Meet Lana Atkinson: Walking the path of allyship

“Allyship begins with listening.”

For Lana Atkinson, walking the path of allyship has been shaped by a commitment to learning and the understanding that trust is built over time.

As a medical librarian at Covenant Health, Lana spends her days connecting people with knowledge and information. Her own learning journey, however, began long before her career in libraries. Looking back, she realizes it started with experiences that taught her the importance of remaining open and taking the time to understand perspectives beyond her own.

Growing up in Fort McMurray, Lana was fortunate to have teachers who believed that many of life’s most valuable lessons happened beyond the classroom. They built meaningful relationships with local Indigenous communities and created opportunities for students to learn directly from community members.

Those experiences left a lasting impression. Learning about Indigenous histories, cultures, knowledge systems and relationships with the land wasn’t simply another school lesson. It was an opportunity to see the world from a different perspective and sparked a genuine interest that stayed with her long after those classroom visits ended.

That interest continued into university, where Lana studied medical anthropology. As she explored Indigenous histories and cultures in greater depth, she also began learning about residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and the lasting impacts of colonialism. Those experiences reinforced something she had begun to understand years earlier: meaningful learning begins by listening to the experiences and perspectives of others.

Today, that same perspective shapes the work she does at Covenant Health.

For Lana, Covenant Health’s commitment to reconciliation is one of the things that makes her work especially meaningful. She sees that commitment reflected in the organization’s efforts to learn, strengthen relationships with Indigenous communities and support culturally safe and equitable care.

Libraries are often thought of as places where people go to find answers.

Lana sees them as more than that.

“They are trusted places where people go to find the truth.”

That philosophy guides her work every day. Whether she’s supporting research, providing information literacy or maintaining Covenant Health’s Indigenous Health Subject Guide, Lana wants learning to feel easy and accessible. The guide brings together a variety of formats to cater to different learning styles and traditions, such as books, articles, videos, research papers and other educational resources that help staff, physicians, volunteers and learners deepen their understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing and being that honour their stories of resilience and strength.

She hopes the guide will encourage people to begin, or continue, their own learning journey.

One lesson in particular has stayed with Lana throughout that journey.

“Move at the speed of trust.”

Those words changed how Lana thinks about relationships. Rather than feeling she needed to have the right answers, she learned the value of slowing down, listening first and allowing trust to develop over time.

That lesson also shaped her understanding of allyship.

“It’s not a self-appointed identity,” Lana says. “It’s something recognized by the Indigenous community through the actions you take and the relationships you build.”

For Lana, that understanding is both humbling and encouraging. Allyship isn’t about claiming a title. It’s about showing up consistently, continuing to learn and building relationships slowly, grounded in mutual trust and respect.

She also understands why many people hesitate to begin. The fear of saying something wrong or inadvertently causing offence can make that first step feel intimidating.

Her advice is simple.

Start learning.

Read a book by an Indigenous author. Attend a community event. Explore the Indigenous Health Subject Guide. Listen to Indigenous voices. Be open to perspectives that may challenge your own.

“You don’t have to have all the answers before you begin,” she says. “You just have to be willing to take the first step.”

Looking back, Lana doesn’t see allyship as something she’s achieved. She sees learning, listening and relationship-building as lifelong commitments that continue to shape both her work and her life.

“It may not be an easy road, but it’s a beautiful one.”

As you begin your journey, expect a few roadblocks and tensions along the way as you challenge and untangle your assumptions, beliefs and behaviours. Recognizing these entanglements is a sign that deeper learning, accountability and relationship building are occurring and positive change is happening.

Lana hopes others will discover what she has found along the way: that listening with humility, remaining open to learning and building meaningful relationships are all important steps on the path to reconciliation.