Understanding Barriers to Health Care Access Through Cultural Safety and Ethical Space: Indigenous People’s Experiences in Prince George

Approximately 52 per cent of Indigenous peoples in Canada live in urban areas. In spite of high rates of urbanization, urban Indigenous peoples are overlooked in health care policy and services. Because of this, although health care services are more plentiful in cities as compared to rural areas, Indigenous people still report significant barriers to health care access in urban settings. This presentation will offer the results of a qualitative study, undertaken in Prince George, Canada with 65 participating health care providers and Indigenous clients of health care services. The study examined perceived barriers to health care access for urban Indigenous people in light of how colonialism impacts Indigenous peoples in their everyday lives.

The three most frequently reported barriers to health care access on the part of participants were: substandard quality of care; long wait times; and experiences of racism and discrimination. These barriers, some of which are common complaints among the general population in Canada, were interpreted by participants in unique ways rooted in experiences of discrimination and exclusion that stem from the settler colonial context of the nation. Through the lenses of cultural safety and ethical space – frameworks developed by international Indigenous scholars in efforts to better understand and improve relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the context of settler colonialism – this study offers an understanding of these barriers in light of the specific ways that colonialism intrudes into Indigenous clients’ access to care on an everyday basis.

Presenter:

Sarah Nelson
Postdoctoral fellow
Department of Geography & Planning
Queen’s University

Three ways to attend:

In person:

• Learning & Development Centre at UHNBC, Prince George, Room 0505 (Please check Room # on arrival for all future sessions, as rooms may vary)

By WebEx (video only)/Please use Google Chrome:

• https://innovationdevelopment.webex.com
• Password: brownbag

 By teleconference (audio only):

• 1-877-385-4099
• Passcode: 5665469#

**These education sessions are accredited!  Physicians are now eligible for Mainpro+ and MOC Section 1 credits.  Please ensure to sign in at each session in order for the CME program to provide you with a certificate of attendance.

Please visit our site for more Brown Bag information and upcoming sessions: https://northernhealth.ca/Yourhealth/Research/IDCBrownBagLunch.aspx

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