annette butikofer
director
bachelor of administration, 1985

annette began her information technology career in 1985 as a programmer/analyst for telecom australia. upon returning to canada, annette worked as a programmer/analyst for woods gordon consulting and the hudson’s bay company. in 1991, she joined the information technology branch of the canada revenue agency (cra) as a senior programmer analyst and has gone on to hold progressively challenging positions. in 2015, annette became cio and assistant commissioner, information technology branch. in addition to her badmin (with a specialization in management information systems) from lakehead, annette is a certified management accountant (cma). in 2013, she graduated from the university of ottawa certificate program in public sector leadership and governance and in 2017, she graduated from the canada school of public service’s executive leadership development program.
 

carmen pekkarinen
director
honours bachelor of outdoor recreation, 1995

carmen was born and raised in northern ontario and has lived and worked in finland since 1998. she is currently a documentation specialist at trimble solution in espoo, finland. she also holds an honours bachelor of physical and health education (laurentian university, 1997) and an ma in integrated studies (athabasca university, 2013). carmen is married with a daughter and spends a lot of her free time at local rinks coaching ringette and girls’ hockey. she’s the author of the life in finland weblog and seeks out not-so-well-known connections between canada and finland. carmen is also a past chair of the finnish-canadian society. carmen is the acting president of the finland alumni chapter, which includes many former exchange 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from finland and sweden.

jamie dennison
director
civil engineering technology, 1995
honours bachelor of commerce, 1999

born and raised in thunder bay and now residing in oakville, ontario, james joined great-west life, a canadian insurance company, in 2016 and is the vice president & global head of operational risk. james has worked in the financial services industry since graduating from the bachelor of commerce program at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 in 1999, and he has since held various roles in risk management and regulatory organizations including the bank of montreal and the office of the superintendent of financial institutions (osfi). james takes pride in always being an active volunteer, including through his current roles with a local food bank and numerous other community and industry associations. james also served on 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 ’s board of governors from 2007 to 2009.

jouni kraft
director
honours bachelor of science, 1970

jouni received an honours bachelor of science degree in chemistry from lakehead in 1970. after graduating, he obtained a medical degree from the university of toronto in 1977 and completed an internship at st. joseph’s hospital on the queensway in toronto. for the next 40 years, he enjoyed a career in family practice at the port arthur health centre. he was on active staff at the port arthur general and st. joseph hospitals. jouni is now retired from the medical scene, however, his interests are numerous. he is married to archdeacon deborah kraft who is the priest of st. paul’s anglican church. he is very involved in a host of church activities from choir work to general maintenance of the church property. jouni has four wonderful children and 11 grandchildren. 

nathan lawrence
director
honours bachelor of commerce, 2007

born and raised in thunder bay, nathan earned his honours bachelor of commerce degree from 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 in 2007 and he continues to call thunder bay home. he is a dedicated member of the community and a proud local business owner. nathan is a managing partner with royal lepage lannon realty and a mortgage broker with dlc mortgage excellence. nathan has served on the board of several local organizations, including shift – thunder bay’s young professionals network, the thunder bay chamber of commerce, and the ontario chamber of commerce. nathan is passionate about thunder bay and he is a firm believer that a strong business community helps to create a strong community. 

keeping busy and stimulated during a pandemic, and in a lockdown, has been a challenge for many.  all community and university event programming had to come to a sudden halt, and people began looking for fun and interesting things to do in their leisure time. postsecondary teams working with alumni had to start thinking outside the box when coming up with strategies to engage alumni.  

the 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 student alumni association (lusaa) based on the lakehead orillia campus was one of those groups facing this dilemma. this group of nine student volunteers, who were simultaneously dealing with a new online environment for their own classes, rose to the occasion when faced with this unprecedented challenge. they began to meet online to brainstorm ways to reach 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 , who were for the most part studying at their homes all over the world.  they researched available tools and event ideas. from those online meetings they came up with some unique virtual events, the first of which was launched in september 2020, and used an online platform that allowed them to run a quiz challenge.  

since then, they have hosted many virtual events for 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 throughout the academic year including an online yoga session, a social media-driven pumpkin-carving contest, a hot chocolate bomb-making workshop, and a stargazing event.  

lusaa has more unique events planned for the remainder of the current academic year including a netflix party and a “the art of surviving a zombie apocalypse” event.  this very active team is also working on events for specialized groups such as our professional year education 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and lakehead-georgian partnership 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . 

in addition, lusaa organizes an annual event to give back to our local community. this year is no exception, in spite of, or maybe even because of, the pandemic. they are currently working on thank you cards and treats that they will safely deliver to package and mail delivery companies to be distributed to their delivery service workers as a thank you for their important work during these times. it is just this kind of exceptional and unconventional thinking that epitomizes our lakehead student and alumni volunteers, and for that we are most grateful.

diane thompson has a youthful spirit. 

when she attended 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 she was, what was considered, a mature student. “there weren’t many of us,” she shares. “i loved being in a classroom of younger 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . the only time i remembered that i wasn’t as young as they were was when the professor told a joke and i was the only one in the room who laughed.”

diane accepting her 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 alumni volunteer appreciation award in 2013 at the annual alumni awards dinner.

surrounding herself with young people has been part of diane’s strategy to stay young at heart. now retired from st. ignatius high school’s student services office in thunder bay, diane loved interacting with 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . “when they came into the office we would talk about what they wanted to do. i always encouraged them to take a good look at the programs offered at lakehead,” she says. “they had this wonderful opportunity in their own backyard.”

when she graduated in 1994 with her ba in anthropology, diane, in her mid-50’s, was the first person in her immediate family to earn a university degree. her nieces and nephews are now following in her footsteps. “they tell me, if you can do it auntie diane, so can we.”

never one to sit on the sidelines, diane became involved with the alumni association of 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 and was a volunteer on the board for 16 years.  while on the board, she successfully pushed for the creation of the alumni pin that lakehead grads could wear to show their school pride. since then, she’s been handing them out to 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and alumni everywhere she goes.

 a familiar face at convocation, diane has volunteered in smaller ways since leaving the board. in honour of her dedicated years of service, diane was awarded the well-deserved alumni volunteer appreciation award in 2013.

not only has diane given of her time, she’s also been a loyal donor to 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 every year for the past 26 years. no easy feat for the single mom of three and now grandmother. “it’s important to me to support my alma mater,” she shares. “i want other 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 to have the same opportunity for a quality postsecondary education that i had.” 

if you would like to make a gift to 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 , visit our secure online giving page donate.lakeheadu.ca. you can also contact meghan hanbury, annual fund and alumni engagement manager, for more information about supporting the lakehead annual fund.

t: 807-343-8010 ext. 8910
e: mhanbury@lakeheadu.ca

the alumni association entrance award provides $2,500 per year for four years (total of $10,000) to the successful applicant.

eligible applicants must:
● be an immediate family member of a 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 alum
● have sound academic credentials (the applicant must have a minimum overall average of 80%)
● demonstrate strong leadership qualities and community involvement
● plan to attend 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 the following academic year on a full-time basis

for more information, conditions of the award and the application form, please click here to visit our website.

the alumni association entrance award was created as a result of yearly donations from lakehead
university alumni and friends.

in january 2020, the gta alumni chapter came together to support an ambitious goal. we wanted to help transform the lives of lakehead 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . the chapter wanted to dream big and establish an endowment, generating an award to be given annually to a student from the greater toronto area (gta), regardless of their program of study.

currently, the chapter is in the process of raising $10,000 to make this dream a reality by creating the gta chapter alumni award, an endowment that will exist at lakehead in perpetuity. this year, there are over 700 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from the greater toronto area attending lakehead’s thunder bay and orillia campuses, however, there are no lakehead awards solely for gta 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 .

since we began this journey last year, our chapter events, gta chapter members, and an impressive number of gta alumni have contributed to this award. to date, we have raised over $6,000!

gta alumni cheered on the lakehead thunderwolves as they battled ryerson university.

"it is because of the chapter that i am giving. the chapter’s passion for connecting with fellow alumni made all the difference."

- daina colbourne, gta chapter member (ba’99)

by supporting the chapter’s endowment fund, you can have a life-changing impact on future lakehead 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from the gta – like the way being given an existing university scholarship made melanie’s life better:

“receiving this scholarship means the world to me. the financial burden of my osap and extra costs of the three field schools i require to succeed in this mission were weighing on me. coming from a single-parent home with all three of us enrolled in postsecondary, my tuition and debt have become my responsibility. this award has given me faith that i will be able to make it through and graduate without the stress of my finances looming over me. i hope that one day i can pay forward your kind actions to future generations.”

- melanie (2018-19 academic year)

click here to make a gift that will open doors for greater toronto area 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛

for more information, please contact:

samantha lennon
external relations associate
samantha.lennon@lakeheadu.ca
(416) 646-1416 ext. 2822

research in places like the remote hudson bay lowlands has changed archaeologist dr. scott hamilton’s understanding of canada.

“the lowlands are an area of water-saturated bogs, muskeg, sphagnum moss, and coniferous trees,” dr. hamilton says. “in the summer, it has an incredibly high density of insects that swarm and bite.” 

he recalls an expedition there 12 years ago to conduct an archaeological assessment on behalf of the constance lake first nation during planning of a road route to a possible phosphate mine. 

"we would get dumped out of a helicopter early in the morning wearing hip waders and carrying all of our gear, water and food on our backs. there was surface water everywhere but you couldn’t drink it. if the helicopter couldn’t pick us up, we would be there overnight."

at first, it felt like hell on earth.

but as the weeks went by, dr. hamilton became struck by the “absolute beauty” of this northern landscape that is part of traditional cree and ojibwe territory.

“it’s incredibly lush and green. orchids bloom in the floating bog vegetation in the summer and there’s no ambient noise except for the birds and insects. silence envelops you. i began to see why these homelands are so revered.”

scott hamilton doing boat survey at slate falls first nation. water transportation is still the most important means of warm season movement in the northern boreal forest, with archaeological sites often found along the shores of navigable streams and lakes. 

dr. hamilton specializes in applied and academic research in fur trade archaeology, ethnohistory, and aboriginal archaeology of canada’s northern plains and boreal forest. he’s been a lakehead professor since 1988 and he’s currently the department of anthropology chair and a member of lakehead’s centre of excellence for sustainable mining & exploration.

his contributions to the discipline were recognized in november 2020 when he received a j.v. wright lifetime achievement award from the ontario archaeological society. 

dr. hamilton’s methods have evolved over time and include his adoption of global positioning systems (gps), geographic information systems (gis), near-surface geophysics, aerial and underwater drones, sonar, and 3d modelling to carry out his research.

using a drone in 2018 to photo-document early 20th-century cabin foundations at slate falls, ontario. this cabin foundation is in an area reported by elder sam carpenter as a place where he lived as a child. after locating subtle earth ridges indicating the foundation, brush was cleared to aid documentation. this included drone-assisted photogrammetry to map the site. archaeological team member clarence surette can be seen in the background.

“i’m a bit of a map nerd,” he says. “i like to reconstruct what sites looked like.”

having the capacity to deploy non-invasive data recovery helps preserve historic sites. a recent example is new information he’s gathered about the sourismouth forts – a series of fur trading posts constructed along manitoba’s assiniboine and souris rivers – using aerial drones. these technologies are also useful for understanding how the landscape was used by pre-contact communal bison hunters.

“i’m an old archaeologist trying to keep up with new approaches,” he says, “but working with hotshot graduate 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 makes it a lot easier.”

his consulting career began in the early 1980s overseeing salvage operations for ontario’s ministry of tourism, culture and sport using funding from the ontario ministry of northern development and mines. this was sparked by the realization in the 1970s that canada’s natural and cultural heritage was being jeopardized by a growing number of natural resource development projects. this resulted in requirements for environmental impact assessment conducted before projects were given the green light. most of the archaeology now conducted in canada involves the inventory and investigation of sites before industrial infrastructure can be built.

dr. hamilton’s expertise as a consultant has been sought on many of these ventures, such as the ring of fire mineral exploration project in northern ontario. he is helping document first nations’ culture and history in the region by interviewing elders and identifying sensitive places requiring protection. he also reviews other archaeologists’ work on these types of projects.

“some of my most important applied research is in the role of ‘cultural translator,’ since two sides in a dispute often have difficulty comprehending the viewpoints of the other side.

“it means moving beyond the economic valuation of indigenous relationships with the land and embracing a cultural-spiritual perspective. supreme court decisions mandating the crown’s duty to consult with indigenous communities, as well as canada’s truth and reconciliation process, have strengthened this trend.”

scott hamilton doing remote shovel test survey in hudson bay lowlands in 2008. guided by gps tracks, these walking transects were conducted along a proposed road. surface inspection and sub-surface testing sought to determine whether archaeological deposits intersect the proposed road route. this reconnaissance is the first step in the impact assessment process. 

at the moment, dr. hamilton is engaged in an ambitious undertaking that is using his training in new ways. he is the archaeology team co-leader of the six seasons of the asiniskaw ithiniwak project, funded by a $2.5 million social sciences and humanities research council (sshrc) partnership grant with rocky cree communities in northern manitoba and the university of winnipeg in manitoba.

“we’re working with a cree storyteller, william dumas, who is writing a series of picture books for rocky cree children, although i suspect it will have a much broader reach,” dr. hamilton says.

the aim is to develop a school curriculum for rocky cree children that encourages language retention and helps younger generations learn about their ancestors’ way of life.

these historical stories will feature children working with their elders and learning about their role in society. the first book is a coming-of-age story about an adolescent girl in the 1600s trying to decide if she’d like to become a midwife when she grows up. while travelling with her aunt and uncle by canoe to a spring gathering, a thunderstorm separates them from the rest of the group. when her pregnant aunt goes into labour, the girl must help her give birth. 

dr. hamilton is on the team providing information about rocky cree history and technology that appear in sidebars within the stories. the project is also developing app versions of the stories so that children can listen to the stories in rocky cree or english.

research like the six seasons of the asiniskaw ithiniwak project allows dr. hamilton to do ground-breaking work that has a real impact.

“the kids are transfixed by the stories,” he says, “and for me, it’s really satisfying to participate in something that will be read by non-academic audiences.”

learn about the six seasons of the asiniskaw ithiniwak project 

“i started at lakehead in the fall of 1965 – the year lakehead became a university,” says retired biology professor dr. george ozburn.  there were only 40 to 50 faculty members and about 500 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 .

dr. ozburn was an entomologist with degrees from mcgill university and imperial college (london, england) who initially did pest control in west africa preventing infestations in peanut, maize, and cocoa bean crops. 

after marrying, and while teaching at northern michigan university, dr. ozburn was asked by dr. harold braun, the principal of the lakehead college of arts, science and technology, if he’d like to teach at the college (which was about to become 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 ). dr. ozburn quickly accepted.

retired lakehead biology professor dr. george ozburn is a trained entomologist who says his favourite insect is the dragonfly. “i once found a fossilized dragonfly wing on a canoe trip to james bay with my father – the wing was just over a foot in length.”

 “i had large first-year biology classes in the upper lecture theatre of the braun building,” he remembers. “other classes were taught in a number of smaller rooms for both lectures and labs.” 

later, as the university expanded the science and engineering building, dr. ozburn developed an aquatic toxicology research program. this involved work for the federal and provincial governments developing standards for allowable discharge of toxic substances into waterways. the lab still exists and tests effluents from regional paper mills and mines.

as a fledgling university, faculty members were expected to help attract 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and boost enrolment numbers, especially from northwestern ontario.

“the university used to send professors on road trips to recruit high school 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from places like geraldton, rainy river, and manitouwadge,” dr. ozburn says. “these were always fun trips usually in bad weather during exam week in december and april.”

but it wasn’t all hard work.

“in the early days, the faculty hosted a lot of parties,” dr. ozburn says.

some of the profs were world war ii vets, and with a little lubrication, you’d sometimes get great stories. like when tom miller – a history professor who served in the air force – told us about his escape from a prisoner-of-war camp.

dr. ozburn was a big supporter of lakehead’s physical and health education department, volunteering his coaching skills and his time. pictured above are 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 in the fieldhouse representing the different sporting activities offered by the program in the 1970s. “one year, an oval speed skating rink was constructed on a playing field beside the fieldhouse for the physical education 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 ,” he says. “the department even brought a zamboni up from town a couple of times to ice it.”

lakehead also gave dr. ozburn an outlet for his love of sports. 

“in the first few years there was a proper hockey rink with lights and boards in front of where the agora is today. there were frequent co-ed matches between faculty and 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 with the latter usually winning.”

he also remembers annual winter carnivals featuring some remarkable ice sculptures and the crowning of a carnival queen and king.

the only other on-campus sports were squash games held in courts in the braun building and table tennis matches held in two of its hallways.

in 1967, dr. ozburn coached the squash team that won the first intercollegiate championship for lakehead. he also assisted the physical and health education department – which later became kinesiology – with mandatory sporting activities, including cross country skiing and canoeing.

“the dean of the day inveigled me to help with the canoe trip, and for many years, i was one of the leaders on an annual expedition to the boundary waters that separate minnesota and ontario,” he says.

when the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 needed another canoe for their 1973 trip, dr. ozburn gave them one, and since then has been a regular and generous donor to the university.

“i really enjoyed my time at lakehead,” dr. ozburn adds. “i don’t think i could have had a better life anywhere else.”

dr. george ozburn (left), former lakehead interim president dr. john whitfield (centre), and dr. ozburn’s wife flora (right) catch up at a lakehead donor luncheon. through dr. ozburn’s generosity, 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 have been able to pursue postsecondary education. he established the george ozburn graduate bursary 21 years ago for master of public health in nursing 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 entering their first year and the george ozburn and family graduate scholarship, which is open to kinesiology 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 , 15 years ago.

honest. heart breaking but hopeful, is the way one listener describes the dementia dialogue podcast. this forum for people affected by dementia was launched in 2017 in response to an urgent need.

more than 432,000 canadians over the age of 65 are living with dementia. this means, on average, that nine seniors are diagnosed with dementia every hour.

david harvey, the host of dementia dialogue, started the podcast after retiring from the alzheimer society of ontario where he'd spent a dozen years in public policy and program development.

"although i don't have a background in broadcast journalism, i've always had a real love for radio and the power of the individual human voice," he says.

on the show, david interviews people with dementia and their care/life partners to provide insight into this condition and to strengthen the adaptive skills of people with dementia.

clara mersereau (l) and jim berry (r) are two members of the north west dementia working group who have taken part in recent dementia dialogue podcasts.

david’s inspiration for the podcast came from a research project he was involved in called “mapping the dementia journey” led by dr. elaine wiersma. she is a 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 health sciences professor and the director of lakehead’s centre for education and research on aging & health (cerah) – the organization that funds and runs dementia dialogue. dr. wiersma is especially pleased about the podcast’s success in dispelling misconceptions about dementia.

“typically, society and the media only talk about late-stage dementia, which promotes these tragic narratives,” dr. wiersma says. “but people can live well with their diagnosis for many years.”

dementia dialogue compassionately explores both the good and the bad that comes with dementia. “in a november 2020 episode,” david says, “i talked to activist and artist christine thelker, a woman with dementia who’s published a book called ‘for this i am grateful.’”

“one of the best ways to combat stigma,” dr. wiersma adds, “is by getting to know people with dementia and listening to their stories.” 

the podcast is also working to break down the harmful culture of silence faced by individuals with dementia. “often people don’t talk about the fact that they have this condition because society doesn’t want to hear about it,” david says. “this can cause them to doubt their own capacity and withdraw from the world.”

david also interviews experts on the show, but viewers don’t need to worry that they will be overwhelmed with clinical jargon.

“i don’t want a lecture,” he says. “i want to know why they are interested in the topic and why’s it important to people with dementia.”

david and dr. wiersma are now expanding the reach of the podcast. in the fall of 2020, cerah received more than $127,000 from the government of canada’s dementia community investment fund to enhance the marketing of the dementia dialogue and to increase the number of episodes and episode contributors.

“we want to reach diverse cultures and communities as well as regions of the country where people have difficulty accessing services,” david says. they also hope to offer the podcast in french.

“these podcasts have the potential to alter the way we think about dementia,” dr. wiersma says. she believes that bringing about this kind of transformative change is essential.

“if we only see people as their diagnosis,” dr. wiersma says, “we are robbing them, and society, of the contributions they can make.”

 visit dementiadialogue.ca to find dementia resources and listen to the podcast.

imran bagha, founder of northern writing consultants, was inspired to offer a service to help a community of 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and professionals achieve excellence in writing and communication.  

a northern ontario school of medicine student, trained public speaker, former consultant, teacher, and journalist, imran was able to bring his business concept to life with the help of ingenuity – lakehead's first business incubator space.

imran bagha, owner, northern writing consultants

in november 2018, 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 opened the doors to its first business incubator, ingenuity, that is allowing entrepreneurial thinkers, like imran, to access the tools and space to create, grow, innovate, and explore. 

housed in the centre for advanced studies in engineering and science (cases) building at lakehead thunder bay, ingenuity gives 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 pathways to launch businesses and achieve success. through one-on-one support, physical workspace, prototype development, and connections to financial and marketing support, ingenuity is empowering 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 to explore the world of entrepreneurship.   

since its establishment two years ago, ingenuity has hosted over 75 workshops and events as well as four competitions with over 1,100 participants. resources also include speaker series, boot camps, lunch and learns, and community partnerships. 

beyond programming, these resources support growth and provide valuable knowledge from experienced professionals to encourage business development. ingenuity is creating a thriving community of entrepreneurial thinkers that has resulted in the start-up of nine businesses in thunder bay. a resourceful and creative entrepreneur, imran bagha is using his talents to serve our community. 

on its own, an idea or a concept has no traction. but with access to state-of-the art equipment and support from donors, 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 have the capacity to bring bold ideas to life. 

"through its space and resources, ingenuity has provided me with an invaluable connection to other entrepreneurs, in a space where we can work, collaborate, and dream together. simply sparking a conversation or bouncing ideas off a fellow entrepreneur would not be possible without such a dedicated space.

most critically, the space provides a professional environment for work to take place – from video conferences to client meetings. this makes a significant difference to student entrepreneurs trying to maintain a professional image when the alternative would be meeting clients at the library or video-calling them from their dining room table at home. the ingenuity space gives legitimacy to the work that student entrepreneurs pursue, and in my opinion, it is essential for budding entrepreneurs to fully realize their potential."

for more information, contact:

lee-anne camlin
philanthropy associate
807-343-8010 ext. 7792
lee-anne.camlin@lakeheadu.ca

samantha lennon
external relations associate
416-646-1416 ext. 2822
samantha.lennon@lakeheadu.ca

in 1988, chief josias fiddler, head of sandy lake first nation, travelled over 300 km to sioux lookout, ontario. he wasn’t there for work or a vacation – he was there to begin a hunger strike.

newspaper coverage of the hunger strike helped draw attention to the dire health care situation in sandy lake first nation.

taking part with him in this high-stakes protest were fellow band members peter goodman, allan meekis, peter fiddler, and luke mamakeesic. the sandy lake five wanted to draw attention to decades of abysmal health care services in their community. there was no hospital in sandy lake. many had witnessed family and friends die because they didn't have access to proper medical care.

federal and provincial governments were playing a pass the buck game trying to spend as little money as possible in indigenous communities, dr. travis hay says.

dr. hay is a historian with 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 's history department and indigenous learning department who specializes in canadian federal indian policy and settler colonialism. he is also a 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 alumnus with a bachelor of arts and a master of arts in history.
he began researching the hunger strike in 2019 and he's written a book – the science of settler colonialism – that will be released in september 2021 by the university of manitoba press.

"i study archival records," says dr. hay, "but these can only tell half of the story."

dr. travis hay graduated from lakehead with an hba in history in 2010 and an ma in history in 2012.

 josias fiddler's wife, teri redsky fiddler, has served as the project elder, collaborating with dr. hay to reconstruct and provide context for the events explored in the book. teri is also an educator, an advocate, and an important figure in nishnawbe aski nation's health transformation initiative. her perspective is especially important since josias passed away in 2012 and can no longer take part in this conversation.

dr. hay is also supervising skye fiddler, josias and teri fiddler’s granddaughter, as she pursues her honours degree in indigenous learning at lakehead. skye’s research will share even more stories of her grandfather’s life and legacy in northwestern ontario. 

“the hunger strike was a major moment in the history of canadian medicine,” dr. hay says.

a history of substandard health care

since the 1960s, ontario medical schools had been sending nursing and medical 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 north to train them. it was a practice that created a different – and lesser – level of health care in sandy lake.

the situation wasn’t helped by the many university and government researchers who parachuted into the community to conduct experiments in the midst of stark inequities.

teri redsky fiddler (right) married her late husband josias fiddler (left) in 1969. she misses him every day and often returns to their home community of sandy lake first nation.

chief fiddler was keenly aware that indigenous peoples across the country were used as guinea pigs. he himself was a survivor of a residential school and had spent time in a racially segregated indian hospital. 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and patients in these institutions were historically exploited by scientists to conduct research trials.

“often, it was scientific experimentation without consent or with considerable coercion,” dr. hay explains. these ranged from malnutrition experiments aimed at mass producing cheap food to vaccination experiments.

in fact, canadian science’s understanding of respiratory infections, tuberculosis quarantine protocols, and vaccination – information relevant to covid-19 – come directly from the study of indigenous peoples.

one horrifying experiment from the 1970s involved researchers exposing young children to the cold, because they were convinced that northern indigenous people could recover more quickly from frostbite than non-indigenous people.

research projects in sandy lake and other indigenous communities forced people to weigh potential health care funding from the projects against their willingness to become the subjects of medical research. 

by 1988, chief fiddler had had enough. the main demand of the sandy lake five was that government medical services representatives fly to northwestern ontario to discuss the state of health care in their community.

within a few days, the hunger strikers were able to secure a meeting and news media had begun covering the story. their actions prompted the formation of the scott-mckay-bain health panel to review health services in northwestern ontario.

the courage of the sandy lake five also led directly to the establishment of first nations health authorities, organizations that transferred some of the responsibility for health care policies into the hands of indigenous communities.

another outcome of the hunger strike was the construction of sioux lookout’s meno ya win health centre. this 80-bed primary health care facility takes a holistic approach to health and wellness and serves indigenous communities throughout the region, as well as sioux lookout residents.

despite the victories that followed in the wake of the protest, sandy lake still faced challenges, including continued experimentation by researchers.

in the 1990s, the province of ontario paid $750,000 to researchers to find the ‘thrifty gene’ in the dna of sandy lake band members – a gene they believed was responsible for higher rates of diabetes in indigenous people.

the community was skeptical, but agreed to the research in order to receive health care funding. 

“the study put canadian genomics science on the map after researchers claimed they’d found the gene,” dr. hay says.

“sandy lake became known as the community where people got diabetes not because of the cost of food, inadequate health care, or lack of infrastructure, but because of this gene.”

it was not long before the research was thoroughly discredited and it’s now infamous for the scientific racism it embodied. 

even today, sandy lake community members find themselves in a precarious situation. they have no choice but to travel great distances by plane or winter roads to receive essential health care. 

it’s my hope that the science of settler colonialism will expose the myth of universal health care in northwestern ontario,” dr. hay says, “and bring to light an entrenched policy of treaty breaking.