Halle Cochrane, a member of Fisher River Cree Nation, was born and raised in Winnipeg. A Community Service Prefect at her high school, she was determined to bring more awareness to Indigenous issues. Among her community efforts, she organized a REDress project to hang red dresses around the school to spread awareness about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S).
“I am driven to advocate for Indigenous people in healthcare and be a role model for youth,” Cochrane explains. “I am very fortunate to have access to healthcare in Winnipeg, but this is not the case for my relatives who live on Fisher River Cree Nation. My grandpa, who lives on the reserve, suffers from many health problems related to diabetes and has to travel three hours to Winnipeg for his medical appointments because there are no physicians in Fisher River.”
With an ambition to become a psychiatrist or a family doctor, she says she is drawn to learning and enjoys discovering “why things are the way they are.”
Cochrane says: “The BMO Financial Group Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship will allow me to become involved in the university community, pursue future leadership roles at university and achieve my career goals. I am looking forward to learning and taking on new roles as an Indigenous leader.”
See the full press release here: https://news.umanitoba.ca/leaders-in-many-ways/