CommunityWise will be working with consultant Nicole Eshkakogan on our “Accountability to Indigenous Communities” project, funded by the Alberta Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund, until early 2020. We look forward to her insight and support on this project!
Nicole Eshkakogan (Morning Star) is Anishnawbe/Blackfoot from Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation, Ontario and the Piikani Nation of the Blackfoot Confederacy in Southern Alberta. Nicole holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Alberta, where she is also completing her PhD on exploring the experiences of LGBTQ2S+ dancers on the pow wow trail. Her work and research background is in Indigenous social epidemiology, anti-oppression praxis and racism, health equity, family violence, and gender and wellness. Over the last 15 years, she has worked in health systems management and as an independent research/evaluation consultant and analyst for a number of academic institutions, non-for-profit agencies, and community-based organizations throughout Canada. Nicole has been a recipient or co-recipient of various research and evaluation grants focused on Indigenous health and has completed several publications dedicated to improving the national agenda on understanding colonialism and the intergenerational impacts on Indigenous people and communities. Nicole currently works as a Scientist with Population, Public and Indigenous Health Strategic Clinical Network at Alberta Health Services; and is the Scientific Director at the Awo Taan Healing Lodge Society.