Public Notice

Dear Sq’éwqel Community,

From the beginning, Sq’éwqel’s approach to health and wellness has been guided by our traditional understanding that true wellbeing cares for the whole person—body, mind, and spirit. Over the past 20 years, our Health and Social Development Department has grown alongside the needs of our people, our community, the communities we serve, and our clients. We recognize that growth comes with the responsibility to ensure our services remain rooted in who we are and responsive to those we serve.

With this in mind, we are taking an important step by creating a Clinical Health Department. This change will strengthen our ability to provide high-quality primary and clinical care while ensuring that our Community and Family Wellness Services continue to offer holistic, wraparound supports. By recognizing the unique strengths of these areas, we are honouring the many ways healing happens—through medical care, cultural practices, connection, community, and overall wellness.

We want to take a moment to raise our hands in deep gratitude to Lolly Andrew. Lolly has carried the directorship of Health and Social Development with dedication, wisdom, and a strong connection to community. Her work has always been guided by a commitment to grounding our services in who we are as a people.

As we lead into re-shaping our Health and Social Development Department, we are also mindful of the interim guidance needed by some of our essential services as we seek a Director of Community Infrastructure. To ensure these services remain strong and responsive, we need to look at internal strengths to maintain the integrity of services we provide. We want to share some additional changes to strengthen and align our services across departments:

• Lolly Andrew will be stepping in to provide interim support and direction to our Housing and Emergency Preparedness teams. In addition, she will continue overseeing Family Wellness and Preservation, the Family Home, and Family Development. Once we have filled the Director of Clinical Health Services and Director of Community Infrastructure positions, Lolly will transition back into a health leadership role.
• Lands will transition under Chuck McNeil’s interim guidance, providing stability and direction as we continue to strengthen this area and ground the work in community.
• Public Works, Facilities, Custodial and Venue Operations will remain under the interim guidance of the Capital Committee to maintain essential support.
• Social Development (Income Assistance) will transition to under Employment Services and align closely with services that support our clients as they find their strengths, build their skills, and work toward sustainable employment. This will ensure wraparound support for our clients on their path to employment and independence.
• Occupational Health and Safety will transition under Human Resources leadership to enhance occupational workplace health and safety and employee wellbeing.

As Lolly begins this interim shift to overseeing Housing and Emergency Preparedness, she has selected several dedicated team members to provide collaborative interim senior management across the Health and Social Development Department. This will ensure we continue to meet the needs of our community and clients with care and strength. We want to take a moment to express our appreciation for:

• Bonnie Nickel, in her capacity as Department Manager, will take on oversight of the Recovery Homes and Mental Health as we search for the Director of Clinical Health Services and Senior Clinical Substance Use Program Lead. Bonnie will continue to oversee Nursing and Home and Community Care, ensuring continuity of care and support.
• Brooke Bobb-Reid, who will be stepping into the interim role of Acting Department Manager of Community and Family Health & Wellness Services, and overseeing the Lifegivers Wellness Home, Maternal Child Wellness, Resilience and Prevention, Traditional Wellness, Traditional Foods and Nutrition, and Health Promotion.
• Kristi McNeil, who will be stepping into the interim role of Acting Health Services Administrative Lead, overseeing Health Administration, health-specific contribution agreements, billing, and the operations of the Dental Office, Medical Office, and Specialty Clinics.

We recognize that change brings questions and impacts teams in different ways. To support this transition, we are planning to schedule drop-in times for Health and Social Development staff and another for Community Infrastructure staff to ask questions and discuss how these changes will support our collective work. We will begin to schedule these in the coming week and weeks and dates and times will be shared with those teams.

We are thankful to all those who have helped build and shape the Health and Social Development Department over the years. Your dedication and hard work have brought us to this point, and this transition reflects not only the strength of what has been built but the care and vision that continue to guide us forward. We are also thankful to our Community Infrastructure teams for the work they do for our community and within our workplaces.

In the coming days, we will be posting for the Director of Clinical Health Services position. We are excited for the opportunities this brings and remain committed to ensuring our services reflect who we are, where we come from, and where we are going together.

Many hearts and spirits working together maintain our strength to continue moving forward. More information will be shared in the months ahead, and we look forward to walking this path with you.

Thank you for all that you do,
Sq’éwqel Administration