2011/02/22

Dr. Carrie Bourassa has received a Canadian Foundation of Innovation (CFI) Fund award to build Indigenous community-based health research labs at the First Nations University of Canada worth $154,645.

The new labs will house a community training room in addition to a student training room – the first of their kind for the university.

“The idea is to provide a safe environment for our community researchers when they come to campus and we will have state of the art equipment to assist with the research,” said Bourassa.

The student lab will be used to train undergraduate and graduate students who are studying Aboriginal health issues, while the community lab will be used as a facility for community-based research teams comprised of university researchers and community partners to undertake their unique and innovative research. 

“For example, some of my teams create videos and we go through hours of footage with our team members, which include Aboriginal community members and Elders,” said Bourassa. “We need space to do that work and I wanted to create space where Aboriginal community members and Elders would feel comfortable.”

But that doesn’t mean Dr. Bourassa and other researchers won’t keep going out into the communities.

“We love to go to the communities and will continue to do so but I think it is important to have space for them to come here and feel comfortable in an academic setting," said Bourassa.  “While Aboriginal people are living longer, our health is not improving and that makes the kind of research we do with communities all the more important.”

In addition to working as an Associate Professor at the First Nations University of Canada, Dr. Bourassa is also the Nominated Principal Investigator for IPHRC.

To learn more about this story or Dr. Bourassa’s work, please contact:

Cassandra Opikokew
Knowledge Translation & Communications
Indigenous Peoples' Health Research Centre (IPHRC)
CK 115 University of Regina
3737 Wascana Parkway
Regina, SK S4S 0A2
Ph: (306) 337-2510
Cell: (306) 537-2043
Fax: (306) 585-5694
Cassandra.Opikokew@uregina.ca