Indigenous doctor numbers growing – StarPhoenix

March 8, 2017

Seventy-one indigenous doctors have graduated from the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan since 1972, when Dr. Melvin Lavallee of Cowessess First Nation was the first.

It’s been a slow build up, but this year there are 31 First Nations, Metis and Inuit students in the college, said Valerie Arnault-Pelletier, the college’s aboriginal coordinator.

When she started the job providing financial, social and cultural support for aboriginal pre-medicine and medical students just seven years ago, there were only three in the college.

The growing numbers of indigenous medical students at the U of S is the result of a concerted effort to remove barriers that have excluded them in the past, said Preston Smith, Dean of the College of Medicine and Vice-provost of Health.

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