Anishinabek citizens recently presented with awards from Lakehead University

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY—Canada Research Chair Christopher Mushquash and Dilico Anishinabek Family Care’s Tina Bobinski were recently honoured with Lakehead University’s Indigenous Partnership Research Award at the Research and Innovation Awards of Excellence reception.

“It’s a shared award that honours research partnerships and collaborations between researchers and organizations or communities,” says Mushquash, a Pays Plat citizen, director of the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research at Lakehead University, and clinical psychologist with Dilico, during the Feb. 28 awards reception. “Dilico communities and Dilico leadership and I have been collaborating on a whole number of different projects over the last number of years. We were nominated by a group that included a lot of the trainees who work on those projects, and we were lucky to be awarded the honour this year.”

The research projects included key roles for Indigenous peoples and mutually beneficial outcomes for the researchers and Indigenous partners. The projects also contributed to the education of Indigenous students and unique dissemination of research results that take into account individual/community needs.

“One [project] was we developed a tool for understanding child mental well-being from the perspective of the First Nation communities,” Mushquash says, noting that the project involved working with people from the community to understand what they value as the key pieces to knowing if a child is doing well. “Then we tested that as a tool within the organization at Dilico, and it is currently used now to help us understand wellness and help us make decisions as to what might be the best supports to put in place for the young person.”

Mushquash says there has been a “very positive” response from the communities about the tool.

“We’ve had communities from outside our area ask about and see if they are able to access and use [the tool],” Mushquash says. “We are in the process of creating the final shiny polished version, and at that point we [will] further disseminate and share with others that are interested.”

Bobinski, assistant director of mental health and addictions at Dilico, says the goal was to develop a tool that is relevant to the 13 First Nations that Dilico serves in the Lake Nipigon and Lake Superior area.

“So what we did is we went out and we talked to all of our First Nations and had them help us describe what they feel are the important aspects of child mental well-being,” Bobinski says. “A big component of that obviously was the cultural aspects, which isn’t reflected in any of the mainstream tools that are currently used to assess children’s mental well-being.”

Mushquash and Bobinski were among about 31 award recipients who were presented with awards at the Lakehead University Agora centre.

“We are very pleased to be recognized at the awards,” Bobinski says. “We will continue to lead research initiatives as an Indigenous organization.”

Moira McPherson, president and vice-chancellor at Lakehead University, says the reception provides an opportunity to celebrate the successes of the university’s researchers, students and partners.

“Their work is breaking new ground in various fields of study and is impacting the destinies of the communities that they work with and within,” McPherson says. “So I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to all of our students and to all of our researchers that are being honoured this evening.”

In addition to the Indigenous Partnership Research Award, recipients were recognized with Three Minute Thesis awards, Graduate Studies Research Excellence Awards, Graduate Student Conference Poster Winners awards, Postdoctoral Fellows Poster Awards, Innovation Awards and Senate Research Committee Awards.