Many Indigenous entrepreneurs have been pushed to find creative solutions to challenges of the pandemic – The Globe and Mail
Kanatan Health Solutions hand sanitizer was born, like many inventions, out of necessity.
Leah Redcrow, founder and director of products and innovation at Kanatan Health Solutions, created their miyahkasikan (good smudge) sanitizer sprays after shortages of soap and sanitizers had left her worried for the health and safety of her home community of Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta.
“I wanted to make something that the elders would feel comfortable using, and something that they would want to use all the time” Ms. Redcrow says. Scented with traditional botanicals – sweetgrass, cedar, sage and sweet tobacco – and labelled in Nehiyawak (Plains Cree) syllabics, the sanitizers fill a need for culturally relevant health products.
“A lot of the older people are still very spiritual, very fluent in the Cree language,” Ms. Redcrow says. “So, when they can actually read something and they can understand it, I think it kind of breaks that barrier for them to be more trusting.”
