Congratulations to Indigenous Graduate Education in Nursing (IGEN) student Sara Daigle-Stevens, who has been awarded StEAR Funding to support the Indigenous Nursing Collective's community-building activities.
January 20, 2026
Sara Daigle-Stevens' traditional names are Yamu Ɂakiⱡ nuhu (Smoking Star in Ktunaxa) and Kwik-ga (Noble Eagle Woman in Liğʷiłdaxʷ). She is ɁamakɁis Ktunaxa, Liğʷiłdaxʷ, and X̱aayda, with some mixed European ancestry.
Ms. Daigle-Stevens is in the Master of Nursing program under the supervision of Dr. Helen Brown, Dr. Leanne Currie, and Dr. Scott Ramsey. Her StEAR-funded project is entitled, "Strengthening Community Connections: Growing the Indigenous Nursing Collective." The Indigenous Nursing Collective is an intergenerational circle of support that brings together Indigenous students, faculty, staff, alumni and Elders connected to the UBC School of Nursing. Rooted in Indigenous ways of being, the Collective aims to foster belonging and connection for Indigenous nursing learners throughout their academic and professional journeys.
This grant will support such activities as an Indigenous Film Screening & Dialogue, Tea & Talk with Musqueam Elders, and land-based gatherings. These opportunities will serve as relational spaces for knowledge-sharing and community building, and will also strengthen ongoing engagement with alumni and Elders, grounding the Collective in cultural knowledge and intergenerational guidance.
Ms. Daigle-Stevens extends gratitude towards Peter Fang, Indigenous Nursing Collective Coordinator. "He was instrumental in supporting the application," she says. "We also had the support of Carly Hinksman, Loa Page, and Shannon Fitton" who are members of the current IGEN cohort and the Indigenous Nurses Collective.
The Indigenous Nurses Collective is just that, a collective, and we will work together to support it.
Ms. Daigle-Stevens has been recognized with an Indigenous Graduate Fellowship and a BC NEIHR Master's Fellowship in support of her thesis work, Healing Through Ceremony: An Autoethnographic Exploration of First Nations Wellness Practices. Her research explores the role of ceremony in healing and wellness, drawing from lived experience and Indigenous ways of knowing.
For more about Ms. Daigle-Stevens, read about her student experience with FNHA program Raising the Canoe
For more about IGEN and a student presentation in Halifax in 2025, see pages 10-11 in Touchpoints:
