Unit 4 The Distal Determinants of Health

how did displacement onto reserve lands affect indigenous people?

• restricted farming, economic activity, political organization, hunting/gathering

• forced them to be dependent on the government for food

what did Metis people experience from the indian act

• land dispossession, racism

• excluded from indigenous health benefits

what did inuit people experience from the indian act

• forced relocation

• mass slaughter of inuit sled dogs

• disruption fo traditional lifestyles

sixties scoop

• as residential schools declined, large numbers of Indigenous children were taken in

• at its peak 1/3 of indigenous chidlren were taken from their families

gendered effects of colonial racism on women

had to undergo:

• forced sterilization

• undermining of traditional midwifery

• mandatory evacuation from remote communities for childbirth

• high rates of violence

what is racial battle fatigue

Where ongoing discrimination continually activates stress response and depletes physical and mental resources, leading to poorer health

how can we improve indigenous health care

• greater indigenous control and self-determination

• indigenous patient navigators

• practicing cultural safety

what is ethnocentrism

the belief that one’s own culture or ethnicity is superior to others

historical construction of race

• development of racial classifcations began during colonization

  • they were

• personality traits were attached to each class

• it was believed that racial categories shouold be built into legal, political, social institutions

epistemic racism

• epistemic means related to knowledge

• occurs when one knowledge system is treated as superior than another

• western knowledge systems were treated as superior while indigenous as inferior

relational racism

• racism that happens in everyday interpersonal interactions

• most visible form of racism

structural racism

inequalities that is built into society’s laws, policies, rules, political and economic systems

examples of structural racism

• Indian Act

• Residential schools

• Limited indigenous control over land and community decisions

4 types of social exclusion

1. Exclusion from social society

2. Exclusion from social goods

3. Exclusion from social production

4. Exclusion from social consumption 

what is exclusion from social society

• isolation from civic and political participation

• can involve physical or geographic isolation

• reduced political decision making power

what is exclusion from social goods

• failure to provide equal access to resources needed for health and wellbeing

• examples can include lack of safe water or poor housing

what is exclusion from social production

• denial of opportunities to contribute to society or have contributions recognized

• for example, ignoring Indigenous contributions to various sectors like culture, art, music, etc.

what is exclusion from social consumption

• reduced access to employment and participation in the economy

• examples include inadequate educational opportunities and geographic barriers

symbolic racism

• more subtle form of racism where someone may not openly display racist behaviour but still hold beliefs that maintain racial inequality

• for example, arguing that indigenous people receive “special treatment”

embodied racism

• When racism can become physically and psychologically experienced in the body

• Discrimination, isolation and social violence can cause anxiety, psychological distress, physiological stress

colour blindness

• perception that racial differences should not matter or that society should not “see race”

• ignores that racism and racilized treatment are real

shoal lake 40

• water crisis where indigenous communities were cut off for city development and left with decade long boil water advisories