B.C.'s top doc wears Kamloops creation with a message

Photo: Province of B.C.

Dr. Bonnie Henry wearing Gwen Campbell McArthur's brooch.

Watching Dr. Bonnie Henry on TV has inspired many creations, from street art to shoes.

In Kamloops, the province's top doc inspired Gwen Campbell McArthur, a retired mental health nurse and published researcher.

McArthur, who holds citizenship with the Manitoba Metis Federation, beads.

"I learned when I was really small from my Granny," she tells Castanet, explaining that since she's retired, she's started doing it more. "It's something that's always been meaningful for me."

It was the necklaces Henry wears that grabbed McArthur's eye.

"I thought I should bead her something, and I thought about well, what about a necklace? And what about the red dress that symbolizes missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls?" she says.

So she got to it and created a red dress necklace for Henry, choosing beads she thought would work with the doctor's outfits. She mailed it off 10 days ago.

"I like to create something unique for each person I make them for," McArthur explains.

On July 6, McArthur spotted her creation adorning the blazer Henry wore during her press conference on the current COVID-19 situation in B.C.

"She had fashioned it into a brooch," McArthur says. "Somebody took the time to make it so that it was special for her. I thought that was pretty good."

"I'm thrilled that she wore it any way," she adds.

The red dress is a common symbol used to represent missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

"I do hope that it does remind people that, just because we're in a pandemic, the other psycho-social issues that are happening, in Canada in particular, don't go away and don't stop because we're in a state of emergency," McArthur explains, noting there's been an increase in domestic violence during the pandemic.

She believes Henry understood the message in the beaded dress, and is hopeful others recognized it as well.

"These issues continue, the violence and women and girls still go missing and we're still looking for them," McArthur says.

She has decades of experience working in the mental health field; while she's retired, McArthur is working during the pandemic and lending a hand where needed. She's been on Zoom calls with Henry, and calls her "so kind and so compassionate." She notes that Henry is also meeting with the Indigenous health-care leaders to discuss the pandemic in First Nations communities.

Having the public health leader-turned provincial icon wear a piece of her work is an honour, she says.