Aboriginal Urban Design for Health

Abstract

Montreal’s Aboriginal population is growing rapidly, yet the community lacks a culturally safe and holistic health service center that is accessible to all Aboriginal people. On Friday, June 2, 2017 The Montreal Urban Aboriginal Health Centre (MUAHC) joined forces with Next City & Concordia University to co-create a 7-minute pitch for a $7,000 prize through the Vangaurd Conference Big Idea Challenge. An interdisciplinary team of 8 conference attendees worked with MUAHC leadership to design a short-term solution that would be a step in the right direction towards MUAHC’s goal to build a fully functioning and independent health center dedicated to Montreal’s Aboriginal population. The Big Idea was to transform an existing room within a new hospital site into a Healing and Teaching Lodge, where Aboriginal patients and their family/friends could come together to focus on wellness. Ultimately, the judges received an anonymous donation after the six presentations, and the Lodge was awarded$2,000 to implement the project. PPT: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CwzoQokFMR-MZYTyEbpjJtBvB903K6c995QOU6VD3I0/edit#slide=id.g1f67c01f4c_0_