ABORIGINAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER HOPES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN HER COMMUNITY
By Girard Hengen The SMA spoke with Annette Pegg, a third-year University of Saskatchewan medical student in Regina. She was a recipient in 2017 of a U of S Aboriginal Student Achievement Award for leadership.
SMA: Tell us a little bit about yourself, your family and background, where you are from, etc. Growing up on Kawacatoose First Nation and in inner-city Regina, I have witnessed the cycles of abuse, addictions and intergenerational trauma first-hand. These experiences have taught me a lot about humility and gratefulness. After having many family members lost too young, I am grateful for each day I get to spend with my family, as they are my world. Some of my family members attended residential school and it wasn’t until much later that I realized how much this affected my upbringing. After years of silence, being able to hear the horrors that occurred in these institutions shook me to my core, but motivated me to learn more about my culture and the traumas experienced by my people. Although I am still learning, I have gained a new perspective on my community, as well as myself; to be more forgiving and understanding.
18
SMA DIGEST | SPRING 2019
SMA: How has your background shaped your decisionmaking as you went through university and to medical school? There was a point in my life where I did not know where I’d be the next day, never mind planning the next year or five. I went down some dark roads but now I feel like they were life lessons that strengthened my motivation to want to lead a better life. I had a hard time making the leap into post-secondary education as it was such a different environment than what I was used to, but this challenged me to grow in ways I never would have otherwise.
SMA: Who are your role models? Do you consider yourself a role model? It was tough to know what to “look up to” growing up with so many negative influences. I am grateful for volunteering as it allowed me to meet some amazing people who wanted to make a difference in our community. I am in a constant state of learning and so I look at my peers, patients and preceptors, and always try to take something away from each encounter. Now, I am very open to being a mentor and helping others to navigate the system as I know exactly what it feels like to embrace this totally unfamiliar system and be overwhelmed by it all. It also doesn’t help that you need to challenge negative views and stereotypes along the way.