
What is Aboriginal cultural?
Local doctor uses golden years to advocate for native health issues
Credit to Publisher: AHRNetS, c/o CAHR, University of Victoria
Context
Ontario has the highest number of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Of the total 1, 172, 785 persons of Aboriginal ancestry in Canada in 2006, 242, 490 (21.0%) live in Ontario. Almost 78% of Aboriginal people reside in off-reserve (rural, non-reserve and urban) communities. The Aboriginal population has generally noted they have experienced culturally insensitive healthcare they receive and have noted that at times they also meet with subtle and overt racism. One of the proposed solutions is to train all front line health care professionals in the area of Aboriginal cultural safety. Currently there are approximately 57, 000 students enrolled in health related post-secondary programmes in Ontario. The results of our initial environmental scan indicated that except for medical schools, a few nursing schools and schools with Aboriginal-specific curricula, all other programmes had little to no Aboriginal content in their curriculum. It is our belief that in order for front line health care and social services workers to provide culturally competent care for Aboriginal clients, students require exposure to Aboriginal cultural sensitivity training.
Cultural Safety
Cultural safety was first introduced by Irihapeti Ramsden, a Maori nurse in Aotearoa (New Zealand), in 1990. Her description of the term explained that cultural safety moves beyond cultural sensitivity and cultural competence (i.e. having knowledge about the culture of “the other”) in that it analyzes power imbalances in society, as well as political ideals of self-determination and de-colonization.