Author Archives: joanna cassie

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action

http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf

Written in 2012, this is required reading for anyone interested in what the action items actually are. For example, Call to action: #23. III. is “Provide cultural competency training for all healthcare professionals.” and #24. “We call upon medical and nursing schools in Canada to require all students to take a course dealing with Aboriginal health issues”.

AFMC Report on Indigenous Health                       

https://afmc.ca/medical-education/indigenous-health-needs

Medicine in Canada is a self-regulating and self-reflective system, and the Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada (AFMC), comprised of all 17 of Canada’s medical Schools, figures prominently in many decisions regarding the health of the people of Canada through how our future doctors are taught. This report is AFMC’s deliberations on Indigenous health, notably on the recruitment of Indigenous physicians and responses of the medical schools to the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. See above.

Social determinants of health and the future well-being of Aboriginal children in Canada            

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3448539/

This enlightened report from 2012 considers social determinants of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children’s health as opposed to biomedical explanations based in deficit. The World Health Organization defines social determinants of health as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age – conditions that together provide the freedom people need to live lives they value.”

National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (NCCAH)  

https://www.nccah-ccnsa.ca/en/

The summary provided on the site states it best: “Established in 2005 by the Government of Canada, and funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada, the NCCAH is one of six centres in the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health program, each focusing on a different aspect of public health. The NCCs are located across Canada, and each focuses on a different public health priority.” The six centres are:

NCC for Aboriginal Health at the University of Northern British Columbia, in Prince George

NCC for Determinants of Health at St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia

NCC for Healthy Public Policy at L’Institut national de santé publique du Québec, in Montreal

NCC for Environmental Health at the BC Centre for Disease Control, in Vancouver

NCC for Infectious Diseases at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg

NCC for Methods and Tools at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario

First Nations Health Authority

http://www.fnha.ca/

British Columbia is the first province to have a health authority solely devoted to Indigenous health! It evolved from the Transformative Change Accord: First Nations Health Plan in 2006.  Established in 2013, the FNHA has been taking on the programs, services, and responsibilities formerly handled by Health Canada’s First Nations Inuit Health Branch – Pacific Region. ​The services are for health promotion and disease prevention and include:

• Primary Health Care
• Children, Youth and Maternal Health
• Mental Health and Wellness
• Communicable Disease Control
• Environmental Health and Research
• First Nations Health Benefits
• eHealth and Telehealth
• Health and Wellness Planning
• Health Infrastructure and Human Resources

University of Minnesota Human Rights Library – The Rights of Indigenous Peoples

http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/edumat/studyguides/indigenous.html

From 2003, a comprehensive set of documents about the rights of Indigenous Peoples on a global scale. It includes commonly used terms, what rights are at stake, and legal instruments granting international protection. In includes drafts of Human Right Declarations dating back to 1948, and many other resources.

Windspeaker (online newspaper)

http://www.windspeaker.com/

A grassroots source, published biweekly by the “Aboriginal Multi-Media Society (AMMS) and is ‘Canada’s most widely circulated Indigenous news publication’. In addition to current content, 24,000 articles dating back to 1983 are available in the online Windspeaker Archive Search.” (Dalhousie University Library review). In 1993 it Windspeaker became a national Indigenous newspaper.

Dalhousie University Libraries – Indigenous News and Media

http://dal.ca.libguides.com/c.php?g=576634&p=4205601

Speaking of Dalhousie, their library site contains many, many excellent news and media resources for their Indigenous Studies program. This is where I found the endorsement of Windspeaker above;  as we learned from this course, many people actually impersonate Indigenous Peoples so checking resources thoroughly to ensure an Indigenous person’s voice is what is actually being presented is vital when doing Indigenous research.

Ku’ku’kwes News

http://kukukwes.com/

Another one I found that also turned up on the Dalhousie Indigenous Studies resource site. This is a local independent online newspaper from Atlantic Canada. It divides the news by the four geographic provinces to include local news, although there is overlap when national events are covered. There is also a news podcast series of 15 episodes from 2017.

Aboriginal Multi-Media Society

http://ammsa.com/

Seems to be out of date, but curated news from across Canada by province. Its current iteration is Windspeaker. Photos are included from celebrations, gatherings and protest events between 2011-2016.

Canadian Human Rights Museum – Indigenous Perspectives

https://humanrights.ca/exhibit/indigenous-perspectives

I visited this museum a few years ago and it was an incredible experience. The museum has endeavored (and succeeded) in creating a space for learning and discussion about all kinds of cultures that have been repressed, suppressed and horribly treated by us and others throughout history. Amazingly, the experience of being in the museum is not one of blame or despair about all of humanity’s wars and genocides – it is one of indomitable hope.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html

In a democratic society, cultures have a right to protect themselves. This declaration, adopted by the General Assembly in 2007, covers all areas of cultural rights. In 2016, Canada removed its objector status to the declaration and adopted it as well.

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) – controversial

http://www.afn.ca/Home/

The Assembly of First Nations is an advocacy organization representing First Nations citizens in Canada. Modeled after the UN, it is an assembly of First Nations (Indian bands) represented by their chiefs. However, because the AFN depends on federal funding, it has sometimes been viewed as not representative of the First Nations community.

American Indian Republic

https://americanindianrepublic.com/

While studying for this class, I have come across many articles that talk about white people pretending to be Indigenous. It is a real problem for the Indigenous community as they try to rebuild their identity and identities to have non-indigenous masquerading as provider of Indigenous education.  One of these articles “The Perplexing Nature of “Wannabe Indians” is hosted on a site called the American Indian Republic, which is a site dedicated to discourse of the American Indian experience, including features and interviews.

Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada

https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/

Co-developed by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Canadian Geographic, with Indigenous people on the editorial board, this amazing book (one of 4 volumes) was created to address actions of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, specifically the development of “culturally appropriate curricula” for Aboriginal Canadian students. The atlas is a map of Indigenous lands without the geographical Canadian borders; if you have never seen one, it is humbling.