In 2021, Muckpaloo Ipeelie was studying to become a Medical Laboratory Technologist. During one of the program’s classes, Ipeelie and her fellow students were learning about the key determinants of health for Canadians. The instructor touched on how things like socioeconomic status and access to education can impact health and well-being. However, as an urban Inuk, Ipeelie was disappointed to find that nothing specific to Indigenous health and history was included in the curriculum. “The lack of focus [on Indigenous people] during that day and throughout my entire program was always in the back of my mind,” says Ipeelie. She decided she wanted to do something about it.
During Ipeelie’s student placement at Royal Victoria Regional Health Center in Barrie she launched a four-part workshop that covered Indigenous Canadian history and how Indigenous health perspectives and practices differ from Western perspectives and practices. Ipeelie’s goal was to help healthcare workers understand why there is often a lack of trust between Indigenous patients and their healthcare providers. In turn, Ipeelie hoped that with a better understanding of Indigenous culture, healthcare workers “[could] provide compassionate care rather than feeling frustrated and upset.”
Upon graduating, Ipeelie continued to advocate and educate. She joined the Diversity Inclusion & Equity Committee at Collingwood General & Marine Hospital and created a cultural awareness package for the Canadian Society of Medical Laboratory Science. It was clear to her that there was a great need for the resources and workshops she was providing and the Urban Inuit Identity Project was born.
Ipeelie’s client base began to expand beyond just healthcare organizations to mental health and addiction centres, school boards, and government agencies. With an evolving business and a long list of responsibilities to juggle, Ipeelie was eager to find mentorship support as she navigated her business’s growth. She encountered a number of hurdles and found herself left out of many opportunities because she was not a member of a First Nation and did not hold a status card, as Inuit do not own status cards. “As an Inuk, I’m marginalized in an already marginalized group of people. I think that’s really important,” emphasizes Ipeelie. So, she jumped at the opportunity when she discovered an initiative she qualified for shared by the South Georgian Bay Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC). The Racialized and Indigenous Supports for Entrepreneurs (RAISE) program is a provincially-funded, comprehensive grant initiative that supports Indigenous, Black, and other racialized entrepreneurs in Ontario who are on the road to starting or scaling their businesses. In addition to grant funding, the program provides entrepreneurs with access to business development training, business coaching, and culturally responsive support services through the Parkdale Centre for Innovation’s Early Stage Entrepreneurship Program.
Ipeelie’s RAISE project focused on how to level up her business’s marketing. Without a strong suite of marketing assets in place, Ipeelie had to do a lot of the selling and advocacy herself. “There were a lot of man-hours that were being put into [outreach] and so I realized that I needed to have a more streamlined approach to marketing,” she notes. With the grant funds from the RAISE program, Ipeelie invested in new photography, marketing materials like pamphlets and flyers, and a video she is looking forward to launching on her website and social media channels soon.
The new marketing assets are already having a noticeable impact on business. In particular, Ipeelie says having better photography of her Inuit Sharing Boxes, which include a bannock recipe, Inuit tea from Quebec-based Northern Delights, and a document about Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit values, has been invaluable. “I noticed that sharing the images on social media with the [complete and packaged product] really increased my social media traffic, which has helped me get more sales,” she shares.
As she looks ahead to the future of the Urban Inuit Identity Project, Ipeelie says she is still focused on Inuit inclusion programs for schools, healthcare providers and government organizations, but she wants to expand her mission. Specifically, Ipeelie is looking for ways to support more Indigenous students on the road to post-secondary education. Most of all, Ipeelie is very proud of getting through her first year of business and notes, “that was really, really hard!” This year, Ipeelie is eager to pay it forward and become a mentor for other Inuit entrepreneurs and support them on their journeys to create much-needed change.
