Excising racism from health care requires Indigenous collaboration – Policy Options

November 2, 2020

Canada’s history of colonization has laid the foundation for the implementation of racist health policy and the delivery of culturally unsafe health care, resulting in health disparities that are disproportionately experienced by Indigenous Peoples. Cultural groups that have experienced colonization also tend to encounter other levels of oppression, including epistemic and systemic racism. Epistemic racism is connected to the cultural erosion of Indigenous Peoples as westernized views and knowledge concerning health and well-being are prioritized, thus dominating and invalidating traditional Indigenous healing practices and customs. Systemic racism is exercised through Canada’s governance, where there is an unjust distribution of power that is built into law, policy and economic practice.

Since the establishment of the Indian Act in 1867, Canada’s Constitution has continued to support and maintain discriminatory and inequitable practices and policies that negatively impact the health of Indigenous Peoples. Epistemic and systemic racism render the Canadian health-care system inaccessible and culturally unsafe. The result is that Canada’s current health-care model is in and of itself a determinant of ill health for Indigenous Peoples.

Read More: https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/november-2020/excising-racism-from-health-care-requires-indigenous-collaboration/