Christopher Mushquash

Dr. Christopher Mushquash is a registered clinical psychologist and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction, with expertise in rural and northern clinical practice and the development of culturally appropriate interventions for mental health and addiction difficulties in First Nations children, adolescents, and adults.

He is an academic researcher and Indigenous scholar who was born and raised in rural Northwestern Ontario. He is Ojibway, and a member of Pays Plat First Nation.

He is notable in the COVID-19 pandemic due to his membership on the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.

Mushquash completed his pre-doctoral residency in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba, specializing in rural and northern clinical practice and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University in 2011.¹⁾

Mushquash sits on the board of directors for the Canada Foundation for Innovation.^{2) 3)}

The Government of Canada awarded $28 million in funding for the CFI to distribute to COVID-19 related research projects, including the development of COVID-19 vaccines, sequencing, cardiovascular impact analysis, 3D artificial intelligence capture technology to enforce “social distancing” measures, and wastewater testing. Grants were awarded to researchers working with the University of British Columbia, IWK Health Centre, Dalhousie University, Canadian Center for Vaccinology and Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, among others.^{4) 5) 6) 7)}

He is currently the vice-chair of the Institute Advisory Board for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health.⁸⁾

Dr. Mushquash is a registered clinical psychologist providing assessment, intervention, and consultation services for First Nations children, adolescents, and adults at Dilico Anishinabek Family Care.^{9) 10)}

Mushquash joined the board of directors for the George Jeffrey Children’s Centre in 2021.¹¹⁾

Mushquash is a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction.¹²⁾ The research chairs are funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).¹³⁾

Mushquash is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Lakehead University.¹⁴⁾ His staff profile features a large, red message bar that reads “MANDATORY COVID-19 VACCINE PASSPORT and DAILY SCREENING”.¹⁵⁾

He is Director of the school's Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research, whose website prominently displays a banner advertising the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.^{16) 17)}

Mushquash is a member of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table and Co-Chair of the Mental Health Working Group.¹⁸⁾

Mushquash serves as a board member for the Ontario Psychological Association.^{19) 20)}

In 2017, Mushquash was inducted in the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

Mushquash is also the President of Research at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and Chief Scientist at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute.^{21) 22)}

Mushquash is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.²³⁾

Mushquash was a speaker at a September 2020 “Kids in Crisis Town Hall” event hosted online by Children's Health Coalition, a group “calling on the Ontario government to invest $375 million in children’s health and social care.”^{24) 25)}

Fellow speakers included Rita Celli of CBC News, Dr. Peter Rosenbaum, Pediatrician and Childhood Development and Disability Expert; Dr. Javeed Sukhera, Child and Youth Psychiatrist; Ivona Novak, Co-chair of the Holland Bloorview Family Advisory Committee; Alex Munter, CEO of Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario; and Christine Elliot, Deputy Premier of Ontario and Ontario Minister of Health.

The coalition membership includes SickKids, McMaster Children's Hospital, CHEO, London Health Sciences Centre Children's Hospital, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Kids Health Alliance, Children's Mental Health Ontario and Empowered Kids Ontario.²⁶⁾

Mushquash co-authored a paper discussing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on opioid use treatment for Indigenous people. He argued that “expanded telemedicine” and “flexible prescriptions” had helped these patients and should continue after the pandemic.²⁷⁾

His research has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canada Research Chairs Program, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, NeuroDevNet, Kids Brain Health Network, the Ontario Mental Health Foundation, Health Canada, the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science.²⁸⁾

Dr. Mushquash is the recipient of numerous awards for his work, including the Canadian Psychological Association President's New Researcher Award, Lakehead University Outstanding Alumni Award, the Northwestern Ontario Visionary Award, the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science Early Researcher Award, and the Clinical Psychological Association Clinical Section Scientist-Practitioner Early Career Award.