A Frances Kelsey Secondary School 2025 graduate has been recognized by Island Health for her work in promoting harm reduction awareness and training at the school. Kalla Shields received the Youth Harm Reduction Award on June 3 at her school.
Minister of Health Josie Osborne congratulated Shields for her "inspiring" work.
"Her courage to lead, educate, and save lives through the Hummingbird Project is nothing short of inspiring," Osborne said. "I can’t wait to see where Kalla goes after graduating high school — I’m sure she will do amazing things.”
Shields worked with a group called Toward the Heart, with school administration and with Island Health to train more than 50 students and staff at Frances Kelsey with naloxone training — a vital response to opioid poisonings that can save lives.
Shields also worked to have Naloxone kits placed in key school locations and provide those given the proper training with their own take-home kits.
“By getting students and staff trained in naloxone use and making sure naloxone kits are easily accessible, Kalla has helped ensure our school community is better prepared in case of an emergency,” said Kelsey teacher Tara McKinley. “The project has also made a huge difference in how we talk about substance use by breaking down stigma and opening up more compassionate conversations among students and staff.”
Since those sessions, Shields has also mentored younger student leaders to take on the project next year and continue its legacy.
Shields called her initiative the Hummingbird Project, based on a Métis teaching that her mother shared with her as a child.
“It’s about a hummingbird that, when faced with a raging fire, doesn’t run away but instead carries water, drop by drop, to put it out,” she said. “When asked if it’s really making a difference, the hummingbird simply says, ‘I’m doing what I can.’”
Shields pursued her project following the drug poisoning of one of her peers in 2021. At that time, Shields was able to respond with naloxone and the person survived.
“That experience has undoubtedly left a lasting impact on me, but the silver lining was that it planted the seed for what would eventually become the Hummingbird Project,” she said. “More than anything, I really hoped this project would make students and staff feel supported, empowered to help, to talk openly about harm reduction and to create a safer community together.”
Shields hopes to continue supporting harm reduction when she attends university in the fall; her long-term goal is to go to medical school and become a neuropsychiatrist.
“I’m especially passionate about advocating for culturally safe, trauma-informed mental health and substance use care, particularly for youth and Indigenous communities,” she said.
