On February 17, Nourish Indigenous Program Mangaer Mair Greenfield spoke with clinicians and students at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Medicine.
Saskatchewan Health Authority Commitment to Truth and Reconciliation
Source: Saskatchewan Health Authority
Year: 2019
"The Saskatchewan Health Authority acknowledges Saskatchewan as the traditional territory of First Nations and Métis people, which includes Treaties 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10.
We commit to fostering and maintaining respectful relations with all First Nations and Métis people. The Saskatchewan Health Authority acknowledges the pain, loss, and dislocation caused by the residential school system on individuals, families, communities and nations."
Food Sovereignty, Justice, and Indigenous Peoples An Essay on Settler Colonialism and Collective Continuance
Author: Kyle Whyte
Year: 2017
Indigenous peoples often claim that colonial powers, such as settler states, violate Indigenous peoples' collective self-determination over their food systems, or food sovereignty. Violations of food sovereignty are often food injustices. Yet Indigenous peoples claim that one of the solutions to protecting food sovereignty involves the conservation of particular foods, from salmon to wild rice. This essay advances an argument that claims of this kind set forth particular theories of food sovereignty and food injustice that are not actually grounded in a static conception of Indigenous culture; instead, such claims offer important contributions to how settler colonial domination is understood as a form of injustice affecting key relationships that support Indigenous collective self-determination through food sovereignty. The essay describes some of the significant qualities of reciprocal relationships that support food sovereignty, referring widely to the work of Indigenous leaders and scholars and Tribal staff on salmon conservation in North America.
Mohawk College welcomes the Three Sisters
Source: Mohawk College
Year: 2020
“Mohawk College Students and staff welcomed the Three Sisters (corns, beans and squash) to Mohawk today with a planting at the college's Fennell Campus in May. The plants will grow alongside the Hoop Dance, Mohawk's Indigenous Gathering Space which is due to be completed this June.”
Creating Cultural Safety: Looking at Ottawa
Source: Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health
Year: 2014
According to Statistics Canada, there were 19,200 Aboriginal Peoples living in Ottawa in 2011. This number has likely grown a great deal since. Aboriginal Peoples make up 2% of Ontario’s population. Despite the fact that the Canadian health care system is believed to be one of the best in the world, quality health care is not available for many Aboriginal people in Canada. Cultural barriers, fear and mistrust have hindered Aboriginal people from accessing appropriate and quality care which leads to poor health status. According to Anishnawbe Health Toronto, the Aboriginal population in Ontario “has generally noted that they have experienced culturally insensitive healthcare and have noted that at times they [are] also [met] with subtle and overt racism.”
Urban Indigenous Forum: Addressing Systemic Racism in Healthcare
Source: National Association of Friendship Centres
Year: 2020
The Urban Indigenous Forum: Addressing Systemic Racism in Healthcare was a crucial first-step in acknowledging the efforts it will take to ensure Indigenous people can access their right to healthcare with dignity and respect, however, our work does not end here. It remains our view that an Indigenous-led and community-driven process is essential in the path forward and compiling this report to share with Indigenous, Federal, Provincial/Territorial governments, our Partners, and the Canadian public as a whole is our first call to action. In this report you will find comments and suggestions from participants of the forum that range from personal experience, experience of advocates, professionals, and allies.
A Journey We Walk Together: Strengthening Indigenous Cultural Competency in Health Organizations
Source: First Nations Health Managers Association and Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement
Year: 2020
Many health care organizations are familiar with the Donabedian1 model of healthcare quality – incorporating structure, process, and outcomes. This model recognizes that to see better outcomes and improvements in the quality of health services, there needs to be considered and purposeful improvements in structures (facilities, equipment, qualifications, care settings) and processes (care has been appropriate, acceptable, accessible, complete, competent).
Bringing Reconciliation to Healthcare in Canada: Wise Practices for Healthcare Leaders
Source: Dr. Lisa Richardson, Tracy Murphy; HealthCareCAN
Year: 2018
This HealthCareCAN Report discusses critical issues facing Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and the role that Canadian health leaders play in helping to close the health gap. It also presents wise practices for health leaders and organizations to address the health-related Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) based on a literature review, interviews with key stakeholders, and case studies of several health care organizations. The term “wise practices” is widely used in Indigenous contexts to describe locally appropriate Indigenous actions that contribute to sustainable and equitable conditions.
Health Transformation Summit: Getting the Relationships Right: Health Governance in the Era of Reconciliation
Source: Assembly of First Nations
Year: 2018
The First Nations Health Transformation Summit took place February 13-14, 2018, in Toronto, Ontario on the Traditional Territories of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. The Summit was an opportunity for First Nations, the federal government, and provinces/territories to come together to develop shared priorities and determine next steps towards closing jurisdictional gaps in First Nations health. The First Nations Health Transformation Summit, Getting the Relationships Right: Health Governance in the Era of Reconciliation, is part of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) efforts to facilitate relationship building, and highlight innovative First Nations built health programs, services and systems from across the country that have found success in overcoming jurisdictional gaps. With 429 in attendance, the Summit included First Nation delegates, AFN’s Chiefs Committee on Health members and health technicians, corporate and government officials, Elders, and other guests. The Summit was opened by Elder Valerie King and the Manitou Mkwa Singers and Drum Group.
Indigenous Ally Toolkit
Source: Montreal Indigenous Community NETWORK
Year: 2019
In this Indigenous Ally Toolkit (2019), you will learn the role that an individual occupies and plays within the collective experience and so much more.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action
Source: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Year: 2015
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) published its final report detailing the experiences and impacts of the residential school system, creating a historical record of its legacy and consequences. The TRC recorded testimony of more than 6,000 survivors affected by residential schools. Over more than a century, it is estimated approximately 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and communities and forced to attend one of 139 residential schools across Canada.
One outcome of the report was a document detailing 94 calls to action across a wide range of areas including child welfare, education, health, justice, language and culture.
It’s important to recognize the historical and ongoing wrongs perpetrated against Indigenous peoples and the legacy of colonialism still in place today. The legacy of that separation and suppression of culture has had a profoundly negative impact on Indigenous communities, families and cultural connections through the generations.
The TRC calls to action address the ongoing impact of residential schools on survivors and their families.
The Right to Food and Indigenous Peoples
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Year: 2008
Indigenous peoples, like everyone else, have a right to adequate food and a fundamental right to be free from hunger. This is stipulated in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of 1966 and constitutes binding international law. This means states parties to the ICESCR are obliged to implement the right to food domestically, ensuring that it becomes part of their national legal system. The right to food entitles every person to an economic, political, and social environment that will allow them to achieve food security in dignity through their own means. Individuals or groups who do not have the capacity to meet their food needs for reasons beyond their control, such as illness, discrimination, age, unemployment, economic downturn, or natural disaster, are entitled to be provided with food directly. The obligation to ensure a minimum level necessary to be free from hunger is one of immediate effect.
Calls to Action Accountability: A 2020 Status Update on Reconciliation
Source: Eva Jewell and Ian Mosby; Yellowhead Institute
Year: 2020
December 15, 2020, marks a full five years since the release of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. It was a momentous day that saw residential school Survivors, their families, and representatives of the institutions responsible for overseeing the horrors of Canada’s Indian residential school system gather in Ottawa to chart a new path for the future guided by the Commission’s 94 Calls to Action. Governments committed to work with provincial, territorial, and municipal counterparts to, “fully implement the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” But five years later, that commitment has not materialized. In 2020, a tumultuous year for many reasons, our analysis reveals that just 8 Calls to Action have been implemented, this is down from 9 in 2019.
Make Food a Part of Reconciliation, 5 Big Ideas for a Better Food System
Author: Food Secure Canada
Year: 2017
A national food policy for Canada must acknowledge the history and ongoing legacy of colonialism and prioritize reconciliation and decolonization as key guiding principles of our food system. Food was often used as a tool of oppression and marginalization, including through the use of starvation and malnutrition in residential schools and the assumption, upon the arrival of European settlers, that Canada was largely an empty, uninhabited land (“terra nullius”). For many years, it was the Canadian government’s practice to provide only enough food to Indigenous communities on-reserve for basic survival. In addition, policies were implemented with the intention of limiting Indigenous people’s ability to engage in hunting and fishing activities, thereby eroding the food sovereignty and food security of many communities.
Ignored to Death: Systemic Racism in the Canadian Healthcare System
Source: Brenda Gunn
Year: n.d.
Widespread health disparities continue for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Indigenous peoples experience lower health outcomes than non-Indigenous peoples in Canada, which is exacerbated by the lack of access to quality health care and lower socio-economic situation (as confirmed by the social determinates of health). Indigenous peoples also lack access to adequate health services, especially in remote communities. In 2015, the Auditor General in Canada concluded that “Health Canada did not have reasonable assurance that eligible First Nations individuals living in remote communities in Manitoba and Ontario had access to clinical and client care services and medical transportation benefits as defined for the purpose of this performance audit.” There is a failure to implement existing policies and strategies.
In Plain Sight: Summary Report
Source: Addressing Racism Review
Year: 2020
In June 2020, claims surfaced about a “Price is Right” game allegedly being played in some B.C. hospital Emergency Departments, in which health care workers were guessing blood alcohol levels of Indigenous patients. The Minister of Health commissioned an independent Review to investigate the “Price is Right” allegations and whether this game or other forms of Indigenous-specific racism are being experienced by Indigenous people using the provincial health care system, make findings of fact, and “to make any recommendations it considers necessary and advisable.”
In Plain Sight: Full Report
Source: Addressing Racism Review; Government of British Columbia
Year: 2020
In June 2020, claims surfaced about a “Price is Right” game allegedly being played in some B.C. hospital Emergency Departments, in which health care workers were guessing blood alcohol levels of Indigenous patients. The Minister of Health commissioned an independent Review to investigate the “Price is Right” allegations and whether this game or other forms of Indigenous-specific racism are being experienced by Indigenous people using the provincial health care system, make findings of fact, and “to make any recommendations it considers necessary and advisable.”
Health and Health Care Implications of Systemic Racism on Indigenous Peoples in Canada
Source: Indigenous Health Working Group of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada
Year: 2016
Family physicians know that supporting a patient’s health requires trust, compassion, and mutual respect. For Indigenous patients and their families, this is not always achieved. Systemic racism has been identified as a major barrier to positive relationships between physicians and Indigenous patients and the best care of Indigenous peoples. This brief guide for physicians helps you understand better the role that systemic racism can play in shaping an Indigenous patient’s clinical experience, and what you can do about it. As Indigenous patients, Indigenous physicians, and allies, we are appealing to you to help us address this pervasive and harmful problem.
Cultural Mindfulness
Source: George Couchie
Year: 2019
The first step toward understanding other people is learning about their past. George Couchie takes us through some of his Indigenous culture and history, educating us about the impacts of residential schools. Inspiring youth Angel Armstrong, Mckenzie Ottereyes Eagle, and Miigwan Buswa share their connection to the past and show us how they are stopping those negative cycles by embracing culture.
Relational Systems Thinking
Source: Melanie Goodchild
Year: 2021
We explore the notion of the need to decolonize systems thinking and awareness. Taking a specifically Indigenous approach to both knowledge creation and knowledge sharing, we look at awareness-based systems change via a Haudenosaunee (Mohawk) two-row visual code. The authors explore the sacred space between Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of thinking and knowing, to identify pathways for peaceful co-existence of epistemologies.