Dr. Brent Young is an Anishinaabe family physician. He was born and raised in Unama’ki (Cape Breton, NS) as a result of his mother being displaced from her home community of Sandy Bay First Nation during the Sixties Scoop. He completed a BSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as well as an MSc in Pharmacology at Dalhousie University. He is a past-president of the Dalhousie Indigenous Students’ Collective and a co-founder of the Dalhousie Medical Students’ Diversity and Inclusion Committee. He graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 2019 and went on to complete his family medicine residency at the University of Calgary in 2021.
Since returning to Mi’kma’ki, he has been focused on supporting local community groups in the development and implementation of Indigenous-specific primary care services. He has also joined the Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine and Department of Family Medicine in a new role as Academic Director, Indigenous Health. Through this work, he will lead the Faculty of Medicine on matters pertaining to Indigenous health under the guiding principles of the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
Dr. Young is committed to dismantling colonialism and Indigenous-specific racism from within the healthcare system. He would like to encourage any student, community member, or stakeholder within the Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik territories to connect with him as he embarks on the next phase of this journey.