The Canadian health system claims that it is based on justice and equality, yet the most recent reported case of forced sterilization occurred only six years ago – on an Indigenous person in 2019.
While non-Indigenous people may view routine visits to the doctor as a normal and simple event, Indigenous people see it more as a traumatic experience due to the intergenerational trauma that has affected their views and experiences of the health-care system. The reality of Indigenous women’s health lies deeper than forced sterilizations, medical paternalism and psychological terror; it is generations of neglect, mistreatment and distrust. The gap in Indigenous people’s health is a result of decades of policies that were pushed to control Indigenous societies.
Many North American Indigenous societies were formed on matriarchal and matrilineal lines, meaning Indigenous women played an important role in the community, whether socially, politically or spiritually. Before the arrival of Europeans, Indigenous people were physically, socially and emotionally healthier than the colonial Europeans. However, once the Europeans arrived, they imposed a patriarchal system that put men in a superior position than women and Indigenous societies in inferior position to Europeans, putting Indigenous women in the lowest position of society.
These actions were imposed through the Indian Act (1876) that stripped Indigenous women of their rights and status if they married non-status men.
Colonial society began interfering in Indigenous peoples’ health through policies that forced women into sterilizations by labeling them “unfit” to bear children. The colonization destroyed traditional medicine practices and healing practitioners that were a part of the Indigenous society, creating a foundation of mistrust of Western medicine that persists in Indigenous societies.
The consequences have carried from generation to generation as Indigenous women still face socioeconomic disadvantages, violence and systemic racism.
The consequences have carried from generation to generation as Indigenous women still face socioeconomic disadvantages, violence and systemic racism. Trauma from residential schools, child apprehension and cultural loss have led to higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance use and chronic illness. In addition to historic trauma, today issues of racism, gender inequality and socioeconomic disadvantages add to Indigenous women’s health disparities.
The effect of colonization on Indigenous women has been felt around the world. In Australia, Indigenous women experience higher rates of chronic disease, shorter life expectancy and poorer mental health than non-Indigenous women, the same conditions we see across Canada, where Indigenous women still have higher rates of maternal and infant mortality, stillbirths, postnatal deaths, diabetes, heart disease, cervical cancer and maternal complications compared to non-Indigenous women.
These health discrepancies persist because true wellness cannot exist without Indigenous self-governance, community leadership and cultural safety, conditions scholars have been advocating for to break the colonial cycle.
To improve Indigenous women’s health, there must be a drastic change to the health-care system and how we view health. We should have a broad view of health mentally, spiritually and physically. Education in medical schools should include the history of Indigenous health and how to deal with intergenerational trauma. Nationally, the voices of Indigenous women should be heard and respected; we must fund Indigenous-led health centres; we must support Indigenous culture and community safe environments.
As a woman, learning about such struggles that Indigenous women faced made me realize that the history of medicine was built on injustice. To reach health equality, we must recapture Indigenous women’s respect.
