Tara Wilkie, Registered Nurse, Forensic Nurse Examiner
Tara Wilkie is a Registered Nurse and Forensic Nurse Examiner with a specialty in Emergency Nursing and 18 years of experience working with persons who have experienced violence. In 2009 Tara and her colleagues were instrumental in creating the Human Trafficking Healthcare Team for Fraser Health’s Forensic Nursing Service Program to improve the identification and response to human trafficking within the health care setting. This team’s project, the creation of “Human Trafficking: Help Don’t Hinder” online learning modules to educate emergency health care providers, was launched in 2014, and has trained thousands of healthcare providers on the local, national and international level. Tara has developed a curriculum on human trafficking and healthcare and is a part time instructor for the BCIT Forensic Science and Technology program. In 2019 Tara and another nursing colleague founded the Human Trafficking Health Alliance of Canada, a cohesive network of health care providers across our country working to promote awareness of human trafficking and its impact on the health of a person and our health care system. Tara has been nominated for a Forensic Nurse of Excellence Award, received a Ruby Award, and in 2018 received the BCIT Distinguished Alumni award for her work to combat trafficking. Tara is a local volunteer working with women and girls in need, and in 2005 and 2006 Tara volunteered abroad in Thailand with tribal children who were at risk and/or trafficked, which is the catalyst to this work.
“I get to share some really intimate moments with my patients that I hold dear to my heart, because I know that sometimes their stories and experiences are things they have not told other people before.”
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