WEEK 8: PUBLIC POLICIES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S HEALTH

Question 1

What is colonialism?

Answer 1

• policy/practice of acquiring full/partial control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically
• ongoing system of power that perpetuates the genocide and repression of Indigenous peoples and cultures

Question 2

Colonial policies and institutions in Canada

Answer 2

• Constitution Act (1867)
• Indian Act (1876)
• relocation of Inuit communities
• residential schools
• Sixties scoop
• missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

Question 3

What was the Indian Act of 1876?

Answer 3

• gives control and management of reserve lands to federal govt
• defines who is legally recognized as Indigenous
• limits right to vote
• loss of self-governance
• health and education under federal control
• Indian agent given authority over foods, goods, travel for on-reserve First Nations people
• limited economic and political participation of Indigenous people
• outlawed ceremonies and other cultural practices
• undermined role/status of women

Question 4

What was the sixties scoop?

Answer 4

• in 10 years, 1/3 of Indigenous children were taken from their families
• by 1970 they were most of children in care
• today 48% of children in care are Indigenous
• Aboriginal = 4.3% of population

Question 5

How do Indigenous people in Canada access health care?

Answer 5

Provincial/territorial health care systems
- physicians and hospitals
- non-Indigenous specific community health centres
- Indigenous programming at mainstream organizations

Federal govt
- non-insured health benefits

Self-governance and community-directed initatives
- on-reserve services and programs
- Urban Indigenous health centres
- BC First Nations Health Authority

Question 6

Barriers to accessing health care for Indigenous people

Answer 6

• geography/remoteness
• federal/provincial lack of clarity and bureaucratic disagreements
• individual and structural racism
• lack of culturally safe care

Question 7

Research on racism and its effects

Answer 7

• difficult to conduct research
• high experiences of racism
• effects of racism = research is spotty and cross-sectional, few standardized measurement instruments
• more research needed

Question 8

What is cultural safety?

Answer 8

Cultural sensitivity and competence
- service provider learning about culture of service users

Cultural safety
- emphasizes colonial, historical, sociopolitical context
- providers examine own culture, history, lived experiences, beliefs, attitudes
- explicit attention and action to address power relations

Question 9

Racism, race, and health care: responses and interventions

Answer 9

• Individual, family, and community strategies and resiliencies
• Health care and service delivery
• Health professional education and training
• Policy responses specific to health and health care
• Policy responses affecting health