IDES 244 Week 3: Indigenous Health Care Struggles

This post here is to outline the following:

“Decide on a problem that is related to Truth and Reconciliation, research about the problem, and explain why it is important to you/Why you want to communicate the message.”.

From here, I will dive into my thought process and later I will highlight the outcome of my research; as well as my decided objective and reasons why I want to communicate my choice.

Thought Process

At first I didn’t know much about Aboriginal peoples or Truth and Reconciliation; I was simply taught what had happened in the past ie: Residential Schools, The oppression of Aboriginal peoples and rights, the aftermath of Residential Schools, etc. With that in mind I was not exposed to much about Truth and Reconciliation, so as a starting point I read the “Truth and Reconciliation Report 2015 ver. The 94 Calls to Action” to gain a sense of what Truth and Reconciliation was.

There was a lot more than I expected, and I was amazed to see how the government was trying to reconcile and give back to the Aboriginal people, however articles 18-24 caught my attention as it seemed that the government wanted to bridge the gap between Aboriginal Health knowledge/practices and Westernized Medicine (Which I will refer to as “colonial” for the sake of Truth.).

At first I was excited; I thought about wanting to share the knowledge about Aboriginal medicines, their medical beliefs, the way of healing, and their values in the field of medicine.

However what I found instead was multiple gaps between Aboriginal Health Care and Colonial Health Care. The dream of bridging the gap and learning from both cultures to create better health care was instantly vaporized.

Reports of Aboriginal people having considerably lower health outcomes were numerous despite the establishment of government funded Aboriginal Health Programs, policies and legislation made to help the Aboriginal peoples were instead creating larger barriers that made it harder for the Indigenous to seek Colonial Health Care.

Which begs the question as to why? Why is there a struggle despite having government established programs made solely for the Indigenous, and why is the health outcomes of Aboriginal peoples still so low to this day? There are many factors, however they all contribute to the problem of access to Colonial Health Care and the accommodation of Indigenous culture within these institutes.

The ones I have identified to be a big benefactor towards this problem is mostly social, economic, cultural, and political inequities as well as the degradation of mental health for the Aboriginal Peoples.

There is much work needed to be done in order to properly accommodate Indigenous peoples and to make them feel welcome, and it will take time before we reach that goal. However spreading awareness about these disparities and problems that the Indigenous face is the first step to creating a solution.

The Reason Why it Matters to Me

As I stated before, I wanted to share the knowledge about Aboriginal medicines, their medical beliefs, the way of healing, and their values in the field of medicine; To believe that both Colonial Health Care and Indigenous Health Care could be integrated together and create new ways to treat the general public for the better.

However due to the problems that Aboriginal people face today concerning getting Colonial Health Care and improving Indigenous Health Outcomes, there is much work to be done. It’s a selfish request, but in order to realize my vision of both cultures collaborating and learning from one another, we must first make sure that both parties are willing to cooperate and understand the struggles of both sides.

We must not alienate and create hardships for people to get health care, we must find ways to appeal to everyone, to conform and to understand different cultures. The reason why I am focusing on this topic and spreading awareness is because I want to make sure that everyone will be safe in the future; to make sure our communities are properly taken care of regardless of race or culture. I want to see with my own two eyes that belief of both Colonial and Indigenous medicines being integrated to create much better health care for everyone.

And for that to happen, we must first make amends and properly take care of our Indigenous people; by creating awareness of the struggles in our own system that we have created for the Indigenous peoples.