Dr. Danièle Behn Smith
Dr. Danièle Behn Smith is the Province’s Aboriginal Health Physician Advisor and works alongside Dr. Bonnie Henry, the Provincial Health Officer.
Dr. Behn Smith provides independent advice and support to the Ministry of Health on First Nations and Aboriginal health issues. In support of the Ministry’s strategic agenda, Dr. Behn Smith focuses on closing the gap in health outcomes between First Nations and other British Columbians.
Dr. Behn Smith is Eh Cho Dene (Big Animal People) of the Fort Nelson First Nation in B.C. with French Canadian/ Métis roots in the Red River Valley. Since getting her Doctor of Medicine from McMaster University and completing residencies at the universities of Ottawa and Manitoba, Dr. Behn Smith’s career has spanned the country and the globe.
She has practiced rural medicine in remote communities across Canada and is currently a family physician at Tse’wulhtun Health Center in the Cowichan Valley. She was a Board Director for the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, the Director of Education for the University of Alberta’s Indigenous Health Initiatives Program and the Site Director of the University of British Columbia’s Aboriginal Family practice residency.
Dr. Behn-Smith was also the host of “Medicine Woman,” a 13-episode television series which explored traditional healing practices in ten countries on six continents.