The Yellowknife Community Foundation is creating an Indigenous nursing education fund in memory of longtime resident Sharon Morrison.
In a news release last week, the foundation said the fund would help Indigenous NWT residents to pursue post-secondary education in nursing and personal support work.
This year, three bursaries valued at $2,500 each will be available. Applications must be submitted by May 15. Grants of up to $2,000 for “organizations to support Indigenous language and cultural revitalization and/or reclamation” are also available.
Sharon’s son, Lance, said in a Friday press release that Sharon had seen a “chance to break the cycle of poverty we had always known” when, after moving to Yellowknife in 1981, she enrolled in Aurora College’s home care and long-term care program.
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“After graduating the program, mom did a placement at Mary Murphy Home, then started at Stanton Regional Hospital’s extended care unit. After 35 years, she retired from Stanton in 2021,” Lance was quoted as saying.
“She spent those years teaching generations of nurses that came after her, and inspired many to be the best in compassionate care.”
Lance said his mother was “passionate about learning nêhiyawêwin, our ancestral language, and was always excited about Indigenous language and cultural revitalization programs happening in the North.”
“Mom would be glad her legacy can live on in these recipients for years to come,” he added.
