Grant: Training Grant: Indigenous Mentorship Network Program - Quebec

This network of Quebec universities -- McGill, UdeM, Laval, UQAM and UQAT -- will increase mentorship opportunities, retention and representation for Abenaki (bi-lingual), Algonquin (bi-lingual), Atikamekw (francophone), Cree, Inuit (bi-lingual), Maliseet, Mi'kmaw, Mohawk, Naskapi, Innu (francophone), Wendat (bi-lingual) and Metis trainees in Quebec. The Network pays special attention to northern and remote regions through an innovative e-mentoring program and that opens the recruitment funnel to all post-secondary indigenous students in Quebec. The Network will be directed by an indigenous scholar and a majority indigenous advisory circle; a summer mentoring development program anchors the network culturally through annual workshops run in different First Nations and Inuit communities across Quebec, strengthening mentoring and mentee networks in the context of indigenous cultural practices. The Network will use flexible mentoring modalities - face-to-face, small group, online portal, e-mentoring, peer interaction - to support trainees and New Investigators throughout the different stages of their training, from post-secondary (CEGEP), through undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral and new investigator stages. Through its innovative research and monitoring component, the Network will constantly evaluate its progress in the context of systemic barriers hindering First Nations, Inuit and Métis trainees and New Investigators from getting appropriate employment from which they can go on to become full-tenured faculty members or Nominated Principal Investigators driving the Indigenous health research agenda.