An emeritus professor with the University of Victoria’s School of Public Health and Social Policy has received an Order of Canada award.
Jeff Reading was nominated to join the Order of Canada for his contribution to national initiatives towards Indigenous health.
“There is a pin which goes on your jacket, so I have that, but the ceremony is very backed up because of COVID,” he said.
Reading’s work has seen him travel worldwide and he has worked with Indigenous communities in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
“Canada is showing an example of how we can move forward despite having a pretty horrific past,” Reading said.
Throughout his career, he saw himself grow as a researcher, and Reading learned that you need to listen to the community you are going into because you do not have all the answers.
“The main idea is that researchers must listen to the community and what they find relevant,” he said.
Reading started in his career at the nuclear cardiology lab at the University of Toronto. When he looked at the statistics around Indigenous health 13 years ago, he decided to switch focus.
“They were so profoundly worse off. We’re talking five or six times worse.”
The research he has been involved with covers a wide range of areas, including access to drinking water, chronic diseases, murdered and missing women, and the impact of environmental factors such as diet on health outcomes.
There has been a significant exchange of ideas because of the interactions between different Indigenous cultures, he said.
“When you look at international comparisons, they’re strikingly similar because of colonization but strikingly different.”
Reading is no longer teaching full-time at UVic and is in charge of heart health care at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
“There’s no shortage of challenges and I’m still very much interested in being part of those solutions working with my colleagues.”
When Reading moved from Toronto to work at UVic, he said he was delighted to be somewhere that allowed him to grow academically.
“I brought the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute with me. The environment was more conducive to Indigenous health.”
He also founded the Centre for Aboriginal Health Research at UVic.
Reading never expected to be nominated for the Order of Canada and said that many people in the world of academics are worthy of receiving one.
“What makes me happy is the work we’ve been able to do over the last 20 to 25 years by supporting students and trainees in the health professions.”
The ripple effects of the research Reading has done have started to be felt across different generations.
“It has become embedded in the way universities work and hire. It’s embracing diversity, equity and inclusion.”
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