Cornelia wieman biography

Cornelia Gertrude nel Wieman is a Canadian psychiatrist.
Cornelia Gertrude nel Wieman (born 1964) (Anishinaabe) is a Canadian psychiatrist.
Nel Wieman became the first female Indigenous psychiatrist in Canada.

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First female Indigenous psychiatrist in Canada

For our final post celebrating National Indigenous History Month we are jumping back to the present to highlight Dr. Cornelia (Nel) Wieman, the first Indigenous female psychiatrist in Canada.

Dr. Wieman is an Anishinaabe woman from Manitoba, Little Grand Rapids First Nation. She grew up very poor with her adoptive non-Indigenous family as a victim of the Sixties Scoop. She had very little exposure to medicine prior to her entrance into McMaster University. After graduating from McMaster in 1993 with a medical degree and training in psychiatry, she became laser focused on improving the health and mental health of Indigenous Peoples and fighting Indigenous racism.

Being honoured with the Indspire award in 1998 spurred Dr. Wieman’s journey into becoming an advocate for Indigenous Peoples, giving a voice to those that were mostly silent in Canada’s healthcare system. Her career is inspiring given her very humble beginnings. Dr. Wieman began her career by providing psychiatric services at the Six Nations o

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Cornelia (Nel) Wieman

Dr. Wieman is Anishinaabe from Little Grand Rapids First Nation, Manitoba. She lives, works, and plays on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples – the səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. She completed her medical degree and psychiatry specialty training at McMaster University. Canada’s first female Indigenous psychiatrist, Dr. Wieman has more than 20 years’ clinical experience working with Indigenous people in both rural/reserve and urban settings. Dr. Wieman also served as the elected President of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada from 2016 to 2022.

More recently, Dr. Wieman served as Co-Chair of a provincial First Nations Technical Committee that created the British Columbia Cultural Safety & Humility Standard, an organizational standard directed at anti-Indigenous racism across all health and social services in the province.

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Cornelia Wieman

Canadian psychiatrist

Cornelia Wieman
Born	1964 (age 60–61) Little Grand Rapids First Nation, Manitoba, Canada
Awards	Governor General's Academic Medal Indspire Awards (1998)
Education	BSc, Kinesiology, 1988, MSc, Biomechanics, 1991, University of Waterloo MD, 1993, McMaster University
Thesis	Electromyography of the Trunk and Lower Limb Muscles During Gait of Elderly and Younger Subjects: Implications for the Control of Balance
Institutions	University of British Columbia University of Toronto McMaster University

Cornelia Gertrude nel Wieman (born 1964) (Anishinaabe) is a Canadian psychiatrist. She is the first Indigenous woman to become a psychiatrist in Canada and the First Nations Health Authority deputy Chief Medical Officer.

Early life and education

Wieman was born in 1964^[1] in Little Grand Rapids First Nation, Manitoba, Canada but was forcefully taken from her family during the Sixties Scoop. She was subsequently adopted by a family of Dutch immigrants and raised in Thunder Bay, Onta