USask professor receives a CIHR grant of $1 million to study the impact of Métis-specific spaces on the health and wellness of Métis women and Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer people

The group has received just over $1 million in CIHR funding for a multi-year study will explore the impact of Métis-specific spaces on the health and wellness of Métis women and Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer People.

As universities across Canada Indigenize and decolonize spaces, processes, and policies, they are finding that little attention is paid to the impacts that these changes have on the health and wellness of Métis students, faculty, and staff.

“In my previous research, and my personal experience, finding community among Indigenous scholars is important in academia. As Métis scholars, we “walk in two worlds”, working in Western, colonized academic spaces built on European knowledge systems, and prioritize and uphold our responsibilities to our Indigenous communities. Indigenous Peoples in academia, including students and scholars, carry this additional responsibility and challenges of navigating and translating two very different knowledge and education systems, and worldviews,” said Heart and Stroke/CIHR Early Career Indigenous Women’s Heart and Brain Health Chair Associate Professor, Dr. Heather Foulds.

“Having spaces to support Métis students and scholars specifically is an important endeavour. Further, marginalization of 2-Spirit/Indigiqueer Peoples and Indigenous women in Western, colonized worlds places, highlights supporting Métis 2-Spirit/Indigiqueer and women as paramount.”

The project aims to develop a Framework of Métis Gathering Design (FMGD) and implement it through three gatherings across the Métis homeland—Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Edmonton—in partnership with Métis educational institutions such as the Louis Riel Institute and Rupertsland Institute.

“I think the biggest outcome of this grant will be to establish Métis spaces and communities among Métis students and scholars across the Homeland. This work strives develop a framework for creating gathering spaces attentive to Métis epistemologies, axiologies, and ontologie,” said Dr. Foulds.

The research will utilize data collected as part of a series of gatherings, interviews, and qualitative surveys and is expected to extend into 2028. For more information, please click here.