Ariel Root, PhD
I spent the summers of my undergrad and grad school fighting forest fires in Kenora ON for the MNRF. Near the end of my first year in the HSTP grad program at Carleton, I shared my honest culture shock (and ignorance, really) being in Kenora, with the lead investigator for Carleton’s CHAIM centre. She invited me to explore the social determinants of health for Kenora’s urban Indigenous population through blog submissions to the CHAIM centre. This opportunity sparked my interest of understanding the health status of Indigenous people living in northwestern Ontario.
So I enrolled in the “Indigenous Health Policy” course as an elective during the final year of my masters. I quickly realized that to understand Indigenous health, you must also understand the politics, history, and culture. I applied to the Public Policy program in SPPA because I wanted to understand the determinants contributing to the mental health crisis of First Nations youth living on-reserve. Broadly, my dissertation focuses on the methods by which organizations delivering preventative mental health programs engage youth in decision-making. Being neither from these territories nor Indigenous, I felt it essential I reside in Sioux Lookout (coined “the hub” to 31 remote First Nation communities) to help generate a project that was informed and meaningful. After the first year of courses in Ottawa, SPPA was more than willing to support my distance education.
Many of the faculty are supportive and genuinely interested in the research students are conducting, as well as our overall wellbeing. While I finish my dissertation, I contribute to the local research interest by working as the Anishininiiw Nanandowi’kikendamowin (research) Program Manager for the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority.