Developing Leaders Award Recipient: Candice Martin

The NCIME is pleased to announce the inaugural winner of the Developing Leaders Award is Candice Martin, a second-year medical student at Queen’s University for their project “Two-eyed seeing in Medicine”  

This award is the first of its kind offered by the National Consortium for Indigenous Medical Education (NCIME) to support Indigenous learners in medicine design and implement innovative project ideas to address one of the six priority areas set by NCIME. Candice will receive mentorship from the NCIME Leadership and $10,000 to implement their project.  

Meet Candice:   

Candice Martin is an Oji-Cree single mom in their second year at Queen’s Medical School and pleased to present their “Two-eyed approach to Medicine” project through the National Consortium for Indigenous Medical Education (NCIME). They come from Hornepayne First Nation now known as Nagagamisis First Nation and enfranchised in Fort Albany First Nation.  From humble beginnings, and a family of trappers in Northern Ontario, their journey includes a stopover in the Canadian Special forces serving as a medical technician and Paramedic across Canada. Candice has witnessed and experienced inequities within the medical field over that time and wanted to see a change. Their mother Margie Goulet, a Registered Nurse, brought their attention to the status of Indigenous medical care across Turtle Island with special attention to on-reserve care. With a yearning to spend more time on the land and with their child, Candice decided to change career paths towards entering medical school. Returning to university fulltime after 15 years was not easy and they needed to spend their savings on purchasing a triplex and became a small business owner to support themselves and their child while attending university.  

Candice completed their bachelor’s in biomedical biology at Laurentian University with Cum Laude honors. While at Laurentian they were active in student governance through the Indigenous Student’s Circle (ISC). With the ISC they loved to organise events with the council like; fundraisers, silent auctions, round dances, and a pow wow. Currently a student at Queen’s Medical school in Kingston they maintain their role on the board of directors of Native People of Sudbury Development Corporation, volunteer with Loving Hands Kingston, and are part of student governance as the Global Health Liaison for the Aesculapian society. They are also active with the Queen’s Native Students association and Indigenous Health Standing committee. Through these positions they met students across Canada and by listening to their concerns was inspired for the community-based approach aspect for this project. They are honoured and appreciative to be able to make this project a reality with the support of the NCIME. 

Congratulations to Candice! Be sure to stay tuned as their project rolls out.