healthcare; Kainai Nation; Residential School; UNA – People of Colour
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See also: Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta; Indigenous Labour in Alberta; Systemic Racism in Alberta; United Nurses of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta