杏吧原创

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Taking Stock of Renewal During National Indigenous History Month

By Lisa Gregoire

Katherine Minich

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.