By Anne MacLaurin
Emily Haigh, the inaugural Chief Mungo Martin Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health at UVic, was born in Toronto and is Anishinaabe-Métis from the Robinson Huron Treaty Territory. Her family on her mother's side is from Northern Ontario Métis communities and the Thessalon First Nation, and her father is English.
Chief David Mungo Knox, Hereditary Chief from Kwakiutl First Nation and great-grandson of Chief Mungo Martin, with Emily Haigh, UVic's new research chair in Indigenous mental health (Credit: Photo Services)
"My maternal grandfather (Bellerose, Thibault), from the Algoma District (Thessalon First Nation) in Northern Ontario, came from a long line of fishermen," says Haigh. "He grew up with his parents and four siblings in a two-bedroom house with an outhouse."
Haigh describes her grandfather as a person who placed a high value on education often at family gatherings reminding all the grandchildren of the importance of learning.
