Health Equity Starts Here: Environmental Justice Through a Nursing Lens
National Nursing Week Webinar # 2
In celebration of National Nursing Week (May 11–15) and this year’s theme, The Power of Nurses to Transform Health, the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care (CCGHC), the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment (CANE), and the Ontario Nurses’ for the Environment (ONE) are proud to present a special webinar series highlighting nursing leadership in planetary health and sustainability.
May 12, 2026 from 12 to 1 pm EST
Environmental justice is a critical and growing area of nursing practice. Join us to explore how nurses are uniquely positioned to recognize and respond to the disproportionate impacts of environmental harm on marginalized and equity-deserving communities.
Highlights:
- Learn how intersectionality shapes environmental health outcomes
- Expert insights on integrating environmental justice into practice
Environmental justice is a critical and growing area of nursing practice, deeply connected to health equity, planetary health, and the social determinants of health. Nurses are uniquely positioned to recognize and respond to the disproportionate impacts of environmental harm on marginalized and equity-deserving communities.
In this webinar, Alysha Jones, June Kaminski, and Ankur Patel will explore how intersectionality shapes environmental health outcomes and what this means for nursing practice across settings.
Speakers
Alysha Jones, June Kaminski & Ankur Patel
June Kaminski
Alysha Jones
Alysha T. Jones (she/her) is a second-generation white settler nurse educator and community health nurse, grateful to live on the lands of the T’Sou-ke and Sc’ianew Nations, and to teach and practice on the lands of the W̱SÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən Nations. She has a background in ecopsychology and teaches undergraduate nursing studies at Camosun College, as well as an online course on environmental justice and planetary health at the University of Northern BC. Alysha co-chairs the Environmental Justice and Reconciliation Committee of the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment.
Ankur Patel
Ankur Patel (he/him) is a registered nurse, advocate, and leader based in the traditional and unceded territories of the Haisla Nation colonially Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada. As a recent graduate of the University of Northern British Columbia. He currently serves as the Canadian Nurses Association’s representative to the Student and Early Career Nurse Alliance of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), where he represents Canadian students and early career nurses on the global stage. Ankur’s work has largely centred on planetary health and its integration into nursing policy, education, and practice. Growing up in the rainforests of Northern British Columbia shaped his enduring interest in the interdependence of ecological and human health systems, and he brings that lens to every table he joins.
More Information
Go to our CANE Nursing Week page at:
Registration
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lla3OSCdSuCqClzeblXyTA#/registration
June Kaminski has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Education, Curriculum Studies at UBC. June is the Project Coordinator for the Coalition’s Preparing Canada’s Health Care Buildings for Net-Zero project. June has volunteered with the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment for the past sixteen years in a variety of roles including the current co-lead of the Environmental Justice and Reconciliation committee and worked in nursing education, writing, and research for 37 years. She actively encourages all health professionals to become ecologically literate and proactive in protecting the health of Canadians and the planet. She is also very dedicated to supporting self-governance in First Nations, Inuit, and Metis health, education and environmental stewardship.
She actively encourages all health professionals to become ecologically literate and proactive in protecting the health of Canadians and the planet. She is also very dedicated to supporting self-governance in First Nations, Inuit, and Metis health, education and environmental stewardship.