Danika Edmunds of Newfoundland is the first Inuk woman to earn a medical degree in Canada. “I wanted to do something where I was working with people and something that would benefit them. Medicine seemed to accomplish these things,” she said.
Danika was joined at a graduation luncheon at the University of Alberta by Noah Carpenter, Canada’s only other Inuk doctor who works as a thoracic surgeon in B.C.
Danika, who is 25, comes from an accomplished family. Her younger sister, Deantha, is Canada’s first Inuk opera singer (and, we are proud to say, the latest addition to The Nation’s dedicated sales team). The sisters grew up in Cornerbrook, Nfld. and have family in Hopedale and Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador.
Danika encourages Native youth to pursue medicine. “I hope that during my residency I can act as a role model to Native children because there is a need for Native people in health care.”
