Our Story

Committed to moving the dietetic profession forward

Originating as a Facebook community in 2018, Weight-Inclusive Dietitians in Canada (WIDIC) was officially launched in March 2020 by registered dietitian Vincci Tsui. As someone relatively new to weight-inclusive practice herself, Vincci found that while there were (and still are!) a growing number of resources for healthcare practitioners looking to practice using a weight-inclusive approach, many of them are US-based, and don’t account for some of the advantages and challenges of the Canadian healthcare system. Vincci also hoped to create a community of like-minded dietitians that were “closer to home.”

WIDIC’s mission is to strengthen the dietetic profession and dietetics practice in Canada through continuing education and community support, with a focus on elevating voices and groups who are often made marginalized in the dietetics and healthcare communities. Our ultimate vision is for intersectional, weight-inclusive care to be the standard for dietetics and healthcare, and the harms of intentional weight loss and weight management practices to be acknowledged, avoided, and addressed.

What is Weight-Inclusive Care?

Weight-inclusive care challenges the common but erroneous belief that health is predicated on body weight. One of the key differences between a weight-inclusive approach and conventional care is that the former rejects weight management as a health intervention. Weight management perpetuates weight stigma by pathologizing body size, as well as increases the risk of weight cycling and disordered eating, thereby causing harm and contributing to worse health outcomes. 

A weight-inclusive approach works to promote overall well being, regardless of a person’s size. The term “weight-inclusive” (rather than “weight neutral”) describes an active position to include all weights and bodies in care. This approach is rooted in social justice, particularly the fat activism, fat acceptance, and body liberation movements. Practitioners aim to increase equity and access to people of all sizes and identities by avoiding stigmatizing and oppressive practices, working to undo the harm caused by these practices, and advocating for anti-oppression and increased access to safe and equitable resources in the world at large.

Our Mission

To strengthen the dietetic profession and dietetic practice in Canada through continuing education and community support with an intersectional weight-inclusive approach.

 

Our Vision

 To make intersectional, weight-inclusive care the standard for dietetics and healthcare.

Our Values

Fat Positivity & Body Liberation

A weight-inclusive practice is not one that simply “includes people of all sizes.” Weight-inclusive practice has its roots in fat activism, which is a movement started by and for fat people. As dietitians practicing using a weight-inclusive approach, we honour and follow the lead of fat people and activists, and centre the voices and lived experiences of fat people in our work.

Critical Approach to Practice

We encourage learning, deconstructing, decolonizing, and expanding the knowledge base that is considered central to dietetic practice. We reject the pathologizing of human diversity, including fatness, and challenge the systems under which the current empirical knowledge base has been established, as it is grounded in white supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism, fatphobia, and other systems of oppression.

Social Justice

Social justice is about working towards improved human rights, access, participation and equity for everyone. In the context of an intersectional, weight-inclusive approach to care, this means going beyond treating people with marginalized identities with respect and dignity; it includes understanding how social systems and structures contribute to inequity, how conventional weight-centric narratives contribute to these inequities and in turn worse health, and how to change the way we practice so that we can contribute to equity and better health for all. We recognize the ways that dietetics have been used in Canada and around the world as part of anti-Black, anti-Indigenous and other oppression, and are striving to do better.

Inclusive Community

We strive to create a community that is inclusive to everyone. While no space can be completely safe, we aim to centre the voices and prioritize the safety of folks with identities that are often made marginalized.

Advisory Council

In line with WIDIC’s goals to create an inclusive community and centre the voices of those less represented in dietetics and healthcare, the purpose of the Advisory Council is to ensure that a diversity of voices are represented in decisions regarding the direction of the organization.

Vincci Tsui, RD (she/her)

Mohkinstsis/Guts’ists’i/Wîchîspa (Calgary, AB)

Marianne Bloudoff

Marianne Bloudoff, RD (she/her)

lək̓ʷəŋən & W̱SÁNEĆ territories (Victoria, BC)

Angel Fonseca

Angel Fonseca, RD (She/her)

Anemki Wequedog (Thunder Bay, ON)

Julia Lévy-Ndejuru

Julia Lévy-Ndejuru, DtP, MSc (elle/she)

Tio’tia:ke/Mooniyang (Montreal, QC)

Sarah McKay

Sarah McKay, RD (she/her)

Wolastoqiyik (Fredericton, NB)

Anna Millman

Anna Millman, RD (she/her)

Treaty 4 Territory (Swift Current, SK)

Nat Quathamer

Nat Quathamer, RD (They/Iel, ask re others)

Kugluktuk, NU

Molly Roberts

Molly Roberts, RD (she/her)

Thadinadonnih (Guelph, ON)

Grace Wong MSc, RD, CEDS-S (she/her)

Mohkinstsis/Guts’ists’i/Wîchîspa (Calgary, AB)