Indigenous Healthcare Education and Practice : Applying Digital Teaching and Learning Resources to the TRC's Calls to Action

Abstract

The mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada has been viewed as central to highlighting the systemic gaps in Indigenous peoples’ physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness, and dismantling anti-Indigenous racism. Guided by the TRC’s Calls to Actions on education, health, and education for reconciliation, this project focused on creating an online digital collection for healthcare learners that translates the Calls to Action into educational content that can be implemented in meaningful, practical, and culturally appropriate ways within healthcare education and practice. The topics of the digital collection were informed by collaborations with researchers and practitioners in healthcare and education, community partners, and learners. The creation of the digital collection was informed by the TRC’s Calls to Action and the principle of two-eyed seeing, which focuses on facilitating an online experience that respects and builds on the strengths of both Indigenous and Western ways of knowing and learning. The seven themes represented in the digital collection are (a) Historical Perspectives of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and Implications for Health Outcomes, (b) Biases, Racism, and Discrimination in Healthcare. (c) Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Healthcare, (d) Healthcare Rights, (e) Healthcare Services, (f) Culturally Safe Healthcare, and (g) Intersections between Education and Healthcare. Each of these themes has been developed into an open-access online module. Six pieces of artwork created by Indigenous artists that represent one or more of the seven project themes are also included. Providing community-informed, accessible educational resources for healthcare learners is one way to help ensure that the TRC’s Calls to Action will be translated into meaningful change in clinical knowledge and practice by future generations of healthcare practitioners on the path to reconciliation and health equity.