It is being hailed as a historic first by the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
The school has appointed Dr. Darrel Manitowabi of Wiikwemkoong as the school’s Hannah Chair in both the History of Indigenous Health as well as Indigenous Traditional Medicine.
Hannah Chairs prioritize the history of medicine in terms of healthcare education to assist students in having a greater understanding of how the medical past affects the present and future.
Manitowabi will be Ontario’s sixth chair, a role established in 2015.
Manitowabi says he will be researching traditional Indigenous healing and health from a historic perspective.
He adds he wants to move towards an understanding of how the history of colonialism has impacted First Nations and Indigenous perspectives of health, the practice of it and how it is relevant in the health care system today.
Manitowabi hails from Wiikwemkoong and presently resides in the Whitefish River First Nation.
He was the director of Indigenous Affairs at the school in 2018 and assistant dean of Graduate Studies in 2019. He also recently served as Director of Northern and Community Studies at Laurentian University.