Indigenous Stories

Man with dark hair and beard gives presentation in front of NOSM banner

Behind the Scenes: Joseph LeBlanc

Joseph LeBlanc is the new Director of the Indigenous Affairs Unit at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Tell me a bit about your background. What were you working on before you came to NOSM? I’m a life-long Northern Ontarian and member of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory. I’ve worked for Tribal Councils and Political Territorial Organizations (PTOs), as well as academic institutions and First Nations charities. My PhD work was with communities in the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) territories looking at the impacts of industrial forest management on their food systems, and before coming to the Northern Ontario School of Medici...

NOSM Board Meeting Rooted in the North

NOSM held its annual face-to-face Board of Directors meeting in Sudbury, Ontario on November 22 and 23, 2018. During the two-day meeting, Board members participated in several presentations and interactive sessions which included topics relating to the role of social accountability in an academic institution and the need for culturally-safe health-care services. Day one included combined sessions with the School’s Academic Council and the Board of Directors. Drs. Catherine Cervin, Vice Dean, Academic; Erin Cameron, Assistant Professor, Human Sciences; Penny Moody-Corbett, Associate Dean Research; and, Roger Strasser, Dean and CE...

Improving food systems to meet the needs of Northern Ontarians

How can we improve our food and agricultural systems to better meet the needs of all people? Michaela Bohunicky, a graduate of the Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program (NODIP) at NOSM, will be exploring this question when she starts a Master of Health Sciences at Lakehead University this fall. Bohunicky will be working with Dr. Charles Levkoe, a Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems. Before coming to NOSM, Bohunicky attended the University of Manitoba, where she was part of a team of researchers exploring food sovereignty—the idea that all people have the right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produc...