septembre 27, 2024

In June, a group of about 30 people convened in Toronto to delve into the deep and difficult topic of racism. The event, hosted by Diabetes Action Canada (DAC), was a powerful means to not only shed light on the instances of racism that Indigenous peoples face in the health care system, but also reveal ways to counteract it, through anti-racism practices.

The event was coordinated by members of the Indigenous Peoples’ Circle (IPC) at DAC, which includes Tamara Beardy, a woman from Tataskweyak Cree Nation who is also a member of the Indigenous Peoples Engagement and Research Council at Can-SOLVE CKD.

Beardy notes that there is a lot of mistreatment, misdiagnoses and death affecting Indigenous peoples. “Racism is one of, is one of the biggest, biggest [reasons],” she emphasizes, noting that many Indigenous people often feel judged, unsupported and not safe in the health care system.

The anti-racism event by the IPC at DAC aims to change this status quo. “We’re trying to break system structures that don’t serve our First Nations people holistically, and we’re trying to help [encourage change needed] to deliver safe practices,” Beardy explains.

The event started off with a welcome ceremony and the opening prayer led by Dr. Malcom King of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Next, a passionate and powerful speaker, Dr. Barry Lavallee, a member of Manitoba First Nation and Métis communities, spoke to the group, explaining how the impacts of colonialism and land dispossession have negatively impacted Indigenous people, and continue to this day.

Charles Cook, a patient partner of Can-SOLVE CKD, attended the event and says that the speech by Dr. Lavallee dramatically changed his views on Indigenous-specific racism. As a Black man with his own experiences within the U.S. and Canadian healthcare system, Cook expected to understand to a certain extent the difficulties that Indigenous people face.

But Dr. Lavallee noted how past on ongoing efforts to displace Indigenous peoples from their own land is a unique challenge, and his speech has prompted Cook to look at land acknowledgements in a completely new way.

“It is not just what happened in the past, it is the acknowledgement of the current trauma that is going on and we need to do something about it, which is what truth and reconciliation is all about – the truth is that it’s still happening,” says Cook.

Another component of the event involved looking at specific Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Actions, particularly #18-24, which involved health care. Indigenous attendees were invited to share their personal stories of racism that aligned with those Calls to Action.

Cook says the real-life examples were very powerful, “because it’s not just words on a page, but a person standing in front of you, telling you this is what happened and the effect it had, and why we need to change it.”

Attendees then had a chance to break into smaller groups and delve deeper into the reality of racism – and search for solutions – through role-playing. Participants were given scripts and assigned roles. For instance, one participant was assigned the role of an Indigenous mother of a sick child, whose concerns were dismissed by a doctor, who said racists comments about drug use. After acting out the scene, participants were invited to reflect on ways to distill or call out the racist behaviour. (See a list of examples at the end of this story).

“One of the big topics during this event was the position of authority and power that the system has, and bringing to light all of these topics was really ground-breaking,” says Beardy.

She notes that DAC has plans to host several more of this anti-racism training events by the end of this year.

For Cook, it was a valuable experience with the potential for impact. “Now you can play a part in the reconciliation part, by taking what you learned from this seminar and putting it to work out in the real world,” he emphasizes.