Tag Archives: systemic racism

Mod 3, Post 5: In plain sight

This document, In plain sight: Addressing Indigenous-specific racism and discrimination in BC health care is an important document that all health care providers in BC should read, and should be expanded for use in the rest of Canada. There is a content warning at the beginning that the document may contain subjects that could trigger an emotional response in people, as well as some resources for people so affected.

This is a message of hope, in that this has happened and continues to happen, but there are things that can be done to educate and inform all health care professionals.

I also like the way the introduction discusses ‘willful ignorance’.  This concept is prevalent through our society today.  There is so much available out there to listen to, to hear, and try to understand, that there is really no excuse to not be educated about Indigenous issues and context.

This report is a right step – if only it could be more emphasized in main stream health care and with all health care professionals. Making it easier to find and more pronounced on the bc gov website would be a further step forward.

 

White-Hill, E., & desLibris – Documents. (2021). In plain sight: Addressing indigenous-specific racism and discrimination in B.C. health care. Camosun College

https://engage.gov.bc.ca/app/uploads/sites/613/2020/11/In-Plain-Sight-Summary-Report.pdf

Racism

Module 4, Entry 5

Tyler Ohashi

Racism

Towards the end of ETEC 521, I have been thinking about racism as a result of all the discussions around the dominant Western culture. It has caused me to think about what it would be like to feel excluded and oppresses by the dominant culture. 

In a short personal story from Tami Pierce, director of Indigenous Education and Community Engagement at Vancouver Community College she experiences racism by just being earshot away from a conversation about “Indians”. She was not being talked to directly, but the impacts of racism still made her feel terrible and the details of the conversation revealed how misinformation, stereotypes, and stigma are very present today. Even today, people still use a generic paintbrush to project false opinions about Indigenous populations.  To counteract this display of racism, Tami advocates the importance of being proud of who you are and “It’s not about fitting in or being someone that you are not — be proud of who you are and where you come from.” Her personal story makes it clear to me the need to dispel stereotypes of Indigenous people through education and proper representation. 

Next, I started wondering about “systemic racism” because it is something that I have been hearing a lot lately. Therefore I looked at how Indigenous people have been affected by racism which landed me at this paper that looks at Indigenous experiences with racism and its impacts. This paper takes an insightful look at racism with respect to government policies (including residential schools), healthcare, and the judicial system and how these impact Indigenous people. Indigenous people have been racialized by most (all) levels of government which continues to be a problem today. “Systemic racism” is something I am just beginning to understand and how big the problem really is. Directing racism at one person is small and perhaps manageable, but racism on a scale that includes all levels of modern society is hard to wrap your head around.

References

Loppi, S., Reading, C., & de Leeuw, S. (n.d.). INDIGENOUS EXPERIENCES WITH RACISM AND ITS IMPACTS. https://www.nccih.ca/. https://www.nccih.ca/docs/determinants/FS-Racism2-Racism-Impacts-EN.pdf. 

Pierce, T. (2018, June 8). Racism. Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada. https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/racism/.