Doctors study traditional medicine

By Christine Smith McFarlane

TORONTO – The University of Toronto is introducing Indigenous teachings into its medical school curriculum.

“This is a really exciting endeavour for the University of Toronto because it has a holistic framework,” says Rochelle Allan, Coordinator for the new Indigenous Peoples’ Undergraduate Medical Education Program. Allan, whose father is from the Chippewas of Nawash says “It supports students, involves community work and brings Indigenous content into the medical school curriculum.

Allan was speaking at the opening of the program’s new office at the university’s St. George Campus in downtown Toronto.

The office provides a culturally safe space within the Undergraduate Medical Education program and is working towards advancing Indigenous community engagement and supports, and to incorporate Indigenous teachings regarding medicine for students.

 “At the opening, we brought in Diane Longboat because she worked at the Faculty of Medicine, and was director of First Nations House when it first opened,” says Allan. “Diane pioneered ‘The Indian Health Careers Program’ at the University of Toronto through a partnership with the Faculty of Medicine in 1989. Bringing her back was a full circle acknowledgement of where we came from and where we are heading now.”

Current initiatives include teachings about Indigenous health and history, having an Aboriginal Health elective which is a longstanding pre-clerkship program organized by the students, and outreach and relationship-building with the city’s Indigenous community, including First Nations House and Anishnawbe Health Toronto.

Other programs that are connected with the Office of Indigenous Medical Education include the Summer Mentorship Program in the Health Sciences program, which provides high school students from Aboriginal, African-Canadian and other under-represented groups with a four-week mentorship experience in the health professions. In addition, the Indigenous Student Application Program is designed to help increase the number of Indigenous (First Nations, Metis and Inuit) medical students at the University of Toronto.

One of the physicians at the new Office of Indigenous Medical Education is Dr. Jason Pennington, Huron-Wendat, a general surgeon at Scarborough General Hospital. Cayuga Elder Cat Criger from Six Nations will offer traditional teachings.

The new office’s logo  is a painting titled “Good Medicine: Passing the Knowledge” by Anishinaabe artist Ken Syrette, Batchewana First Nation.