Patricia (Patti) Johnston
Assistant Professor
PhD, Social Work
MSW, Social Work
BSW —Child Welfare Specialization,
BA — Philosophy and English Literature
Contact information
Research and teaching
Research areas
- Community-based participatory research with northern Indigenous communities
- Health, Mental Health and Wellness
- Human Service Organizations and Systems
- Infant, Children and Adolescents
- Knowledge Translation and Implementation Science
- Anti-colonialism
Current Research
Dr. Johnston holds multiyear research funding that aims to co-create knowledge concerning wellness, and facilitate knowledge sharing activities that amplify Inuit voices, and build upon existing capacity within communities. Dr. Patricia Johnston has been awarded research funding for her work including:
- Inuit Perinatal Health Hub: Building Inuit-Specific Resources and Support for Inuit Women in the Kivalliq Region, Nunavut. National Women’s Health Research Initiative: Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition – Hubs (2022 to 2026).
- Iligiingniq: Inuit Perinatal Health & Wellness Project in Arviat, Nunavut. Indigenous Gender and Wellness Team Grant. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (Phase III) (2022 to 2025).
Biography
Patricia (Patti) Johnston is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary. She holds a PhD in Social Work and completed a Bating-Postdoctoral-Fellowship at the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Canadian Studies Centre. She is a Qallunaat (non-Inuit) settler from southern Canada and she works from the Faculty’s Central and Northern Alberta Region office on Indigenous lands, Treaty 6 in Edmonton, Alberta.
Dr. Johnston focuses on community-based socio-health participatory research in relation to social, cultural, and economic impacts of policy on Inuit children and families in Nunavut, Inuit self-determination and governance, anti-Inuit racism, gendered labor and exclusion, Indigenous Knowledge ways of knowing and being), Inuit-approaches to child and family wellness (child welfare), and the perpetuation of colonial relations, systems, and structures over time. Her work in Arctic Canada is dedicated to supporting Inuit wellness, health equity, capacity building and community development, and keeping Inuit families together. Her work involves the examination of the determinants of health and wellness in northern remote and rural contexts.
Dr. Johnston's research involves collaboration with Arctic community members, leaders, and organizations, and interdisciplinary academic partners to address issues relevant to and determined by Arctic Indigenous peoples and communities in Canada and the United States. To this work, Dr. Johnston brings experience from working for four provincial and territorial governments and almost two decades of work with/and in Arctic Canada.
Dr. Johnston is passionate about supporting rural and remote northern peoples, and advocating for northern-determined and directed education, training, employment, and research.
Publications
Johnston, P., Fabbi, N., Nguyen, T. (2022). Introduction to Social Services, Supports, and Well-Being in Arctic Canada and Beyond, American Review of Canadian Studies, 52:3, 239-246, DOI: 10.1080/02722011.2022.2114683
Johnston, P., Tagalik, S. & Amarudjuak, R. (2022) Stronger When We Are Together: Inuit Mothers’ Visions for Child and Family Wellness in Nunavut, Canada, American Review of Canadian Studies, 52:3, 327-341, DOI: 10.1080/02722011.2022.2114266
Johnston, P., Stoller, M., & Tester, F. (2018). Institutional barriers to community-based research: Learning from the Nunavut, Nanivara project. Critical Social Work, 19 (1), 65–84.
Johnston, P. & Tester, F. (2015). The contradiction of helping: Inuit oppression(s) and social work in Nunavut. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 26, 3, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428232.2015.1063410
Awards
- Faculty of Social Work Proposal Development Fund (2023)
- Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Washington’s Seattle) Jackson School of International Studies (2020-2022)
- Nomination for Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Northern British Columbia (2019)
- 4YF: Four-Year Fellowship, University of British Columbia (UBC), (2015-2018)
- Laura Fowler Scholarship, Canadian Federation of University Women of South Delta (2017-2018)
- Northern Scientific Training Program (NSTP) Scholarship, Canadian Polar Commission (2013-2014; 2014-2015; 2016-2017)
- Canadian Northern Studies Trust Scholarship, Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies (ACUNS), (2015-2016)
- Arts Graduate Student Research Award, University of British Columbia (2015-2016)
- Doctoral Award, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (2013-2015)
- Arts Graduate Student Scholarship, University of British Columbia (2011-2012)