THE REZ DOCTOR

When white doctors neglect the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot) community’s needs, a young man discovers his calling to be a doctor, but the path is not always straightforward.

As a child in 1990s Alberta, Ryan Fox visited the medical clinic in Cardston, where he and his mother were treated dismissively. Growing up on the rez, Ryan attended school in a nearby majority-white town, where Indigenous people experienced pervasive racism. Fortunately, Ryan’s family’s pride in him and his connection to his community had a profound impact. A ceremony he attended with his father, in which a man who’d formerly abused alcohol received a headdress from elders in recognition that he had begun “to heal himself, and now he has duties, responsibilities, and obligations to help the community heal too,” serves as both warning and foretelling of Ryan’s life journey. Away at college in Lethbridge, Ryan experiences peer pressure to drink and party—but he falls in love with a young woman who’s a serious student. Along with Ryan’s loving, incarcerated uncle, she helps him recommit to his goals, despite his despair over his falling grades. With guidance from the Creator, Ryan returns to his path, eventually becoming a doctor and working to support First Nations communities. The accessible text consists primarily of dialogue and is complemented by skillfully composed, thought-provoking illustrations that show the impact of painful topics like substance abuse, medical assault, and racism against Indigenous peoples.

An empowering telling of a journey to healing.