Week 3 Nursing Leadership in Indigenous Health

Indigenous Nursing Scholarship 

Indigenous nurses, engaged in practice and in nursing scholarship, must be attentive to Indigenous protocols, practice, process, and policy in nursing practice. 

Protocols

Important and necessary for respecting and honouring the peoples of the land and recognition of territory in printed materials, public meetings, and engagements; respecting protocol ensures the voice of local Knowledge Holders, prevents pan-Indigenous thinking, recognizes self within settler colonialism, and honours Indigenous peoples.

Practice

Clinical experiences, self-awareness, language used, and colonial terms that position local people; addressing colonial influences and learning about health through Indigenous ways of knowing.

Process

Sincere and deep respect for ways of being, knowing, and doing with Indigenous peoples and communities; equity that rejects tokenism; nothing about us without us. 

Policies

Formalizing systems-level opportunities for success by creating advocacy statements on cultural safety, equity, recruiting, retaining Indigenous student nurses and faculty, and the TRC’s Calls to Action

RESPECT

R: Reflect deeply on your own cultural values and beliefs

E: Examine and question assumptions and biases in practice

S: Share and recognize the clinical space of the nurse in client relationships 

P: Participate and celebrate cultural uniqueness 

C: Create open and trusting environments

T: Treat people with dignity and compassion

Postcolonial Understanding 

In-depth understanding of how colonization impacts the lives of Indigenous people and the relationship between residential school and intergenerational trauma. CASN Framework. 

Communication 

Applies to nursing interactions with First Nation, Inuit, and Metis peoples where listening and responding to the needs of Indigenous peoples is central to building trust. CASN Framework. 

Inclusivity 

Attention to who might be excluded or marginalized as part of the engagement process and relationship building with First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples. CASN Framework. 

Respect

Consideration for First Nation, Inuit, and Metis students, their families, and communities for who they are, their uniqueness, diversity, and use of traditional approaches to health. CASN Framework. 

Indigenous Knowledge 

Recognition of traditional knowledge and oral histories as having a place in education. This includes an understanding of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis ontology, epistemology, and cosmologies. CASN Framework. 

Mentoring and Supporting Students for Success

Central to teaching and learning process where opportunities to learn from traditional knowledge holders or elders alongside western education fosters their success. CASN Framework.