Dr. Shirley Thompson

NRI 7200 The Role of Information Management in Sustainable Use
NRI 7250 Environmental Management Practices
NRI 7170 Food Resources, Sustainable Livelihoods and Community Food Security
NRI 7340 Environmental Justice and Ecosystem Health
NRI 7160 Permaculture Design Certificate Course for Prairie and Boreal Ecosystem

I engage with community-led participatory research to build local capacity and solutions to address First Nation housing crisis, food insecurity and other priority issues. With several Indigenous communities, we are designing and building sustainable homes with local wood. Research on Indigenous food systems is operationalizing designs for permaculture farms, wild food programs, pop-up stores, cooperatives, and capacity-building programs.

I also work with First Nations, Indigenous organizations and environmental justice groups to protect community health and ecological integrity. Towards this end, I work with communities to conduct traditional land use mapping, environmental assessment and participatory video research. Through maps, videos, webinars, social media, journal articles, mainstream media outreach and curriculum development, the research becomes accessible to communities, academics and policy-makers.

In 2022, Camp Kitigay, the first Ecosystems Restoration Camp in Canada at Beaconia Research Station, was started. This camp integrates agroforestry with land and water regenerative programming. In 2021/22 I chaired a team that lead the new Indigenous Food Systems internship program called Kitigay at the University of Manitoba with Camp Kitigay, Brokenhead Ojibway Nation (BON) and other communities. Other Education programs are the Mino Bimaadiziwin Homebuilders program undertaken with Garden Hill and Wasagamack First Nations.

I chaired the team development of different new education programs in Indigenous food systems, homebuilding, natural resources, forestry and sawmilling.  I also was an expert in 2021 for the international "How to Change the World Program" and evaluator of their student awards.

I engage with multiple medias to share knowledge including: 
1) Mino Bimaadiziwin’s Partnership Website- http://ecohealthcircle.com/, social media webpage 
2) Mino Bimaadiziwin’s Partnership Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MinoBimaadiziwinPartnership/, 
3) Mino Bimaadiziwin Partnership weekly or biweekly webinars and bimonthly newsletter at http://ecohealthcircle.com/mino-bimaadiziwin-newsletters/ 
4) Ecohealthcircle YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxatDURvcEfWUfQBb0MqIlg

I also give regular media interviews to cover emerging issues with many mainstream media outlets.

I served as an adjudicator for different academic funding programs, at various times, including CMHC Housing Supply Challenge Data-Driven round, MITACS,  Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) adjudication for Insight Grant,  SSHRC Final stage of Partnership Grants, SSHRC Letter of Intent for Partnership Grants, and SSHRC Partnership Development Grants.

I am co-editing a special edition of the Journal for the Association of Social Economy Research ANSER for Winter 2021 on Decolonizing Inequities.  I also peer review for many journals, including Community Development, Humanities and Society, Energies, Polar Geography, JANSER, Waste management, Political Science Review, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, RSER, Health Promotion International, BMC Public Health, Resources and Applied Geography.

Thompson, S. (2022). Green Renewable Power and Policy in Canada: A Just Energy Transition to Net-Zero. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 10. https://doi.org/10.4236/gep2022

Morin, J.L.; Cohen, B.; Harder, N.; and Thompson, S. (2022). Nurse Educators' Perceptions of Ecoliteracy in Undergraduate Nursing Education, Quality Advancement in Nursing Education: 8(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.17483/2368-6669.1287

Adegun, A., & Thompson, S. (2021). Higher COVID-19 rates in Manitoba's First Nations compared to non-First Nations linked to limited infrastructure on reserves. The Journal of Rural and Community Development, 16(4). ISSN: 1712-8277

Michnik, K., Thompson, S. & Beardy, B. (2021). Moving your body, soul, and heart to share and harvest food: Food Systems Education for Youth and Indigenous Food Sovereignty in Garden Hill First Nation, Manitoba. Canadian Food Studies,8(2), 111-136. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v8i2.446

Polyzois, P. and Thompson, S. (2021) Practical Mitigation Strategies for Countering the Spread of Aerosolized COVID-19 Virus (SARS-CoV-2) Using Ventilation and HEPA Air Purifiers: A Literature Review. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 9, 166-197. doi: 10.4236/gep.2021.99010.

Ahmed, N., Thompson, S., Hardy, B. & Turchini, G. M. (2021): An Ecosystem Approach to Wild Rice-Fish Cultivation. Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture. 1-17. https://doi.org.10.1080/23308249.2020.1833833

Blacksmith, C., Hill, S., Stormhunter, T., Thapa, S. & Thompson, S. (2021). The Indian Act virus worsens COVID-19 outcomes for Canada's native people. In Canadian Year Book on Human Rights' special issue on COVID-19, 2021. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Centre for Human Rights Press.

Thompson, S., Bonnycastle, M. & Hill, S. (2020). COVID-19, First Nations and Poor Housing: “Wash hands frequently” and “Self-isolate” akin to “let them eat cake” in First Nations with Overcrowded Homes lacking Piped Water. CCPA: Winnipeg. ISBN: 978-1-77125-505-9. Retrieved from: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/covid-19-first-nations-and-poor-housing

Solademi, F., & Thompson, S. (2020). Spatial Analysis of Heavy Metal Emissions in Residential, Commercial and Industrial Areas Adjacent to a Scrap Metal Shredder in Winnipeg, Canada. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 8, 359-386. https://doi.org/10.4236/gep.2020.85023

Ahmed, N., Thompson, S. & Turchini, G. M. (2020). Organic aquaculture productivity, environmental sustainability, and food security: insights from organic agriculture. Food Security. 12:1253-1267 https://doi.org.10.1007/s12571-020-01090-3.

Thompson, S., Thapa, K. &Whiteway, N. (2019). Sacred Harvest, Sacred Place: Mapping harvesting sites in Wasagamack First Nation. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9 (1), 1-29. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.017

Ahmed, T., Geebu, R., Thompson, S. (2019). Assessing Land Loss from Flooding in the Lake St. Martin Basin in Manitoba, Canada. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection 7(12), 171-181. https://doi.org/10.4236/gep.2019.712012