Indigenous Peoples & health in Canada
Reference List
This is an article that looks at increasing the numbers of indigenous students in our country’s physiotherapy programs. It examines some of the reasons why we have not seen uptake in our current programs such as the distance of the schools from home, family commitments and the inability to integrate cultural healing beliefs with current curriculum.
Cox, J., Kapil, V., McHugh, A., Sam, J., Gasparelli, K., & Nixon, S. A. (2019). Build insight, change thinking, inform action:
Considerations for increasing the number of indigenous students in Canadian physical therapy programmes.
Physiotherapy Canada, 71(3), 261–269. https://doi.org/10.3138/ptc.2018-14.e
This article explores if there is a correlation between the discrimination in healthcare and unmet health needs in the indigenous population. A strong relationship between an experience of discrimination or abuse in a healthcare setting and unmet health needs was found in Toronto. This study supports the need for cultural safety training for medical professionals, nurses and clinicians.
Kitching, G. T., Firestone, M., Schei, B., Wolfe, S., Bourgeois, C., O’Campo, P., Rotondi, M., Nisenbaum, R., Maddox, R., &
Smylie, J. (2020). Unmet health needs and discrimination by healthcare providers among an Indigenous population in Toronto, Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 111(1), 40–49. https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-019-00242-z
This study took place in Prince George, BC and examines the legal rights of Indigenous people as they relate to health care and the right to self governance. It cites several instances of differences in the care provided or withheld depending on the location of care, for example on or off reserve and depending on which band, community, or Indigenous group they belong to. Discussion about the divide between the legal rights of Indigenous people to have safe and accessible health care and the current health care system.
Nelson, S. E., & Wilson, K. (2021). Rights and health versus rights to health: Bringing Indigenous Peoples’ legal rights into the
spaces of health care services. Political Geography, 85, 102311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2020.102311
This article takes a closer look at racism and First Nations people. The following for areas were examined: the cause of, the perpetuation of, the impact of and ways to eradicate racism against First Nations people. The authors used a Grounded Theory approach to study the human interactions and the results of these interactions to better understand the systemic racism experienced by First Nations people. This study took place in Manitoba.
Phillips‐beck, W., Eni, R., Lavoie, J. G., Kine, K. A., Achan, G. K., & Katz, A. (2020). Confronting racism within the Canadian
healthcare system: Systemic exclusion of first nations from quality and consistent care. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228343
In this paper, nursing students explored the knowledge of 25 nurses in critical care settings across Canada about The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Report: Calls to Action (2015). They found that 56% of nurses surveyed had not heard of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They also discuss the cultural competencies as stated by the Canadian Nurses Association and that only 32% of the nurses surveyed exemplified these competencies. The findings support similar studies with common misconceptions around alcohol use and general mistrust between health care providers and Indigenous patients. There was a resounding agreement among nurses supporting open mindedness, additional health care policy around the care of Indigenous patients and further cultural competency education.
Sanzone, L., Doucette, E., Fansia, N., Fu, C., Kim, E., Lo, K. P., Malhi, P., & Sawatsky, T. (2019). Indigenous approaches to
healing in critical care settings: Addressing the Truth and Reconciliation Report’s calls to action. Canadian Journal of Critical Care Nursing, 30(3), 14–21.