Making a difference
Carl Marshall could be first Cape Breton Mi’kmaq to become medical doctor
Carl Marshall wanted to be doctor so he could make a difference. As it turns out, he’s likely also making history.
On Thursday, the 25-year-old, who grew up in Whitney Pier and Potlotek First Nation, graduated from McMaster University medical school, becoming perhaps the first Cape Breton Mi’kmaq person to earn a medical degree.
“It’s something I’ve definitely been working towards for a long time now, so it’s a lot of hard work paying off,” Marshall told the Cape Breton Post.
Marshall, whose parents split up when he was a young child, attended elementary and junior high in Whitney Pier where he lived with his mother Laura Campbell and stepfather Blain Campbell. He also spent considerable time with his father Wilbert Marshall in Potlotek First Nation, and he says it was always apparent that there weren’t enough doctors — particularly in Indigenous communities. So, when he finishes his two-year rural family medicine residency through Memorial University in Corner Brook, N.L., he plans to return to Cape Breton.
“I want to go home to practise on a reservation — that’s my plan because I’m Mi’kmaq myself,” said Marshall, who is considering spending an extra year focusing on Indigenous health or psychiatry.
“I think I’ll be the first Mi’kmaq from Cape Breton to be a doctor. My dad tells me that there’s some on the mainland, but I don’t think any of them actually practise on a reservation.”
Dr. Robert Johnson of Millbrook First Nation near Truro, who graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 1998, is recognized as the first Mi’kmaq medical doctor.
Marshall graduated from Sydney Academy in 2011 and then earned his undergraduate degree from Cape Breton University. He was immediately accepted by McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine in Niagara campus.
His graduation year became even more hectic in December when he and his partner Timika welcomed their son, Asher, into the world.
Marshall, who has helped deliver numerous children as part of his medical training, was obviously much better prepared than the average first-time father. However, Tamika declined his offer to help deliver their child.
“She didn’t want me delivering him,” Marshall said. “She wanted me there to hold her hand.”
And while having a fivemonth-old might seem to be perfect training for the grueling hours of a medical resident, Marshall said it hasn’t been the case.
“He’s so good,” he said of Asher. “He sleeps 12 hours a night if you want to let him, and
he doesn’t cry at all. I’m really lucky.”
That doesn’t mean Marshall won’t be busy.
After picking up his degree, he and his young family are packing up and getting ready to move from St. Catharines, to Corner Brook, where orientation begins
in June before his residency officially gets underway in early July. He also has several online exams to study for, not to mention spending time with family and friends in Cape Breton, before he eventually has a chance to return and raise his son here.
“I was born in a small town.
I was raised there. I have really close family ties and it’s where I want my practice to be,” he said. “I want to go back and try to give back. It’s not only where I’m most comfortable, it’s where most of my values lie.”