Exploring Indigenous health across the world

Diane Hill
U of T Scarborough student Diane Hill will travel to New Zealand to study indigenous health as part of a scholarship opportunity. (Photo by Ken Jones)

Anna Boyes

Fourth year U of T Scarborough student Diane Hill plans to use an internship opportunity to understand health and wellness opportunities for Indigenous people across the world.

Hill, from the Oneida Nation of the Thames First Nations Community, will travel to Auckland New Zealand this summer to intern at Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga/New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence.

The 90-day internship opportunity is part of the QE II Establishing Right Relations program through the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee scholarship, which funds student research abroad in Australia, Belize and New Zealand.

As a double major in health policy and socio-cultural anthropology, Hill’s research will focus on the different health programs developed specifically for the Indigenous people of New Zealand.

“I would like to learn more about how they close those gaps between Iindigenous and non-Iindigenous populations in terms of health and wellness,” said Hill.

Hill first heard about the Queen Elizabeth scholarship from an Iindigenous student’s blog post about interning in Australia.

“It has always been an interest of mine because I’ve never been able to travel before,” said Hill. With my background and where I come from, a lot of these opportunities aren’t really afforded to our people.” The Ngā Pae internship is open exclusively to those who identify as Indigenous. 

When third-year Indigenous Studies major Jaime Kearns participated in the Ngā Pae internship last summer, she immediately knew her friend Hill was destined for the program.

“I messaged her and said ‘You are coming next year; it doesn’t matter what it takes. You are coming,” said Kearns.

The program provides participants with a well-rounded understanding of Indigenous studies. The centre has an extensive catalogue of available resources to facilitate the students research. Interns work on AlterNative, an international peer reviewed journal of Indigenous Peoples, and the MAI Journal. Interns gain a deeper understanding of the research materials by connecting articles with the appropriate peer reviewers. Interns work closely with Ngā Pae staff to put together the biennial International Indigenous Research Conference, a four-day event to highlight prominent Māori and Indigenous research.

Students in this program are encouraged to bring their research experience back and incorporate it into their studies. After observing the difference between Indigenous relations in New Zealand and Canada, Kearns has been using the resources and information she gained during her internship to create change here.

“I’ve started doing a mock repatriation policy and I’ve spoken to different people, like law professors at different universities to see if that’s something we can implement,” said Kearns.

The opportunity to learn from a nation that is globally recognized as a leader in Indigenous relations provides a unique experience for Indigenous students.

“For me, what I’m passionate about and my degree and especially the community I come from, I feel like it would be a really good learning opportunity for me to go,” said Hill.