Taking Stock of Renewal During National Indigenous History Month
By Lisa Gregoire

Katherine Minich, an urban Inuk with family ties to Pangnirtung, Nunavut, is a professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration. 鈥淚nuit have crafted and perfected technologies for centuries,鈥 she said. 鈥淗ow Inuit organize and govern themselves, incorporate modern tools and adapt to a drastically changing Arctic climate are all worth teaching to students.鈥
Minich said Indigenous faculty tend toward pragmatic, results-driven research to benefit home communities and, more broadly, dismantle colonial systems that perpetuate inequality in Canada. Her research revolves around self-determination in Arctic public policy鈥攎oving decision-making closer to communities, for example, and qualifying life experiences as equivalent to formal education in northern towns to counteract southern transient hiring.
Minich is also involved in 杏吧原创鈥檚 , a program that accepts both grad students and workforce professionals. The latter are sometimes Indigenous鈥攂and members and administrators, for instance鈥攂ut also non-Indigenous public servants and those who aspire to work with Indigenous partners or organizations but don鈥檛 know how best to do that.