Indigenous Health Conference presentation

1. SALT IN A PEPPER WORLD
Working Interculturally in
Indigenous Nursing
Indigenous Health Conference - Walking Together May 24 – 26 2018
February 14th, 2018
Greg Riehl RN BScN MA - Indigenous Nursing Student Advisor

2. Where am I and Why am I
here, again???
• I ask myself this every day, and I also ask those who I am working with from time to
time…
• I would like to acknowledge that we gather on the traditional Treaty Lands and
Territory Mississaugas of New Credit

3. môniya:s or moonias
 Especially among North American Indians in Canada: a newcomer.
 Origin - Late 19th century; earliest use found in Dictionary Canadianisms. From Plains Cree
môniya:s non-Indian, white person, diminutive of môniya:w from Southern Algonquian
mo:niya:winini from mo:niya Montreal + -inini man.

4. Perspective

5. “If you have come to help me, you
are wasting your time; but if you are
here because your liberation is
bound up with mine, then let us
work together.”
- Lilla Watson, Aboriginal Elder, activist, educator
(Australia)

6. Western Medicine Western Research
What is the problem, what is the question?
How can we get rid of the problem? How can we fix it?
What is the answer to the question?

7. Cultural Appropriation or Cultural Appreciation
“The only route to gaining a better appreciation of the different
cultures in Canada is through regular exposure, asking questions
and expressing opinions – even if those opinions are wrong.
Michael Taube on May 16, 2017 Troy Media

8. Chief Jo Mathias
“We walk into the future backwards because we are looking to
our Ancestors, listening to our Elders, and learning our traditions
and cultures”

9. “What we see, we do not see.”
Archie Weenie

10. How to Be an Informed Aboriginal Ally
by Madison Burns
 Being an ally is not part of my identity but is part of an action or a
practice that I take
 Allies should seek to spread equity for the sake of justice and ensure that
everyone is treated with the same levels of support and protection.
 Being an “ally” means recognizing your privileges and expressing
solidarity with groups that are marginalized or oppressed
 Allies operate behind the scenes, it is not about taking credit, it is about
giving and supporting credit

11. Recognizing my Privilege.
 Firstly, to be an effective ally I need to recognize the privileges I may
(unknowingly) be benefitting from.
 As a true ally I am aware of my privilege and I am willing to speak up
about it without taking attention away from those who are marginalized.
 As a true ally this can only be decided by those who I am working with,
that is, it is not up to me at all.
 Really, I am aligning myself with others, it is an action, and an act of
doing something, and not something to be turned on or off when it is
convenient.

12. Being an Ally means…
shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

14. Feeling Uncomfortable
This may mean I am not invited, or I am asked to leave… and
sometimes that is hard… but that means I have done my job
as an ally.
This means constant education, and constant reflection, and
allowing time…

15. Allies in Research
 Indigenous research will be joined by allied researchers
 Always include wise people
 Number of elders on the team >2
 Need to link local to national programs if available or possible
 Ground up, bottom up, not top down
 Circles, not squares, not lines.
 Land based, seasonality, balanced.

16. The Nightmare Before
Christmas
“If you’re going to learn about other people’s cultures and traditions, approach it from a place of
respect. Go to the people who live that life and treat them as the experts. Listen to others if they say
you’re stepping over your bounds. Show humility. Ask questions in a respectful way. Don’t try to
“improve” cultural elements just because that’s easier than understanding it fully. Above all, practice
empathy. And that’s a pretty good lesson for us at any age.” Katie Schenkel

17. Best or Wise Practices
 Indigenous Knowledge Transfer (IKT) Indigenous Knowledge (IK) Knowledge Translation (KT)
 Need to support Indigenous ways of knowing, need to link to ceremony/s
 Wellbriety versus sobriety, wholistic…
 Nutritional harm reduction
 Community Identifies needs: system or institution identifying needs, points to consider as
opposed to weaknesses
 UNDRIP principles – how to evaluate IK using Indigenous frameworks – needs specificity, # of
interviews, # of interventions
 Informed by the TRC and community consultations

18. How to Build and Support Trust
Three biggest institutions of historical trauma and mistrust
Justice, health, education
Honorariums – clarity/equity between all participants’ youth to
elder, childcare, transportation
Indigenous students traumatized and suffering, deficit based
Partners - is the partner Indigenous?
A University is not Indigenous.

19. Traditional Questions
 Stigmatizing disease, illnesses, Western medicine always wants to FIX
something
 What are you trying to fix?
 Lateral violence as opposed to lateral kindness - Lateral violence focuses
on deficits not strengths
 Advisory board oversees what? Terms Of Reference (TOR) needs to
indicate what?
 Do you even need a TOR
 Good governance structure or model developed and supported by elder
and community input

20. Strength Based Research
 Strengths based as opposed to deficit based approaches
 Interviews – How are the interviews being conducted, sharing circles,
elder involvement, shared power, equal voice,
 Knowledge gaps, what is being addressed, be specific, need to identify
 Responding to suicide through community and culture
 Responding to communities and families with low or no self harm
 Researchers receive training from the community, focus on a balanced
team
 Support for non – Indigenous mentors, all mentors receive support

21. To For With
 Western thought – increase awareness of effects of colonialism BUT most
Indigenous populations already know about the effects
 Resiliency – bouncing back hopefully more than that – thriving, striving,
more than just surviving
 Means, variable, and interests need to be defined
 Actively recruit the underrepresented – gender, sexuality, those with low
opportunity hard to reach, often this population is not represented
 Avoid Broad statements – this will benefit a lot of people and be used
with other people – need to be more specific

22. What about Research - Methods
 Decolonizing Methodologies vs Indigenous Methodology – Indigenizing
vs reconciling, deliberate dialogue
 Two-eyed Seeing approach, good to add to this
 Multi directional learning KTE throughout the process/phases
 Code of ethics practice working with Indigenous researchers CMT
 Bidirectional Knowledge exchange between mentors and mentees, both
have knowledge, culturally grounded mentorship – Four pillars of CIHR
 Teaching into action, How will it be delivered and translated out, catalyst
for the future

23. So what about Research?
 Knowledge Generation (KG) –local elders, scholars, knowledge keepers,
 KT are articles co-authored with community members
 What are you going to evaluate or inventory
 Knowledge Holder (KH) for anything document versus Knowledge User
 Ethnography – who owns our observations?
 OCAP – ownership, control, access, possession
 Sharing circle – how will this be evaluated

24. OCAP
 What happens after the program, intervention?
 Cultural Teachings – drumming, singing, smudge, tobacco, whole family, storytelling,
sharing/talking circles,
 Cultural lens – more Indigenous and cultural approaches
 Cultural Continuity & Transformation Research, Social Continuity, and Change
 Do not focus on the development of the research; do focus on the development of the members
of the Indigenous people
 Project Scope, ultimate benefits,
 Data collection, how to analyze multi methods of collection modalities
 GIS – mapping – OCAP, community should get software and own it and use it and maintain this
data and tools
 Indicators or markers of success – what will the program add to

25. Trends
 Cultural Competency is out, Cultural Safety yes, Cultural Humility very
good
 Cultural competence focuses on service provider’s cultural safety and
humility focuses on clients
 Humans not at the top of the hierarchy, focus on balance with all
creatures
 land based programs and interventions
 Mentors mentees (the land is a mentor) are co-learners
 Cultural and ecological wellness need to be defined

26. Outputs
 Tri Council Statement Chapter 9 http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-
politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/chapter9-chapitre9/
 Community Oversight committee very important
 Village of wellness methodology http://thevillagemethod.org/our-
method/ http://vchnews.ca/across-vch/2016/10/12/n%D3%99camat-
2016-downtown-eastside-aboriginal-womens-village-
wellness/#.WMr9Wbi1vRY
 Direct money and funding toward the community

27. Research Dos and do nots (mmm donuts!)
 Budget describes activities; these activities need to be in the proposal
 Separation between those providing services and those evaluating, separate
implementers from evaluators
 From the community for the community
 Can we come up with a different term/inology for train-the-trainer
 Concern that $ is going directly to grad students, PIs, etc
 Letters or interest, support from the community, not a form letter, letters of
support need to focus on the project not the institution or researcher
 350 page submissions, 20 years of research, uhmmm no…

28. “Reconciliation is about forging
and maintaining respectful
relationships.
There are no shortcuts.”
Justice Murray Sinclair

29. What is my Role in in Indigenous Research?
 I need to understand myself, my place, my invisible knapsack or
worldview, my assumptions and understanding of myself and of others
and relationships and power dynamics.
 What is the goal of research? as a Moonias it is often about learning
more about myself as opposed to the outcomes, results, the data or
findings of the other.
 We all need to be a bit more self-reflexive

30. & DonT be arfaid to
kame mit sakes
Ask questions, listen, and then ask more questions.

31. Lateral Kindness
Please be kind to each other
Respectful and responsible relationships, there are no apps for
that.
Be Grateful
Be Great!

32. Contact information
Greg Riehl RN BScN MA
Indigenous Nursing Student Advisor
Indigenous Nursing Success Strategy
Saskatchewan Polytechnic
Regina Campus
Email: greg.riehl@saskpolytech.ca
gregriehl@sasktel.net
@griehl