Connecting the Dots: Understanding Health Self-Governance from an Indigenous Landscape

By Stacey Woods, 1st year MDP student

My name is Stacey Woods, I live and work within the traditional lands of Treaty 1 territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I grew up in a small community in the neighborhood of Windsor Park with my parents and older brother. My work throughout the MDP program has been aligned with exploring and gaining a greater understanding of policy analysis, and more specifically and accurately, Indigenous health policy development. Through my exploration of health policy and my related academic endeavors within the MDP program, my objective within my first-year field placement was to apply myself through an Indigenous lens in an organization outside of government. 

Of note, I had previous experience in the Manitoba Government within the Indigenous Relations, Justice branch. I came across Waapihk Research from a mutual connection from my prior employment in government and became more interested in gaining perspective from the side of Indigenous health.

During my field placement at Waapihk Research I had the opportunity to dive into Indigenous health policy, or precisely, Indigenous self-governance and the operations, processes, and application of the Canadian federal health transfer policy for specific First Nations and Indigenous communities. I was tasked with completing deliverables such as a specialized report, progress report updates on a directed project, and a blog post on Waapihk’s website. I did this by conducting environmental scans and reading literature on self-government content from varying First Nation and Indigenous communities across Canada.

I can say without hesitation that my time spent at Waapihk Research has been overwhelmingly positive—the workspace environment, the relationships I have walked away with, and the work I was involved in built up my confidence and has set expectations for going into the workforce post-graduation. Especially within a competitive field like policy analysis.

Stacey at work in one of the Waapihk office spaces

Policy and Progress

 By Mackenzie Roop, 2nd year MDP student

Time goes so slowly during the summer, and yet in a blink of an eye it’s gone. I’ve learned so much in this office over the last three months. Working in the Government of Manitoba in the Agriculture and Resource Development (ARD) policy branch has been an especially eye opening in these times of managing responses to extreme weather events and changes in climate, as we have seen with unprecedented forest fires and drought. It’s been incredible to see the efforts behind developing policy and subsequent program funding.

My projects have mostly revolved around preparing policy option papers to inform ARD’s Next Policy Framework. The papers I have helped prepare surround topics such as Diversity and Inclusion, Producer Mental Health, and Reviewing the Application Process for Indigenous Groups accessing program funding for agricultural and food projects. I learned to be adaptive and adjust the paper’s language and expectations. Throughout this placement, I have built skills in interviewing, qualitative analysis, research, and technical writing. It has been a huge learning curve in terms of adjusting my writing style, learning acronyms, and understanding contextual goals and perspectives. Despite many being online, there is a human element to working in an office. I am grateful to the many conversations, walks, and coffees that I have shared with my colleagues. This experience has given me an in depth understanding of government and political processes, and increased my general knowledge of resource related projects in Manitoba. Working in government and especially policy is a unique position to affect change. I am excited that my research will help inform policy recommendations.

Putting learning into practice

By Mackenzie Roop, 2nd year MDP student

This summer I have the opportunity to work as a policy assistant within the Policy Branch of Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development. Working in government and especially policy is a unique position to affect change, I’m excited that my research will help inform policy recommendations.

My research

Presently, there is significant underrepresentation of Indigenous partners in the Agricultural sector. One reason for this could be the barriers Indigenous applicants might face in finding or completing a relevant funding application. To address this, my main research seeks to understand how to better align the department’s funding application process with the needs of Indigenous applicants. To learn more about different experiences and provisions, I am conducting interviews with our department’s application reviewers along with those from other jurisdictions, such as the federal government and provinces from BC to New Brunswick. In addition to interviews, I am launching an EngageMB survey inviting Indigenous applicants to share their experiences and recommendations with the application process.

One of my side projects includes advancing the department’s respectful engagement financial policy, hoping to make it a common and accessible practice to provide traditional gifts and honorariums. I am also preparing background research and drafting policy papers on topics like farmer’s mental health and diversifying production and market opportunities for newcomers.

Back to the Office

I am grateful for the opportunity to have a flexible working environment where I can come into the office or work from home. Most people in the department work from home, so I enjoy an almost empty office space while being fully vaccinated for COVID-19. After over a year of online work and schooling, this is truly a refreshing arrangement.