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The end of Summer: Teaming up for fall

Hello. Bonjour. Aaniin. Boozhoo. As summer comes to an end and the leaves begin to change, we’re gearing up for yet another academic year. Of course many of us have been working throughout the summer and in fact our post graduate programs have been well into their academic year. I hope everyone was still able to revel in the smells of sunscreen, bonfires, the lake and camp, fresh fish, and forest air. I have to say that I have never seen such bright sunsets, heard such bounding thunder, nor experienced such brilliant rainbows as I did in Northern Ontario. To me, the mixed weather is a perfect metaphor for my first two months and ...

Uniquely Northern

Hello. Bonjour. Aaniin. Boozhoo. These two weeks have taken me to Thunder Bay several times and meetings around Ontario, with more plans to travel to where NOSM must be represented; including communities further north, and at the Council of Ontario Faculties of Medicine, and the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada and the Colleges. It is critical that NOSM is seen in all these places, because NOSM is truly unique. No other voice can adequately represent the Northern perspective on health-care education. If not, we risk being unheard or left out of competing province-wide decisions and national strategies in resource allo...

Dynamic conversations and creating a culture of kindness

Hello. Bonjour. Aaniin. Boozhoo. Since my last blog, I’ve met an incredible number of new people. I had the honour of meeting NOSM’s Indigenous Reference Group (IRG) and Ogichidaang Gagiigatiziwin — NOSM’s Circle of Elders and Traditional Knowledge Keepers — on July 19. I’d like to extend my gratitude to the IRG and the Elders for the Welcome Ceremony and the Eagle Feather that they gifted me. As well, I met with Monique Rocheleau, Chair of the Francophone Reference Group on July 9. I shall cherish the trust and kinship that these meetings generated for us all. We were fortunate to host a meeting in Sudbury at our...