Indigenous Cultural Sensitivity & Safety Training

Source: My notes and reflections from work place Indigenous Cultural Competency Training, delivered through the San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Program

Introduction, Heritage, and Reflections on this Training

I am an Asian settler with Chinese ancestry working in the technology industry in Toronto on the traditional territory of many nations. I was excited to hear when my organization was sponsoring this training for us. Through my volunteer experiences, I have been lucky to receive training and exposure to indigenous people, culture, sport and history. My volunteer work was in several sport events supporting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Call to Action #88 which supports long-term Indigenous athlete development and growth and the North American Indigenous Games.

Through volunteering, my favourite part was meeting and talking to many peoples across Turtle Island.

Reflections

Participants of the course are diverse and enthusiastic about learning
Indigenous peoples and culture vary significantly across Turtle Island

Glossary from Training

Aboriginal

Since contact in Canada, the original populations have been named and renamed a number of times by those other than themselves. Often times, those whose labels have been widely accepted were either confused or had ulterior motives and/or hidden agendas. In many cases, the oppressive historical context enforced acceptance of the labels by both the oppressed and the oppressor.

Aboriginal refers to the residents of Canada who are biologically related to a group through bloodlines either maternally or paternally. Thus, “aboriginal” encompasses those people who may be Native, First Nation, Indian, Status, Non-status, Métis and Inuit.

Source

Dumbrill, G.C., Lee, B., & Sammon, S. (2005). Glossary of terms for anti-oppressive policy & practice. Common Act Press: Mississauga.

Aboriginal Mental Health

Aboriginal explanations of mental health and illness differ from Western definitions which are exemplified through the disciplines of psychology, social work, and psychiatry, and which tend to focus on pathology, dysfunction or copying behaviors that are rooted in the individual person.

Aboriginal mental health is relational; strength and security are derived from family and community. Aboriginal traditions, law and customs are the practical application of the philosophy and values of the group. The value of wholeness speaks to the totality of creation-the group as opposed to the individual.

Source

Mussel, B., Cardiff, K., & White, J. (2004). Glossary. In The mental health and well-being of Aboriginal children and youth: Guidance for new approaches and services. Chilliwack, BC: Sal’I’shan Institute. (p. 4)

Assimilation

Assimilation is the act or state of being incorporated into; absorption into the cultural tradition of another group (esp. a minority group into the predominant culture);

Assimilation is bringing into conformity with the customs, attitudes, etc., of a group, nation, or the like; adapt or adjust.

Sources

Dictionary.com. (2009). Assimilate. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assimilate

Canadian Race Relations Foundation. (2015) Assimilation. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=a

Bill C-31

In 1985, Bill C-31 amended the Indian Act, in part to redress the discrimination against Native women. Prior to C-31 any Indian woman who married a non-Indian or non-status Indian automatically lost her status, as did any children. The same was not true for Indian men. If they married non-Indian or a non-status Indian, the woman gained status, as did her children. Bill-C31 allowed native women who had lost status because of the Indian Act to regain status, along with their children. However there is a second generation “cut off” rule which disentitles further generations from claiming Indian Status, thus perpetuating a discriminatory policy targeting Aboriginal women and her children.

Bill C-31 is the pre-legislation name of the 1985 Act to Amend the Indian Act. This act eliminated certain discriminatory provisions of the Indian Act, including the section that resulted in Indian women losing their Indian status when they married non-Indian men. Bill C-31 enabled people affected by the discriminatory provisions of the old Indian Act to apply to have their Indian status restored.

Sources

King, T. (2003). The truth about stories, A Native narrative. Toronto: House of Anansi Press Inc. (p. 141).

Indigenous Foundations. (2009). Bill C-31. Retrieved from https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/bill_c-31/

Colonialism

Colonialism is a form of imperialism that involves occupying and establishing political control over another nation, while exploiting it for economic gain.

In the context of colonization in Canada, it describes the unequal relationship between those who took control (colonists, settlers) and Indigenous peoples.

Unequal rights are a fundamental feature of colonialism, as it is the imposition of a dominant culture’s values and practices on that of a subordinate group.

Source

Dumbrill, G.C., Lee, B., & Sammon, S. (2005). Glossary of terms for anti-oppressive policy & practice. Common Act Press: Mississauga. (p. 6)

Colonization

Colonization is a process that includes geographical incursion, sociocultural dislocation, the establishment of external political control and economic dispossession, the provision of low-level social services, and finally, the creation of ideological formulations around race and skin colour, which position the colonizers at the higher evolutionary level than the colonized.

Source

Frideres, J. (1983). Native people in Canada: Contemporary conflicts. (2nd Ed.) Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada. (p. 295-95) In Kelm, M.E. (1998). Colonizing Bodies: Aboriginal Health and Healing in British Columbia 1900-50. UBC Press: Vancouver. (p. xviii)

Cultural Awareness

Cultural awareness is a beginning step toward understanding that there is difference. Many people undergo courses designed to sensitize them to formal ritual and practice rather than emotional, social, economic and political context in which people exist.

Source

Nursing Council of New Zealand (2002) Guidelines for Cultural Safety, the Treaty of Waitangi and Maori Health in Nursing and Midwifery Education and Practice. (p. 8)

Cultural Competence

ultural competence refers to a specific set of values, attitudes, knowledge and skills that sensitize and improve sharing of information and assistance between people of different cultural orientations.

Cultural Competence is a set of congruent behaviours, attitudes, practices, and policies that come together in a system or agency or among professionals and enable that system or agency or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations.

Sources

Mussel, B., Cardiff, K., & White, J. (2004). “Glossary.” In The mental health and well-being of Aboriginal children and youth: Guidance for new approaches and services. Chilliwack, BC: Sal’I’shan Institute. (p. 6)

Cross, T., Bazron, B., Dennis, K. & Isaacs, M. (1989). Towards a culturally competent system of care: A Monograph on Effective Services for Minority Children Who Are Severely Emotionally Disturbed: Volume I Washington, DC: Georgetown University Child Development Center. (p. 13)

Cultural Diversity

Cultural diversity relates to non-biological differences between people, groups of people, communities, sub-populations and populations.

Source

Cultural Genocide

Cultural genocide describes a pattern of intentional acts, including laws and regulations, developed by the state and its institutions in order to undermine and eradicate the cultural legacies and/or practices of specific groups of people. More often than not, these traditional practices are perceived as having the potential to erode and/or threaten the standards of the groups in power. As a result these cultural and /or traditional practices are forced to the margins of society and in extreme cases (for example, various Aboriginal practices like the Potlatch and Longhouse ceremonies were prohibited by the government of Canada) they go underground and are carried out in secret and as a form of resistance to the state as well as for their own sake.

The first draft of the Genocide Convention included a definition of cultural genocide:

Destroying the specific characteristics of the group by:
forcible transfer of children to another human group
forced and systematic exile of individuals representing the culture of a group
prohibition of the use of the national language even in private intercourse
systematic destruction of books printed in the national language or of religious works or prohibition of new publications
systematic destruction of historical or religious monuments or their diversion to alien uses, destruction or dispersion of documents and objects of historical, artistic, or religious value and of objects used in religious worship.

The second draft included Article III [‘Cultural’ genocide]

In this Convention genocide also means any deliberate act committed with the intent to destroy the language, religion, or culture of a national, racial or religious group on grounds of the national or racial origin or the religious belief of its members such as:

Prohibiting the use of the language of the group in daily intercourse or in schools, or the printing and circulation of publications in the language of the group
Destroying or preventing the use of libraries, museums, schools, historical monuments, places of worship or other cultural institutions and objects of the group

Cultural genocide did not survive to the final draft and instead is reduced to (e) in the final definition: forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Sources

Dumbrill, G.C., Lee, B., & Sammon, S. (2005). Glossary of terms for anti-oppressive policy & practice. Common Act Press: Mississauga. (p. 9)

Prevent Genocide International. (n.d.). Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Retrieved from http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/drafts/

Cultural Humility

Cultural humility is having an approach that is other-oriented rather than self-focused. It is characterized by respect and lack of superiority toward another person’s cultural background and experience. It requires awareness that understanding and knowledge about another person’s culture and experience is inevitably limited.

Source

Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., Owen, J., Worthington Jr., E. L., & Utsey, S. O. (2013). Cultural humility: Measuring openness to culturally diverse clients. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(3), p. 353-366.

Cultural Safety

Cultural safety refers to what is felt or experienced by a patient when a health care provider communicates with the patient in a respectful, inclusive way, empowers the patient in decision-making and builds a health care relationship where the patient and provider work together as a team to ensure maximum effectiveness of care. Culturally safe encounters require that health care providers treat patients with the understanding that not all individuals in a group act the same way or have the same beliefs.

Cultural safety is an outcome of nursing and midwifery education that enables a safe service to be defined by those who receive the service. [this approach is geared to the organizational level of change so that individuals are supported in becoming culturally competent in their clinical practice]

Sources

National Aboriginal Health Organization (2008). Cultural competence and safety: A guide for health care administrators, providers and educators. Health Canada: Ottawa. (p. 19)

Nursing Council of New Zealand (2002) Guidelines for Cultural Safety, the Treaty of Waitangi and Maori Health in Nursing and Midwifery Education and Practice. (p. 8)

Cultural Sensitivity

Cultural sensitivity is being aware of the legitimacy of difference and beginning a process of self-exploration into one’s own beliefs and values and the impact they may have on others.

Source

Nursing Council of New Zealand, (2002). Guidelines for Cultural Safety and the Treaty of Waitangi and Maori Health in Nursing and Midwifery Education and Practice. (p. 8)

Culture

Culture refers to the commonalities around which a group of people have developed values, norms, family styles, social roles, and behaviours, in response to the political, economic, and social realities they face.

Culture is also defined as the patterns of beliefs, symbols and values that develop over time among groups of people. It is the symbolic order through which people communicate and organize their social life.

Culture helps people adapt to their environment and it usually facilitates group survival. It provides both a glue that binds us together, and a boundary that identifies our differences from others.

Culture is a much broader term than ethnicity. It revolves around the fact that groups differ in their worldview, their perspectives on patterns of life, their concept of the essential nature of the human condition, and the way they structure behaviour.

Culture is influenced by many factors including one’s social location, language, family and social relationships. Culture often runs so deep that one may be unconscious of its influence, and hence misinterpret it as an objective reality.

Sources

Christensen, C. (1995). Cross-cultural awareness development: An aid to the creation of anti-racist feminist therapy. In J. Adleman & G. Enguidanos (Eds.), Racism in the lives of women: Testimony, theory and guides to anti-racist practice (pp. 209-227). New York: Harrington Park Press.

Dumbrill, G.C., Lee, B., & Sammon, S. (2005). Glossary of terms for anti-oppressive policy & practice. Common Act Press: Mississauga. (p. 8)

Discrimination

Discrimination is an act or instance of discriminating; treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.

Source

Dictionary.com. (2009). Discrimination. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discrimination

Canadian Race Relations Foundation. (2015). Discrimination. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=d

Disparities

Disparities are the differences and variation in status that occur among population groups defined by specific characteristics. Some disparities reflect random variations or unexplained causes, while others result from biology or personal choice.

Source

Health Disparities Task Group. (2004). Reducing health disparities - Roles of the health sector: Discussion paper. Federal/Provincial/Territorial Advisory Committee on Population Health and Health Security. Retrieved from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ph-sp/disparities/pdf06/dis

Elder

Generally, an Elder is someone who is considered exceptionally wise in the ways of their culture and spiritual teachings. They are recognized for their wisdom, their stability, their humour and their ability to know what is appropriate in a particular situation. The community looks to them for guidance and sound judgment.

Source

Legacy of Hope Foundation. (2008). Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of Residential Schools. Retrieved from http://www.wherearethechildren.ca

Ethnicity

Ethnicity involves the common consciousness of shared origins and traditions.

Ethnicity is identity with or membership in a particular racial, national, or cultural group and observance of that group’s customs, beliefs, and language.

Source

Dictionary.com (2009). Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ethnicity*

Canadian Race Relations Foundation. (2015). Ethnicity. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=e

Feasting

Feasting is an important ceremony done for a number of reasons including:

-Honoring people

-Giving thanks

-Providing food and sustenance

-Celebrating important events

Sacred foods differ depending on the traditional food of the people. For instance, Ojibway foods may include wild rice, corn, and deer meat. Cree foods might be bannock, wild game and berries.

Fiduciary Responsbility

Fiduciary obligation is a legal and moral obligation to exercise power for the benefit of Aboriginal people

First Nations

First Nations refers to the term applied to Indigenous people who are not Métis and Inuit.It replaces ‘Indian”, and was adopted by government to acknowledge and respect Canada’s original peoples.

First Nations includes both Status and non-Status Indians. Under the Indian Act, the term Status Indian, or Registered Indian, refers to a person whose name appears on the Indian Register maintained by the federal government.

The criteria for being a Status Indian includes ancestry, marriage, education and occupation.

Source

Province of British Columbia.(2007). Pathways to healing: 2nd report on the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people in British Columbia. Victoria: Office of the Provincial Health Officer. Retrieved from

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/government/ministries-organizations/ministries/health/aboriginal-health-directorate/abohlth11-var7.pdf (p. 13)

Genocide

Genocide is the deliberate decisions and actions made by one nation or group of people in order to eliminate, usually through mass murder, the entirety of another nation or group. The term has also been used to refer to the destruction of the culture of a people, as in cultural genocide.

According to the United Nations Genocide Convention (1948), Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part; a national, ethical, racial or religious group, such as:

Killing members of the group
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another

Sources

Canada Race Relations Foundation (2015). Genocide. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=g

UN Convention on the Prevention of Crime of Genocide. Article 2(e). Retrieved from http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html

Give Away

A family celebrating a member’s formal entry into the dance circle, or wishing to commemorate the death of a loved one, often hosts a giveaway during a pow-wow. This tradition embodies the value of sharing with others. Gifts such as blankets, beadwork and crafts are given to friends and visitors followed by appropriate songs and dances.

Historical Trauma

Historical trauma is a term originally coined by Maria Brave-Heart-Jordan. It is the result of multiple and compounded layers of pain, grief and loss experienced over generations and contributing to underlying psychological wounding in individuals and groups. The wounding is understood as being passed on from one generation to the next without opportunity for processing and healing.

Symptoms may include prolonged signs of acute grief, depression, substance abuse, etc. The concept is often applied to the situation of North American Aboriginal people who have experienced acts of forced removal, killings, attempted assimilation and apartheid through the Indian Act. These originated in history but their effects are maintained and the underlying issues have not been addressed or redressed.

It can apply equally to individuals or groups of people whose experience of loss has originated in prior generations, for example, the children of Jewish victims of Nazi genocide, Palestinian victims of forced removal from their homelands and where redress and/or healing is not complete.

Source

Dumbrill, G.C., Lee, B., & Sammon, S. (2005). Glossary of terms for anti-oppressive policy & practice. Common Act Press: Mississauga. (p. 15)

Imperialism

Imperialism is the process whereby the dominant politico-economic interests of one nation expropriate for their own enrichment the land, labour, raw materials, and markets of another people. Imperialism has been the most powerful force in world history over the last four or five centuries, carving up whole continents while oppressing indigenous peoples and obliterating entire civilizations

Imperialism is also defined as acquisition by a government of other governments or territories, or of economic or cultural power over other nations or territories, often by force. Colonialism is a form of imperialism.

Sources

Parenti, M. (2005). Imperialism 101. Retrieved from http://www.michaelparenti.org/Imperialism101.html

Dictionary.com. (2009). Imperialism. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/imperialism

Indian

Other terms used under the Indian Act are “Status” and “Non-status” meaning those individuals who are recognized as Indians and those who are not. A Status Indian has greater accessibility to the benefits of the Act than a Non-status Indian does. [historically people lost their status for various reasons including: marrying a White man; enfranchising to vote, drink, fight in a war, go to University – although this is no longer the case, there are still strict rules regarding who is eligible to be a Status Indian]

Source

Dumbrill, G.C., Lee, B., & Sammon, S. (2005). Glossary of terms for anti-oppressive policy & practice. Common Act Press: Mississauga.

Canadian Race Relations Foundation. (2015). Indian. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=i

Indian Act

The Indian Act, introduced shortly after confederation, was an amalgamation of pre-confederation colonial legislation that had been updated to meet the needs of the emerging Canadian state to expand and allow European settlement of the west and other regions.

This Canadian legislation governs the federal government’s legal and political relationship with Aboriginal Peoples across Canada. It has been amended many times, In the late 1800’s and the first few decades of the 1900’s, it was continually revamped to make it more repressive, thus furthering the Canadian state’s goals of assimilation.

Since 1945, some of its more draconian elements have been removed to comply with the international human rights law regarding civil and political rights, including opposition to genocide.

Source

Canada Race Relations Foundation. (2015). Indian Act. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=i

Indigenous

Indigenous refers to those individuals and groups who share and maintain the traditional cultural and spiritual understandings and world views of their ancestors. That is, “Indigenous” depicts those people who belong to the original understandings of various Aboriginal groups; for example, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Denendeh (Dene), Anishnabec (Ojibway), [Coast Salish; Nisga’a; Gitxsan; Nuu-Chah-Nulth] etc.

The term “Indigenous” typically relates to the mentality and spirituality of those determined to maintain their original ways; that is, their ways of thinking and being members of the specific Nations into which they were born and to which they belong.

Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmitto future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems.”

In Canada, the Constitution terms Indigenous peoples as Aboriginal and includes First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.

Sources

Canadian Race Relations Foundation. (2015). Indigenous. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=i

Dumbrill, G.C., Lee, B., & Sammon, S. (2005). Glossary of terms for anti-oppressive policy & practice. Common Act Press: Mississauga.

Martínez Cobo, J. (1986/7). Study of the problem of discrimination against Indigenous populations. UN Doc E/CN.4/Sub.2/1986/7. In United Nations (2008). Resource kit on Indigenous peoples’ issues. New York.

Individual Racism

Individual racism is the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support of perpetuate racism. Individual racism can be unconscious or conscious, active or passive.

Source

Kong, G. (2005). Cultural awareness training curriculum (CAT). Caring for First Nations Children Society. Victoria BC.

Inequity

Inequity refers to differences in health and social outcomes that are unfair, because they stem from some form of injustice, including unequal power relations, inequitable distribution of resources and how we structure services and policies.

Inequities are the differences related to factors such as socio-economic standing, race, and geographic location.

Public health policy is concerned with health inequities that are attributable to modifiable factors.

Sources

Braveman, P., & Gruskin, S. (2003). Defining equity in health. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 57(4), p. 254-258.

Institutional Racism

Institutional racism is discrimination that exists within public and private organizations, the government and legal systems, and other institutions which gives out rewards or penalties based on race. Closely related to civil and human rights.

The network of institutional structures, policies, and practices that create advantages for White people and discrimination, oppression and disadvantage for racialized people.

Source

Kong, G. (2005). Cultural awareness training curriculum (CAT). Caring for First Nations Children Society. Victoria BC.

Internalized Racism

Internalized racism occurs when people of colour believe, act upon, or enforce dominant racial beliefs and attitudes towards them and / or members of their own racial group. Includes feelings of shame, denial, self-fulfilling prophecy and self-hatred.

Source

Kong, G. (2005). Cultural awareness training curriculum (CAT). Caring for First Nations Children Society. Victoria BC.

Inuit

The word Inuit means “the people” in the Inuit language Inuktitut, and is used as a general term by Inuit or Inuvialuit residents of Inuit Nunangat. Inuit Nunangat refers to the Inuit homeland - the land, water and ice contained in the Arctic region where the Inuit live, from Greenland and Eastern Canada to Alaska. Canada’s four Inuit regions are Inuvialuit (NWT and Yukon), Nunavut, Nunavik (Northern Quebec) and Nunatsiavut (Labrador).

Inuit from these four regions speak a number of dialects within two main languages, Innuitaqtun and Inuktitut. There is a wide variation in cultural traditions and practices from one side of Inuit Nunangat to the other.

Sources

Maps of the different groups in the arctic can be found at https://www.itk.ca/about-inuit/inuit-regions-canada

Canada Race Relations Foundation. (2015). Glossary of terms: Inuit. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=i

Inuvialuit

Inuvialuit means “the real people”. It is believed to have descended from the Thule people who once lived in the Arctic, Inuvialuit also count Tan’ngit (foreign) whalers and Alaskan Inupiaut among their descendants.

Today, many of the 5,000 Inuvialuit reside in the communities of Aklavik, Inuvik, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, Tuktoyaktuk and Ulukhaktok (Holman).

Source

Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. (2018). Modern culture. Retrieved from http://www.irc.inuvialuit.com/modern-culture*

Medicine Bundle

The medicine bundle is a package or pouch containing sacred items that are symbols of a spiritual journey. The medicine bundle can be personal or for a group of people. Personal bundles contain items that have significance related to a person’s development. Group bundles, or a ‘Bundle for the People’ may be used in healing ceremonies.

Source

Canadian Encyclopedia. (2014). Medicine bundles. Retrieved from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/medicine-bundles/*

Métis

Historically, the Métis emerged as a distinct people or nation in the historic Northwest in the 18th and 19th centuries. This area, known as the “Historic Métis Nation Homeland,” includes the Prairie provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and extends into Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northern United States. This historic Métis Nation had recognized Aboriginal title, which the Government of Canada attempted to extinguish through the issuance of “scrip” and land grants in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

In 1982, Métis people were included as one of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada in section 35 of the Constitution Act. In 2003, in the R. v. Powley case, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that Métis people are a rights-bearing Aboriginal people and outlined the components of a Métis definition for the purpose of claiming Aboriginal rights as:

self-identification as a member of a Métis community
ancestral connection to the historic Métis community whose practices ground the right in question
acceptance by the modern community with continuity to the historic Métis community

The Court also stated that these criteria were not intended as a definition of Métis people for section 35 purposes, but rather indicated “the important components of a future definition”.

The Métis National Council (MNC) represents Métis people across Canada. In 2002, the Métis Nation Council adopted a definition of Métis as a person who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Aboriginal peoples, is of historic Métis Nation Ancestry and who is accepted by the Métis Nation.

Métis is defined in one piece of provincial legislation, the Alberta Métis Settlements Act. This Act generally defines Métis as “a person of Aboriginal ancestry who identifies with Métis history and culture”.

In the recent R. v. Daniels case, the Federal Court of Canada declared that the Métis are “Indians” within section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867, and are therefore under federal jurisdiction. This decision is currently under appeal.

The Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) represents Métis people in Ontario.

Sources

Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. (2013). The People Who Own Themselves: Recognition of Métis Identity in Canada. Retrieved from http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/411/appa/rep/rep12jun13-e.pdf

Métis National Council. Retrieved from http://www.metisnation.ca/index.php/who-are-the-metis/citizenship

Métis Nation of Ontario. Retrieved from http://www.metisnation.org/

Court Cases

R. v. Powley, 2003, SDCC 43, 2.S.C.R. 207. For more information: https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2003/2003scc43/2003scc43.html?autocompletestr=r.%20powley&autocompletepos=1

R.v. Daniels (2013). FC 6 2 F.C.R. 268. For more information: https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2013/2013fc6/2013fc6.html?searchurlhash=aaaaaqbazgvjbgfyzwqgdghhdcb0agugtcopdglzigfyzsaisw5kawfucyigd2l0agluihnly3rpb24goteomjqpig9mihrozsbdb25zdgl0dxrpb24gqwn0lcaxody3aaaaaae&resultindex=

Mi’kmaq

Mi’kmaq are First Nations people of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Gaspe Peninsula, Newfoundland, and parts of New Brunswick and Maine.

Source

Cape Breton University. (2009). The Mi’kmaq. Retrieved from http://mrc.uccb.ns.ca/mikmaq.html*

Naming

A naming ceremony is when a person is given a traditional name. Sometimes it done shortly after a child is born, but Naming Ceremonies are also a way to acknowledge a new role or relationship in a community or spiritual world. When a name is given, the person carries the name and ensures that they live in the way that the name indicates. For example, if the name refers to honesty, a person will need to be honest in relationships to ensure integrity of the name.

Source

Vancouver Coast Health. (n.d.). Aboriginal health. Retrieved from http://aboriginalhealth.vch.ca/working-together/aboriginal-terminology*

Nationhood

Nationhood is the state of being a nation, or a large group of people united by common language, culture or economic life.

Source

Your Dictionary. (2013). Nationhood. Retrieved from http://www.yourdictionary.com/nationhood*

Native

Native is a term that has been used in Canada to refer to Indigenous people. This term is generally outdated and is no longer considered respectful when used by non-Indigenous people.

Source

Canadian Race Relations Foundation.(2015). Native. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=n

Dumbrill, G.C., Lee, B., & Sammon, S. (2005). Glossary of terms for anti-oppressive policy & practice. Common Act Press: Mississauga.

Non-Status Indian

Non-Status Indian refers to an Indigenous person who is not recognized as “Indian” under The Indian Act. This term does not apply to Inuit or Métis persons as they are not included under The Indian Act.

Many of non-Status people were not enrolled on Treaty or Band lists at the time enrollment was occurring, or they were removed from the Band lists due to disenfranchisement based on discriminatory policies targeting Indigenous women who married non-Status men.

Source

Canada Race Relations Foundation. (2015). Glossary of terms: Non-status Indian. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=n

Ontario Employee and Family Assistance Program

-1-844-880-9142 for service in English; TTY 1-877-338-0275

-1-844-880-9143 service en Français; ATS/ATME 1-877-338-0275

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Oppression

Oppression is a system that maintains advantage and disadvantage based on social group memberships and operates, intentionally and unintentionally, on individual, institutional, and cultural levels.

Source

Hardiman, R., & Jackson, B. (2007). Conceptual foundations for social justice education. In, Adams, M, Bell, L.A. and Griffin, P. (Eds.). Teaching for diversity and social justice. (2nd Ed.) New York: Routlege. (p. 58)

Pan-Indianism

Pan-Indianism implies the development of a new cultural form (shared traditional philosophies and principles) based largely on the common experience of colonialism. (Boldt 1998)

A current example of “pan-Indianism” might be seen in the development of cultural plans for Indigenous children. For example, a child who is Cree and is expected to participate in an art class that teaches West Coast mask carving (as part of their cultural plan). This art form is not from the Cree culture and therefore this child is not participating in their cultural teachings. A “pan-Indian” perspective would be that this class would be an adequate form of cultural expression for an Indigenous child.

Source

Boldt, M. (1998). Surviving as Indians: The challenge of self-government. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Phenotype

Phenotype refers to physical characteristics such as hair color, eye color, height, skin color, build, etc.

These are observable traits that can be considered inborn qualities. From these qualities we assume that the traits are inherited from the parents.

The genotype is the genes that are directly given to the offspring, and the phenotype is the consequence of those genes.

Source

Science Direct. (n.d.). Phenotype. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/phenotype*

Pipe Ceremony

The pipe ceremony is a gathering led by an Elder. The Elder places tobacco in a ceremonial pipe and offers it to the four sacred directions of the earth.

The pipe is passed around the circle and prayers may be offered for individuals, or those who are far away or who have passed over. Prayers may also be offered to all creation, and to spirits who guide humanity. The last of the tobacco is offered to the Great Creator.

Potlatch

In the Kwakwaka’wakw Society on Vancouver Island, the Potlatch refers to the ceremony where families gather and names are given, births are announced, marriages are conducted, and where families mourn the loss of a loved one.

The word “potlatch” comes from the Chinook jargon, a trade language formerly used along the coast. It means, “to give” and came to designate a ceremony common to peoples on the Northwest Coast and parts of the Interior.

Today the ceremony may take place in one day and night and is generally held in the spring. Feasts also accompany a Potlatch, and there is a specified order in which events occur.

Source

Umista Cultural Society. (2003). The potlatch. Retrieved from http://www.umista.ca/masks_story/en/ht/potlatch01.html

Pow Wow

The term Pow Wow originated by the early settlers observed the gatherings and often heard a particular word that refers to the Medicine Man. The Medicine Man is a very important person in the community and he was always greeted by most of those gathered. This name was heard at almost all gatherings and was misinterpreted by non-Native people to mean a gathering.

A Pow Wow is many things to many people. It is a time to thank the Creator, honour our warriors, meet old and new friends, share and enjoy the rich heritage and culture of our people as well as an opportunity to display or purchase arts and crafts.

The Pow Wow concept has not changed over thousands of years since their beginnings on the western plains of Turtle Island (North America). We are told by our Elders that in the beginning, the gatherings were usually held in the spring and the fall when people from various nations would gather. Over the years, the look and style has evolved to include English as well as other cosmetic changes such as colourful regalia. However, the cultural importance for the celebrations have remained the same.

The Pow Wow is an important vehicle for handing down traditions from one generation to the next. It is also an excellent opportunity for all people to participate in a vibrant and vital aspect of Indigenous heritage.

Source

Canadian Aboriginal Festival. (2009). What is a Pow Wow? Retrieved from http://www.canab.com/mainpages/events/powwow_files/what_is.html

Prejudice

Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason; any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable; unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, esp. of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

Source

Dictionary.com. (2014). Prejudice. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prejudice

Privilege

Privilege is the unearned access to resources (social power) that are readily available to some people as a result of their membership in advantaged social groups.

Source

Hardiman, R. and Jackson, B. (2007). Conceptual foundations for social justice education. In, Adams, M, Bell, L.A. and Griffin, P. (Eds.). Teaching for diversity and social justice. (2nd Ed.) New York: Routlege. (p. 59)

Race

Race refers to a group of people of common ancestry, distinguished from others by physical characteristics such as colour of skin, shape of eyes, hair texture or facial features. (This definition refers to the common usage of the term race when dealing with human rights matters.

It does not reflect the current scientific debate about the validity of phenotypic descriptions of individuals and groups of individuals.

The term is also used to designate social categories into which societies divide people according to such characteristics.

Race is often confused with ethnicity. Various types of broad-based groups (e.g. racial, ethnic, religious and regional) are rarely mutually exclusive, and the degree of discrimination against any one or more varies from place to place, and over time.

Source

Canada Race Relations Foundation. (2005). Glossary of terms: Race. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=r*

Racialization

Racialization is the process through which groups come to be designated as different, and on that basis subjected to differential and unequal treatment. In the present context, racialized groups include those who may experience differential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, language, economics, religion, culture, politics, etc. That is, treated outside the norm and receiving unequal treatment based upon phenotypical features.

Racial identities are not fixed categories. They are shaped by history, nationality; gender, class and identity politics, and racial designations often differ from country to country. The term “racialization” makes explicit that this is not about inherent characteristics but about the ways in which we are socialized to differentiate groups of people on the basis of physical characteristics. It emphasizes the active process of categorizing people while at the same time rejecting “race” as a scientific category.

“When it is necessary to describe people collectively, the term”racialized ‘person” or “racialized group” is preferred over “racial minority”, “visible minority”, “person of colour”, or “non-White” as it expresses race as a social construct rather than as a description on perceived biological traits. Furthermore, these other terms treat “White” as the norm to which racialized persons are to be compared and have a tendency to group all racialized persons in one category as if they are all the same” (Ontario Human Rights Commission).

People who do not have a White, European phenotype are “racialized”, that is, they are perceived to be a person of colour and non-White. This is an important standpoint of identity and this is because race has meaning for racialized people in this culture and society

The video Black doll/white doll: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybDa0gSuAcg* provides an excellent example of the racialization issue and how children are very much aware of the fact that White is the preferred colour in this society.

Sources

Canada Race Relations Foundation (2005). Glossary of terms: Racialization. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=r

Lopes, T. & Thomas, B. (2006). Dancing on live embers: Challenging Racism in Organizations. Toronto: Between the Lines.

Racialized Person

Racialized person is replacing older terms such as non-white, person of colour, or visible minority. The term “racialized” indicates that race is a social construct – there is no such thing as race biologically; it is our thoughts and social understandings that “racialize” a person.

The term also reflects the reality that only non-white people are racialized – considered different because of skin colour - while White people are considered the norm.

Racism

Racism is typically distinguished from mere prejudice in terms of power. Prejudice – negative or hostile attitudes toward members of a group based on some shared trait, perceived or real – becomes racism when one group has the power to systematically deprive the members of another group of rights and privileges that should come with citizenship and/or being a human being.

Racism is a historically created system of power in which one racial/ethnic group dominates another racial/ethnic group for the benefit of the dominating group; economic and cultural domination as well as political power are included in the systemic dominance of the exploiting group; a monopoly of the means of violence is also held by those in the dominating group.

Racism is also an act that combines power and discrimination against a group of people based on their common origin, colour of skin and physical appearance. In order to perpetuate racism, a group needs to maintain institutional support and control (power). Since White is the dominant group in North America and across most of the globe, it is not possible for people of colour to be racist against other people in North America.

Those aspects of Canadian society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to White people and Whiteness and that devalue, stereotype, and label racialized communities as “other”, different, less than, or render them invisible.

Sources

Canadian Race Relations Foundation. (2015). Racism. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=r

Jensen, R. (2005). The heart of whiteness: Confronting race, racism, and white privilege. San Francisco: City Lights Publishers.

Trask, H, K. (1999). From A Native daughter: Colonialism and sovereignty in Hawai’i. Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press. (p. 252)

Reserve

A Reserve is a tract of land, the legal title to which is held by the Crown and set aside by treaty or the Indian Act for the use and occupancy of Indigenous peoples specified as status Indians.

Source

Reverse Racism

Reverse racism is the idea that people of colour can be racist against white people. While discrimination may occur, reverse racism is a myth, since people of colour do not have the institutional or systemic power to perpetuate racism against White people.

Source

Kong, G. (2005). Cultural awareness training curriculum (CAT). Caring for First Nations Children Society. Victoria BC.

Scrip

The Dominion Lands Act, passed in 1872, encouraged settlement in the west by allotting farmland to settlers. Land was given in the form of scrip in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The scrip is a certificate that can be exchanged for land or for money to buy land. The certificate was used to transfer land to Métis people in Canada from 1885 until the 1920s. Land was allotted anywhere in the province in which the scrip was issued.

The scrip policy appeared to be benevolent, but the system was so complicated that it worked to remove Métis from their land. The scrip had to be redeemed at a Land Title office, and offices were hundreds of kilometres apart. It required many days of travel, making it difficult to redeem the scrip. As a result of the scrip system, many Métis people relocated away from ancestral territories and some chose not claim their land at all. Instead, many moved to other provinces to begin anew.

Scrip and land grants were never issued to Métis people in Ontario, but there are other historic documents showing how Métis people petitioned for their lands and rights.

Sources

Métis Nation of Ontario. (2010). Introduction. Retrieved from http://www.metisnation.org/book-home/

Indigenous Foundations. (2009). Métis. Retrieved from http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/metis/

Smudging

Smudging is a tradition involves the burning of medicines that are gathered from the earth. The most common medicines used in smudging are sweetgrass, sage and cedar. A smudge is burned primarily for purification and to help to create a positive mind set. It allows people to let of negative things that make it difficult to feel balanced and focused.

Source

Aboriginal Education Directorate. (2014). Smudging protocol and guidelines for school divisions. Manitoba Education and Advanced Learning. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/aed/publications/pdf/smudging_guidelines.pdf

Social Identity

Social Identity refers to race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, class, ability, age, etc. Within each social identity category, some people have greater access to social power and privilege based upon membership in their social group.

These status differences are to some extent socially constructed. That is, the taken for granted assumptions about the world, knowledge and ourselves assumed to be universal rather than historically and culturally specific ideas created through social processes and interactions.

Source

Hardiman, R. and Jackson, B. (2007). Conceptual foundations for social justice education. In, M. Adams, L.A. Bell, & P. Griffin. (Eds.). Teaching for diversity and social justice. (2nd Ed.) New York: Routlege. (p. 57)

Status Indian

Status Indian refers to an Indigenous person who is designated an “Indian” by the Indian Act, determining who can or cannot receive various rights or benefits conferred by the Act.

Source

Canada Race Relations Foundation. (2005). Glossary of terms: Status Indian. Retrieved from http://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/resources/glossary-a-terms-en-gb-1?limit=50&orderby=alpha&letter=s

Stereotypes

SStereotypes refer to a shared consensus regarding the generalized attributes of others with respect to perceived physical, social, emotional or cultural characteristics. Stereotypes involve generalizations extended to all members of the group.

Although they may be positive, neutral or negative, they can be harmful when they deny the genuine uniqueness of a person and the diversity that exists within a group. In this case, they can be the foundation upon which racism, discrimination and oppression occurs.

Source

Dumbrill, G.C., Lee, B., & Sammon, S. (2005). Glossary of terms for anti-oppressive policy & practice. Common Act Press: Mississauga. (p. 32)

Sun Dance

The Sun Dance is a ceremony practiced differently by several North American Indian Nations, but many of the ceremonies have features in common, including dancing, singing and drumming, the experience of visions, fasting, and, in some cases, self-torture.

The Sun Dance was the most spectacular and important religious ceremony of the Plains Indians of 19th-century North America, ordinarily held by each tribe once a year usually at the time of the Summer Solstice.

The Sun Dance last from four to eight days starting at the sunset of the final day of preparation and ending at sunset. It showed a continuity between life and death - a regeneration. It shows that there is no true end to life, but a cycle of symbolic and true deaths and rebirths. All of nature is intertwined and dependent on one another. This gives an equal ground to everything on the Earth.

The Native American tribes who practiced sun dance were:

The Arapaho, Arikara, Asbinboine, Cheyenne, Crow, Gros, Ventre, Hidutsa, Sioux, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibway, Sarasi, Omaha, Ponca, Ute, Shoshone, Kiowa, and Blackfoot tribes. Their rituals varied from tribe to tribe.

For many tribes of Plains Indians whose bison-hunting culture flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries, the sun dance was the major communal religious ceremony - the rite celebrates renewal - the spiritual rebirth of participants and their relatives as well as the regeneration of the living Earth with all its components - the ritual, involving sacrifice and supplication to insure harmony between all living beings, continues to be practiced by many contemporary native Americans.

Sweat Lodge

Sweat lodges, used mainly for communal prayer purposes, are ceremonial settings for spiritual healing, purification, as well as fasting. Most fasts require a sweat ceremony before and after the event.

The sweat lodge is often a dome shaped structure with a central sacred area that is blessed by an Elder. Often, heated stones, are doused with water producing purifying steam. Lodges are usually entered in the presence of an Elder and a prepared pipe may also be brought in.

Source

The Canadian Encylopedia. (2017) Sweat Lodge. Retrieved from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sweat-lodge/

Systemic Racism

Systemic racism is a global system of racism perpetuated through global economic systems, institutional practices and policies, popular culture, media and conscious and unconscious actions and perceptions in the everyday world to sustain advantages of a White dominant race. The advantages created for the majority group are often invisible to them, or are considered “rights” available to everyone as opposed to “privileges” awarded to only some individuals or groups.

The conscious or unconscious policies, procedures, and practices that exclude, marginalize, and exploit racialized people. Systemic racism is supported by institutional power and by powerful (often unexamined) ideas which make racism look normal and justified. Systemic racism allows individuals to practice racism in organizations, unchecked by effective complaints procedures, performance appraisals, and promotions which require equity competencies.

Source

Kong, G. (2005). Cultural awareness training curriculum (CAT). Caring for First Nations Children Society. Victoria BC.

Traditional Healing

Traditional healing refers to “practices designed to promote mental, physical and spiritual well-being that are based on beliefs which go back to the time before the spread of western ‘scientific’ bio-medicine.

When Indigenous peoples in Canada talk about traditional healing, they include a wide range of activities, from physical cures using herbal medicines and other remedies, to the promotion of psychological and spiritual well-being using ceremony, counseling and the accumulated wisdom of elders.

Source

Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. (1996). Bridging the cultural divide: A report on Aboriginal people and criminal justice in Canada. Ottawa: Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, (3:348).

Traditional Medicine

Traditional Medicine (TM): refers to the knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, used in the maintenance of health and in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.

Traditional medicine covers a wide variety of therapies and practices which vary from country to country and region to region. In some countries, it is referred to as ‘alternative’ or ‘complementary’ medicine (CAM).

Traditional medicine has been used for thousands of years with great contributions made by practitioners to human health, particularly as primary health care providers at the community level. TM/CAM has maintained its popularity worldwide.

Source

World Health Organization. (2009). Health topics: Traditional medicine. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/topics/traditional_medicine/en

Two-spirited

Two-spirited is a term used by some Indigenous people to describe sexual gender and/or spiritual identity. It refers to someone with both masculine and feminine spirits. The term covers a wide variety of gender identities and my include people often described as gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer, gender fluid or intersexed, amongst other terms

Source

Re:searching for LGBTQ Health. (2016). Two spirit community. Dalla Lana School of Public Health: University of Toronto. Retrieved from http://lgbtqhealth.ca/community/two-spirit.php

Unintentional Racism

intentional racism is perhaps the most insidious form of racial victimization. Unintentional racists are unaware of the harmful consequences of their behaviour. They may be well-intentioned, and, on the surface, their behaviour may appear to be responsible. Because individuals, groups and institutions engaging in unintentional racism do not wish to do harm, it is often difficult to get them to see themselves as racist. They are likely to deny their racism.

Unintentional racists need to realize, however, that it is not necessarily the person wearing the white sheet and carrying a torch who poses the greatest threat to minority group members. Rather, cloaked in their sincerity and desire to do good, unintentional racists often do some of the greatest harm; and … perpetuate racism not because they are prejudiced but because they deny that they are racists. Denial – refusal to recognize the reality of external threats – is the essence of the unintentional racist’s mind-set.

Source

Ridley, C. (2005). Overcoming unintentional racism in counseling and therapy. A practitioner’s guide to intentional intervention. In Multicultural aspects of counseling and psychotherapy series. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

White

White is a racial term used by people of colour to denote the dominant race who hold power within institutions, governments and systems.

Source

Kong, G. (2005). Cultural awareness training curriculum (CAT). Caring for First Nations Children Society. Victoria BC..

White Privilege

White privilege refers to the unearned benefits received by “white” people in society simply by virtue of their skin colour, including access to resources, social rewards and the power to shape norms in society.

Source

Kong, G. (2005). Cultural awareness training curriculum (CAT). Caring for First Nations Children Society. Victoria BC.