Sylviane Duval
Aboriginal prayers, welcome addresses from the Faculty of Medicine and the University senior administration, speeches from the aboriginal community, traditional entertainment (Métis and First Nations dancers, Inuit throat singers, drummers), and delicious aboriginal food were all part of the Undergraduate Aboriginal Medical Education Program Pow-Wow 2007. Welcoming 100 guests, the event took place on August 29.
The goal of the Undergraduate Aboriginal Medical Education Program is ambitious: to graduate 120 aboriginal doctors by the year 2020, to help address and offset the alarming statistics concerning native communities (e.g. a life expectancy five to seven years lower than the national average; the presence of tuberculosis, a third world disease; and the scourges of drug addiction, suicide and widespread poverty).
Program director Stanley Vollant, himself a Quebec Innu, says an increased number of aboriginal doctors could serve their communities both professionally and as role models for young people who wish to follow the same career path. However, his view of the pow-wow is more modest. “Today, we’re building a bridge between aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples. It’s a time to celebrate and to forge relationships.”
President Gilles Patry also confirms the University’s commitment to encourage a greater numbers of aboriginal youth to pursue post-secondary education.
When asked “why this program and this pow-wow?”, Dr. Jacques Bradwejn, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, says there are three good reasons: to improve the medical system with which aboriginal people have to deal, to enrich and learn from each other’s medical philosophies and values, and to embrace aboriginal traditions so we can become the top faculty of medicine in Canada.
Dale LeClair, Chief Administrative Officer of the Métis National Council, says the University should be congratulated on its outstanding efforts in this area. “Today, we are going to showcase our culture and demonstrate that there is a real value in knowing us as a people.”
And what do students have to say? James Makokis, a second-year Cree student, says, “Since my colleagues will encounter many of us in the medical system, I would urge them to use these occasions to get to know us and to remain open to other ways of healing. We have a great deal to teach and learn from one another.”
