MARCH 12, 1999

CREE NEUROSCIENTIST/SENATOR LILLIAN EVA DYCK RECEIVES INDSPIRE AWARD

Born August 24, 1945, in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Lillian is a member of the Gordon Cree First Nation and a first generation Chinese Canadian. She earned her Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science (Biochemistry), and Ph.D. (Biological Psychiatry) from the University of Saskatchewan. Dyck was one of the first Canadian Aboriginal women to pursue an academic career in the sciences. Her research into mechanisms of action of monoamine oxidase inhibitors to identify drugs useful for treatment of neurological disorders and stroke earned her an Indspire Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. In 2005, she became the first female First Nations senator. Her priorities in the Senate have been on preventing violence towards Aboriginal women, as well as promoting recruitment & retention of women into professional scientific & technological careers, improving Aboriginal education and employment, and mental health. She continues to speak on the issue of missing & murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Sources:
  "Senate of Canada - Senator Lillian Eva Dyck," Senate of Canada. Retrieved 1/7/2020, https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/dyck-lillian-eva/
"2019 Women of Distinction Recipients, YWCA Saskatoon.  Retrieved 1/7/2020, http://ywcasaskatoon.com/about-the-ywca/women-of-distinction/2019-women-of-distinction-recipients/
Senator Lillian Eva Duke, personal website.  Retrieved 6/6/2021, http://senatordyck.sencanada.ca/   
Photo:  Government of Canada (Parliament), 1988.  Permissive Use.