Organizations
- Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association
The official formation of the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association (C.I.N.A.) was in 1975 as Registered Nurses, Indian and Inuit Association of Canada. The association's founders initially came together to pool their skills, education and cultural heritages to ultimately improve what they witnessed first hand as Indigenous nurses - the appalling overall health conditions faced by their own people. - The Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada
As Indigenous people who are diversely rooted in our ancestry and our relationships with the natural world/our homelands, and who have also had the privilege of medical training, it is our collective intent to collaboratively use our skills, abilities and experiences to improve the health (broadly defined) of our nations, communities, families and selves. - Indigenous Medical Students' Association of CanadaThe Indigenous Medical Students' Association of Canada is a brand-new organization founded in 2021. Our vision is to create a national association that will act as a safe space for Indigenous medical students across Canada to build community, work together on advocacy, and increase Indigenous representation.
Healthcare providers and Indigenous peoples
This section covers healthcare practitioners and their interactions with Indigenous communities, as well as the experiences of Indigenous healthcare providers, such as nurses and doctors.
For information on the history of colonialism within the healthcare system, see the Healthcare and Colonialism section of this guide.
For cultural safety resources, see Cultural Safety.
Indigenous healthcare providers
- The Indigenous Nurses Who Decolonized Health Careby Mary Jane Logan McCallum (2016).
- Commentary: Indigenous Nursing - Learning from the Past to Strengthen the Future of Healthcareby Lea Bill & Leila Gillis. Nursing leadership (Toronto, Ont.), 2018, Volume 31, Issue 1.
- Twice as good: a history of Aboriginal nurses.By Mary Jane Logan McCallum.
- Summary report on current nursing workplace issues and best practices in aboriginal communities : final report byCall Number: SA A533 S85 2002Publication Date: 2002
- Shattering stereotypes : experiences of Australian and Canadian First Nations general practitioners and family doctors byCall Number: S F45 S43 2015Publication Date: 2015
Differences between Indigenous and Western medicine. From Walking Together, Working Together (2023).
- Canada's Health Workforce: an overview (2023)Report by the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Highlights that racism is a major barrier for recruitment of Indigenous health professionals in Canada.
Non-Indigenous healthcare professionals and Indigenous peoples
- Access to Primary Care From the Perspective of Aboriginal Patients at an Urban Emergency Department(2011). In this article, we discuss findings from an ethnographic study in which we explored experiences of access to primary care services from the perspective of Aboriginal people seeking care at an emergency department (ED) located in a large Canadian city.
- Clinical encounters between nurses and First Nations women in a Western Canadian hospitalThe findings of this ethnographic study illustrate how discourses and assumptions about Aboriginal people, culture, and presumed differences can become interwoven into routine clinical encounters.
- “They treated me like crap and I know it was because I was Native”: The healthcare experiences of Aboriginal peoples living in Vancouver's inner cityOur research aimed to explore the healthcare experiences of Aboriginal peoples who use illicit drugs and or illicit alcohol (APWUID/A) living in Vancouver’s inner city.
- Visibility and Voice: Aboriginal People Experience Culturally Safe and Unsafe Health CarePositive culturally safe experiences, although less frequently reported, were described as interpersonal interactions with feelings visibility and therefore, treatment as a "human being."
- Insiders’ Insight: Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples through the Eyes of Health Care Professionals(2019). This paper discusses the three key discrimination subthemes that were identified, including an unwelcoming environment, stereotyping and stigma, and practice informed by racism. These findings point to the conclusion that in order to improve health care access for Indigenous peoples, we need to go beyond simply making health services more welcoming and inclusive.
- First Nations women and health care services : the sociopolitical context of encounters with nursesBrowne, Annette Jo (2003). Dissertation.
- Discourses Influencing Nurses' Perceptions of First Nations PatientsBrowne, Annette J. (2005). The findings indicate that 3 overlapping discourses were shaping nurses' perspectives concerning the First Nations women they encountered: discourses about culture, professional discourses of egalitarianism, and popularized discourses about Aboriginal peoples.
- Transcultural Health Practices of Emergency Nurses Working With Indigenous Peoples: A Descriptive StudyA descriptive study was conducted among 30 emergency nurses. Approximately 90% of the nurses who participated in the study had not received specific training about Indigenous health.
- Improving preventive screening with Indigenous peoples(2021). Shows how screening practices are poorly adapted for Indigenous realities, colonialism is embedded in medical practice, and provides guidelines for best practices.
- Cultural Competency as New Racism: An Ontology of ForgettingA recommendation is made for jettisoning cultural competency and emphasizing instead a self-reflexive grappling with racism and colonialism.
Ceremony and Spirituality within Healthcare Institutions
“We call upon those who can effect change within the Canadian health-care system to recognize the value of Indigenous healing practices and use them in the treatment of Indigenous patients in collaboration with Indigenous healers and Elders where requested by Indigenous patients.”
– Call to Action #22, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015
- Supporting and Enabling Indigenous Ceremonial Practices within Healthcare InstitutionsFrom the Toronto Regional Indigenous Cancer Program. Wise practices and guidelines for providing opportunities and the right to ceremony within healthcare institutions. Includes background, history, legal obligations, purpose and implementation.
- Community Health Nurses' Spirituality Shapes Their Practice Working With Indigenous Communities in British Columbia, Canadaby McColgan, Karen Annette. Advances in nursing science, 07/2023, Volume 46, Issue 3.
- Tip sheet - Supporting access to ceremony during Covid-19From Toronto Regional Indigenous Cancer program.
Training, toolkits and overviews
An introduction to indigenous health and healthcare in Canada: bridging health and healing by Call Number: SA D68 N77 2022ISBN: 9780826164124Publication Date: 2022This textbook for Canadian nursing and allied health students explores the major health issues of Indigenous populations and how to improve their overall health.
