Carrie Bourassa was born and raised in Regina. Carrie pursued both her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Regina. She earned her Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Political Science in 1995, graduated with her Master of Arts degree in 1999, and earned her Ph.D. in Social Studies in 2008.
Carrie has worked in several different capacities in her career including Sessional Instructor with the First Nations University of Canada (formerly the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College), Ministerial Assistant, Policy Analyst with the Saskatchewan Provincial government and Manager of Employment Equity at the University ofRegina.
Currently, Carrie is following her dream of teaching at the post-secondary level. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Inter-disciplinary Programs at the First Nations University of Canada teaching Indigenous Health Studies. Carrie's research interests include the impacts of colonization on the health of First Nations and Métis people; creating culturally competent care in health service delivery; Aboriginal community-based health research methodology; Aboriginal end of life care and Aboriginal women's health. Carrie is beginning her second 3 year term as a member of the Canadian Institute for Health Research Standing Committee on Ethics. Carrie is a member of the Native Women's Association of Canada Advisory Committee on Senior Abuse and Aboriginal Women, member of the Saskatchewan RESOLVE Steering Committee and the Métis Centre of the National Aboriginal Health Organization's Métis Research and Ethics Committee. Carrie recently completed a chapter for the Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review entitled Final Summary Review ofthe Manitoba Child Welfare System for the Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Report. She is also an accredited Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Program facilitator through the First Nations University of Canada and actively involved in volunteering at community centres including the Regina Métis Sports and Culture Centre. Carrie is also the Nominated Principal Investigator of the Indigenous Peoples' Health Research Centre. In 2004, Carrie was honoured when she was chosen as one of Saskatchewan's ten Aboriginal Role Models by the Aboriginal Employment Development Program's Provincial Aboriginal Representative Workforce Council (PARWC). More recently, Carrie was a recipient of the Campion College Alumni of Distinction Award for Professional Achievement and was inducted into the Alpha Sigma Nu Honour Society of Jesuit Institutions of Higher Education in November 2010.
Carrie is Métis and belongs to the Regina Riel Métis Council (RRMC). She resides in Regina with her husband, Chad and her daughters, Victoria, 12 and Lillie, 1.