Foundations for health professionals

• Indigenous peoples of Canada

  “Health professionals are encouraged to learn the appropriate names, demographics, and traditional geographic territories and language groups of the various Aboriginal groups in Canada.” Smylie J et al. [2000] A Guide for Health Professionals Working with Aboriginal Peoples: Executive Summary. Journal of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada

  • National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (2013) An Overview of Aboriginal Health in Canada. Concise introduction to Indigenous health in Canada: who are Indigenous peoples, determinants of health, health status, wellness/resilience, Indigenous policy and health programs in Canada.
  • Native Land: An interactive map with territories, treaties and languages of Indigenous peoples of Canada. Use the Resource section to consult provincial/territorial sources used to construct this map.
  • Statistics Canada. (2011) The educational attainment of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. National Household Survey. (99-012-XWE2011001)
• Colonization and its consequences

  Since first contact between Indigenous peoples in North American and colonizing societies, there have been many attempts at assimilation, from the Indian Act to residential schools and the Sixties Scoop. These policies have deeply impacted Indigenous peoples’ health and still contribute to health inequities, and important for health professionals to understand.

  Indian Act 

  • Milloy, J. (2008) Indian Act Colonialism: A Century Of Dishonour, 1869-1969. National Centre for First Nations Governance

  Medical colonialism

  • Shaheen-Hussain, Samir (2020). Fighting for a hand to hold: Confronting medical colonialism against Indigenous children in Canada. McGill-Queen’s University Press.

  Residential schools

  • First Nations Child & Family Caring Society (2016). Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce: A Story of Courage
  • Chansonneuve, D. Reclaiming Connections: Understanding Residential School Trauma Among Aboriginal People. Ottawa, Ontario: Aboriginal Healing Foundation; 2005. Sections I-III, pages 11-63
  • Christian, W.M., Spittal, P.M., (2009). The Cedar Project: Acknowledging the Pain of our Children, The Lancet; 372(9644): 1132-1133 (requires password or fee)
  • Government of Canada (2008). Statement of Apology: To former students of Indian Residential Schools
  • Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System. University of Manitoba Press: 1999. Chapter 1-6.
  • Bryce, P.H. (1922). The story of a national crime: Being an appeal for justice to the Indians of Canada. Ottawa: James Hope & Sons Limited.
  • Bryce, P. H. (1907). Report on the Indian schools of Manitoba and the North West Territories. Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau.

  Sixties Scoop

  • Birth of a Family. Fournier, Susan & Crey, Ernie. Stolen from Our Embrace. Douglas & McIntyre: 1998. Chapters 1-3.
  • Sinclair, R. (2007). Identity lost and found: Lessons from the sixties scoop. First Peoples Child & Family Review
• First Nations Child Welfare
  • Bennett, M., Auger, A. First Nations Child and Family Caring Society (2013). The Rights of First Nations Children in Canada, National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.
  • National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (2017). Indigenous Children and the Child Welfare System in Canada 
  • National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (2010). Reconciliation in Aboriginal Child Welfare and Child Health.
  • Bennett, M. & National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (2013). Understanding Neglect in First Nations Families.
  • Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS). Efficacité des interventions en matière de négligence auprès des enfants, des familles et des communautés autochtones. Rapport rédigé par Carrie Anna McGinn et Jean Damasse. ETMIS 2014; 10(2): 1-38   
• Determinants of Indigenous Peoples’ Health

  “The physical, emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions of health among Indigenous children, youth and adults are distinctly, as well as differently, influenced by a broad range of social determinants.” (Reading, C.L. & Wien, F. [2009] Health Inequalities and Social Determinants of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health, Prince George, BC: National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health

  Culture and language

  • Chandler, M. J. & Lalonde, C. E. (2008). Cultural Continuity as a Protective Factor against Suicide in First Nations Youth. Horizons --A Special Issue on Aboriginal Youth, Hope or Heartbreak: Aboriginal Youth and Canada’s Future. 10(1), 68-72

  Racism

  • Loppie, S., Reading, C. & de Leeuw, S. (2014). Aboriginal Experiences with Racism and its Impacts, National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.
  • Reading, C. & National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (2014). Policies, Programs and Strategies to Address Anti-Indigenous Racism: A Canadian Perspective.
  • Reading, C. & National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (2013). Understanding Racism.

  Intergenerational trauma

  • Evans-Campbell, T. (2008). Historical trauma in American Indian/Native Alaskan Communities: A multilevel framework for exploring impacts on individuals, families and communities. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23 (316-338).
  • Kelm, Mary-Ellen. Colonizing Bodies: Aboriginal Health and Healing in British Columbia, 1900-50. University of British Columbia Press: 1999: Introduction, Chapter 1
• Holistic and interconnected approach
  • Gracey M, King M. Indigenous health part 1: determinants and disease patterns. Lancet 2009; 374: 65–75.
  • King M, Smith Alexandra, Gracey M. Indigenous health part 2: the underlying causes of the health gap. Lancet 2009; 374: 76–85.
  • Howell, T., Auger, M., Gomes, T., Brown, F. L., & Leon, A. Y. (2016). Sharing Our Wisdom: A Holistic Aboriginal Health Initiative. International Journal of Indigenous Health, 11(1), 111-132.
  • Greenwood, M., deLeuuw, S., Lindsay N.M., Reading C. (2015) Determinants of Indigenous Peoples’ Health in Canada: Beyond the Social, Canadian Scholars’ Press, Toronto, 2015.
  • Richmond, C.A.M. & Ross, N.A. (2008). The Determinants of First Nation and Inuit Health: A Critical Population Health Approach. Health & Place, 15: 403-411.
  • Smylie, J., Anderson, M. (2006). Understanding the health of Indigenous peoples in Canada: key methodological and conceptual challenges. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 176(6):602-605.
  • Poonwassie, A. (2001) An Aboriginal worldview of helping: Empowering approaches. Canadian Journal of Counseling, 35:1.
  • Sarah Waterston, Barbara Grueger, Lindy Samson; Canadian Paediatric Society. Housing need in Canada: Healthy lives start at home. Paediatr Child Health 2015;20(7):403-07.