Carlton Comprehensive High School alumnus Katie Tolley has received another significant scholarship to assist with her research.
Tolley was one of the recipients of a Tri-Agency Scholarship. She received The Canada Graduate Scholarships—Doctoral program. Which recognizes and supports the next generation of outstanding innovators, knowledge workers, creative thinkers and researchers. By providing support for a high-quality research training experience to awardees, the program strives to foster impacts within and beyond the research environment.
Tolley explained that the Tri-Agency Scholarship are popular for Canadian students.
“Usually everyone applies for them or is encouraged to. It’s kind of a huge national competition, so all over Canada, and then your university submits your application for you,” Tolley explained.
“This one’s pretty exciting because it’s substantial funding that you can renew for up to three years. It’s kind of meant to pay you a salary while you’re in school so you can focus on your research and not have to work, since so many students either work part-time or full-time jobs while they’re in school.”
The Tri-Agency is part of a new harmonized federal scholarship program called the Canada Research Training Awards Suite. This federal program provides research funding to high-calibre doctoral and master’s students, awarded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) granting agencies.
Tolley is pursuing a PhD in Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan, examining how Métis youth sexual health and wellness education is represented through policy and classroom practice.
She said this scholarship will help her focus more on her research. She already works part-time with the Metis Nation Saskatchewan. She said that experience has been great, but she’s looking forward to having more time to focus on her research.
Her own project began when she was working on a Master’s of Public Health before she transferred to the PhD program.
“I’ve been working on this project for a while when I started as a master’s student. I was helping with the interviews and collecting the data that they used to make these bundles,” she explained.
Once those bundles are ready the PhD part of her work will be adding on to the research she began during her Master’s.
“I’m going to be taking these bundles and piloting them with Metis teachers in Saskatchewan,” Tolley said. “We’re going to be doing digital storytelling.”
Tolley explained that each teacher will be making a short video talking about using a culturally-centres resource in the classroom and their experience teaching in Saskatchewan.
“Especially with the different policies and just everything going on with the strikes in the last few years and everything like that,” Tolley said.
The goal is to spotlight Metis teachers and what it is like for them in the classroom.
She also plans to do a policy analysis of the Parents’ Bill of Rights. She said that also had an impact on how teachers offered sexual health education.
Tolley said that she thinks that the research will fill gaps both on the Metis side of the research and the Parents Bill of Rights side of the research.
She added that being a Metis person from Prince Albert influenced her into her area of study but it took some time to get there.
“We’re on the homeland of the Metis, (so it’s) kind of the perfect area. I think there’s a lot of First Nations and Metis teachers around this area, it was kind of perfect for my research area,” she said.
She is also part of SK-NEIHR. She explained it facilitates First Nations and Métis health research, training, and knowledge mobilization throughout Saskatchewan that is grounded in community and led by Métis and First Nations people.
“They are basically just a research network and they do mentorship and whatnot. I went into Metis specific health research because they provide a lot of really great training opportunities,” she explained.
“They also provide funding for conferences which is also really important in this line of research to be able to see what others are doing and network and make those connections as well. I think that’s kind of how I ended up where I am.”
Tolley was also recently named one of two recipients of the 2026-27 Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor Indigenous Scholarship.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
