Waapihk – “We see”

By Britney Champagne, 1st year MDP student

Taanshi! I find the hardest part of starting a blog post is the beginning. I guess a good place to start is with my name! My name is Britney Champagne, and I am a 26-year-old Red River Métis woman. This blog post is about the field placement MDP students took part in over the summer months! For myself, I had the absolute pleasure of working with Waapihk Research.

Waapihk is an Indigenous owned and operated company which plays a supporting role by providing data-driven research to answer questions related to Indigenous health and education systems. Their office is located in the heart of Downtown Winnipeg with an amazing view of the city. The staff at Waapihk has a diverse range of educational backgrounds which contributes to well-rounded research. They are truly committed to reconciliation work with Indigenous peoples and it shows in the work they produce and their data management.

During my 3-month period with Waapihk, I was working as a Student Researcher on the Education files. I conducted a case study, collaborated on a report based on the findings, developed high-level summaries, contributed to the Waapihk blog, enhanced power-point presentations, and supported other departments as necessary. I also had the opportunity to fly out to Thunder-Bay for a 2-day Education Summit!

Waapihk Research is a wonderful place to work and I am super grateful to have met everyone. The team welcomed me with open arms and I felt right at home. I have made many new life-long friends.

MDP alumn Stacey Woods (L) & Britney (R)