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2018 Aboriginal Graduate Scholarship winners
In 2018 SFU selected three Aboriginal graduate students to receive Graduate Aboriginal Entrance Scholarships. The scholarship for master’s degree studies is worth up to $30,000 over two years, while the scholarship for PhD studies is worth up to $54,000 over three years.
The scholarships were established in 2013 by the Office of the Vice-President, Academic to encourage Aboriginal students to consider graduate studies and, ultimately, a career in post-secondary education.
Candidates must have Aboriginal ancestry, a minimum grade point average of 3.5 out of a possible 4.33, and have demonstrated outstanding achievement.
Scientific curiosity and enthusiasm spur on health sciences master’s student
It’s easy to see why SFU master of science student Jaimy Fischer received a fall 2018 Graduate Aboriginal Entrance Award. She’s keen to learn new tools that will help her implement complex ideas.
A Métis Canadian, Fischer completed an undergraduate degree, with distinction, in geomatics from the University of Victoria and then joined SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences under supervisor and professor Meghan Winters.
Fischer began working as an undergraduate research assistant in Winters’ lab, Cities, Health, and Active Transportation Research (CHATR) in 2016. The lab is a collaboration between BSc, MSc and PhD trainees and staff who are studying how community design impacts the way people get around, and how they connect with each other.
Fischer led the GIS mapping and statistical analysis for Winters’ CIHR-funded “Impacts of Bicycle Infrastructure in Mid-sized Cities (IBIMS)” study. She examined how a major investment in bicycle infrastructure impacts population health, transportation patterns and spatial equity over time.
Says Winters, “I am impressed with her rich experience, scientific curiosity and enthusiasm and professionalism.
“She has already contributed to three manuscripts, with authorship on two, given her substantive analysis and writing contributions.”
Fischer’s MSc research is building upon what she started in the CHATR Lab, which might help to fill gaps in understanding the impacts of physical activity and injury on cycling.
“Jaimy’s proposed work builds on her past research accomplishments,” says Winters, “and positions her to grow in the burgeoning area of ‘big data’—a priority for SFU.”
PhD student rethinks Indigenous relationships with tobacco
Kody Doxtater, a Mohawk from Six Nations, Ontario, has a passion for addressing Indigenous health disparities. A PhD candidate in SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), he is studying oyen'kwa'on:we (Indian tobacco) and its healing properties.
According to Susan Hill, director, Centre for Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto, his research proposal is “revolutionary in terms of rethinking contemporary North American Indigenous relationships with tobacco.”
Doxtater began his SFU studies in fall 2018 after completing a Master of Public Health at the University of Victoria. He is working on his research with a team funded through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The team includes collaborators from the First Nations Health Authority.
“Kody brings clear evidence of intellectual ability, originality and ability in research,” says FHS professor Kelley Lee. “His research to date has been highly original in approach, method and analysis, notably in how he is able to analyze public health through Indigenous knowledge lenses, an approach that is too often lacking.”
Garnering scholarships and awards throughout his post-secondary education, Doxtater has also published in the field of Indigenous health. He co-authored the chapter, “Care for Indigenous peoples” in the book, Ontario’s health system: Key insights for engaged citizens, professionals and policy makers.
Lee expects Doxtater will make an exceptional contribution not only to Indigenous health but also to reconciliation.
“Kody is proposing a new strategy that empowers Indigenous nations through education and celebrates Indigenous culture and knowledge. His work, in short, seeks to restore the authority of Indigenous peoples to inform their own perspectives, approaches and recommendations for a tobacco-control strategy within an ongoing colonial context that seeks reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and Canadians.”
PhD to explore Squamish matriarchy
Graphic designer and consultant Michelle Nahanee, from the Squamish Nation, returned to school after 20 years to pursue an MA in communication at SFU and explore her interest in Indigenous cultural sovereignty and decolonizing practices. She graduated in June 2018 and is now pursuing PhD studies that continue her MA research into Squamish matriarchy.
Her MA thesis, “Decolonizing Identity: From Indian Girl to Skwxwú7mesh Matriarch,” examined the naming conventions she grew up with and how they contributed to her identity as a Squamish person. For her thesis, she drew on Squamish matriarchal principles to develop a board game called Sínulhkay and Ladders, a twist on the well-known Snakes and Ladders game. Her version, she says, is a powerful teaching and rhetorical tool for sharing decolonizing practices. In the game, Sínulhkay, a double-headed sea serpent, represents domination and exploitation, masked as empowerment. The game’s goal, she says, is to achieve chénchenstway, a Squamish verb meaning “to support one another.”
Since completing the project, she has been invited to give keynote lectures and decolonizing workshops. She also founded Decolonizing Practices, an organization that offers workshops and training. The organization also sells her board game to facilitate ongoing dialogue and work around decolonization.