March 26, 2025

Last month in the small town of Orford, Quebec, a group of around 15 health researchers, trainees, and students came together with anti-racism trainers and Indigenous community members and Knowledge Keepers to talk about a difficult but important topic: counteracting racism toward Indigenous people.  

The setting was intimate, the conversations were raw, and the learnings deep. The event, hosted by Diabetes Action Canada (DAC), was part of the joint annual meeting of the Quebec Society of Lipidology, Nutrition and Metabolism (SQLNM), the Cardiometabolic Health, Diabetes and Obesity Research Network (CMDO), and the MaRoute training platform. 

Can-SOLVE CKD Indigenous Initiatives Manager Jocelyn Jones and patient partner Charles Cook attended the recent gathering in Quebec and plan to share the lessons they learned with the network and continue exploring ways to build upon Can-SOLVE CKD’s own anti-racism initiatives.  

Addressing the need for anti-racism training in health research 

Indigenous people in Canada experience not only disproportionately higher rates of kidney disease, but also deeply rooted systemic racism in the health care system. As a result, Indigenous team members, patient partners, and researchers at Can-SOLVE CKD have been leading numerous initiatives to address racism in health care, in line with the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action #18-24.  

DAC, a pan-Canadian research network that — like Can-SOLVE CKD — is part of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s (CIHR) Strategic Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) program, has also been building programs and capacity focused on Indigenous Peoples health since its inception in 2016.  

Because of this shared commitment to the respectful engagement of Indigenous people in patient-oriented research, Can-SOLVE CKD also participated in DAC’s first anti-racism training event last May in Toronto, where people from various organizations and backgrounds convened to learn about direct ways they can “interrupt” racism toward Indigenous people.

Insights from the Quebec meeting    

Photo courtesy of Sasha Delorme

This year’s DAC event in Orford began with a welcoming ceremony from two Knowledge Keepers, Elder Barbara Nepinak from the Pine Creek Ojibway First Nation and Innu Elder Grégoire Canapé from the Pessamit community. Next, Charles Cook, who was a co-moderator for the event. spoke to the room of researchers and trainees about his experiences as a Black man who grew up in Georgia in the Deep South of the U.S. where he faced instances of blatant racism.  Since moving to Canada nearly 20 years ago, Cook has learned about systemic racism within the Canadian health care system.  He shared that, although he has experienced different forms of racism in his life, he has learned that the racism that Indigenous people face while on their own land is unique.  

Cook, who considers himself to be an uninvited guest on these lands, says he was honoured to be invited to participate in this gathering.  Although he was worried that there might be some resistance from attendees to talking openly about racism, the young researchers at the event surprised him. “They were very willing to learn and open minded,” he says, adding, “A lot of them had no idea about any of the bad things that had been done to Indigenous people in this country.” 

The organizer of the event, anti-racism trainer Cheryle Dreaver, went on to share jarring stories that have made headlines in Canada in recent years, demonstrating the racism Indigenous people face as they navigate the health care system. One example was the story of Joyce Echaquan of Atikamekw Nation, who livestreamed mistreatment she was receiving from health care workers moments before she died in a hospital in Joliette, outside Montreal, in 2020. 

“How can you listen to this and not be touched, you know?” says Cook of the powerful stories that were shared. 

Participants were then asked what they knew about First Nations communities in the areas where they were living – for example, do you know which First Nations land you are on? Have you ever talked with someone from that Nation? If yes, what did you learn? 

The attendees were assigned homework to learn more about the Indigenous communities whose land they are on, and the event organizers committed to following up on those learnings in the coming months.  

Future anti-racism collaborations 

Photo courtesy of Sasha Delorme

Jones says she was very grateful for the opportunity to attend the event and learn of DAC’s approach to anti-racism training. “It’s nice to know [Can-SOLVE CKD] is not alone in these efforts — there are other groups doing similar work trying to advance health equity,” she says. Jones says that she sees an opportunity for DAC and Can-SOLVE CKD to work together on future anti-racism initiatives and is interested in exploring new grants that the two networks could collaborate on, to ensure the long-term sustainability of this important work. 

In line with the need to continue expanding anti-racism training efforts, Cook emphasizes that racism is a problem that involves all of us, not just Indigenous people. “This is our problem, as people who live in Canada, on these lands,” he says. “What’s it going to take to make it better?”