cultural safety
A new era of First Nations health in British Columbia
British Columbia First Nations are making history by undertaking a transformative process to change the way health care is delivered to their children, families and communities. The Tripartite First Nations Health process underway in BC is a case study in the power of many Nations coming together and speaking with a common voice to find …
Canadian medical schools struggle to recruit Aboriginal students
The featured image for this story is reproduced with permission from the Health Council of Canada. Illustrator: Leah Fontaine Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples have, on average, much poorer health than other Canadians. Chronic diseases like diabetes are significantly more common among Aboriginal peoples, and they have a substantially shorter life expectancy than the general population. Mental illness is also alarmingly common in …
Aboriginal cultural competency training program for health care workers
Recently, I had a conversation with a physician who works with international groups. He had high praise for the BC Provincial Health Services Authority’s Indigenous Cultural Competency (ICC) training and wished it could be made available at an international level. He spoke of groups unintentionally insulting and offending one another. “Some of the most advanced …
Making Canada’s health care system more culturally responsive to Aboriginal Peoples
The new report issued by the Health Council of Canada on cultural competency and cultural safety for Aboriginal People in urban health care is a welcome addition to what is hopefully a broader renaissance in how health care services are provided in this country. This report presents the outcomes of regional roundtable sessions across the …