Elder Simon Brascoupé, Bear Clan, is a member of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation in Quebec. He serves as a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and an adjunct research professor at both Carleton University and Trent University.
Elder Brascoupé has held significant leadership roles, including as president and CEO of the National Aboriginal Health Organization and vice-president of education at the First Nations Health Managers Association. He actively participates in the Admissions Committee for the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, the Indigenous Health Committee at the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and the advisory committees of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada.
Elder Brascoupé previously chaired the Institute Advisory Board for the Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. In this role, he significantly influenced national health research priorities and strategies to integrate Indigenous perspectives and needs. He also worked as director of primary health care at Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Branch. There, he was instrumental in launching a program that provided funding for Indigenous people to access education in medicine and other health fields.
Elder Brascoupé’s career is marked by a commitment to enhancing Indigenous health through educational leadership, policy advocacy and community engagement.
He advocates for the integration of traditional and contemporary knowledge systems and is deeply dedicated to the principle of “two-eyed seeing,” which aims to harmonize Indigenous knowledge and Western science, as part of reconciliation.