Canada is a country of diverse people. All aspects of diversity are relevant to an effective, responsive, culturally competent and culturally safe, organizational system that meets the needs of all the people we serve. Providers and others involved in the care planning and delivery interact regularly with people from many different backgrounds. People living in Canada have intersectioning identities including; Aboriginal status, national origin, race, ethnicity, language, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, (dis)ability, faith perspectives, socio-economic status, rural/urban among others. Their histories, lived realities, bio-medical differences and health status inequities and disparities inform their different cultural perspectives and needs. These should, in turn, inform how programs, messages and services are designed to meet their needs.

Alberta Health Services and its partners invites clinicians, researchers, educators, advocates, families, students, volunteers and members of community organizations to participate in the Second National Transcultural Health Conference to be held May 2-4, 2010 in Calgary, Alberta. Our conference theme is “Multiple Voices for Enhancing Health Equity Through Research, Policy, Education, and Clinical Practice”.

The first national conference held in Montreal in 2007 drew a multidisciplinary group of over 200 participants in healthcare, education, community work and policy. It served to identify effective models of health care and strategies for clients from diverse ethnoracial and Aboriginal backgrounds. The 2nd National conference will expand on these themes and provide attendees with the opportunity to consider and explore areas such as collaborative professional practice, issues of cultural knowledge and advocacy, the development of cultural competence, and the experience of clients, practitioners and policy makers from the perspective of diversity.

Conference Themes

•	Overcoming racism/systemic discrimination, globalization, policy change and policy issues in transcultural health
•	Fostering collaborative practice
•	Constructing diverse forms of knowledge & practice
•	Practicing advocacy
•	Integrating/Advancing cultural safety and cultural competence in practice
•	Showcasing innovative practices

The conference is preceded by a full-day learning institute. During these three days, we are especially interested in exploring multicultural diversity in clinical practice, education, and research. As such, we welcome abstracts for consideration for both the conference break-out sessions and pre-conference learning institute. The topics for these two separate events are slightly different yet speak to the overall theme of the conference