Indigenous Integration

TWU School of Nursing Statement on Decolonization, Indigenization, and Reconciliation

Trinity Western University School of Nursing acknowledges the Stol:o, Kwantlen, Katzie and Musqueam peoples on whose traditional and unceded territories the Langley and Richmond campuses are situated.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 2015 drew attention to the imperative of all Canadian institutions and citizens to recognize, acknowledge, and reconcile the profound harms that the residential schools system and its legacy have inflicted on Indigenous Peoples. Call to Action 24 calls on nursing and medical programs to

require all students to take a course dealing with Aboriginal health issues, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, and Indigenous teachings and practices. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism (TRC, 2015, p.3).

As a Christian university, this imperative takes on additional urgency in light of the harm perpetrated by religious organizations. The TRC contains Calls to Faith Communities (Articles 48, 49 and 60) to adopt the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for reconciliation. For the TWU School of Nursing, our integration of spirituality into our teaching, research, and service includes honouring Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, including Indigenous spiritualities.

The School of Nursing commits to decolonization, Indigenization, and reconciliation. To do so means the TWU School of Nursing promotes and engages in activities and dialogue that result in deepened understanding of our shared colonial history; critical self-reflexive unlearning and relearning; integration of Indigenous perspectives into undergraduate and graduate curricula; enhanced educational experiences for Indigenous nursing students; and the address of systemic and structural racism.

Decolonization means dismantling colonial beliefs of the superiority and privilege of Western thought and approaches. It involves removing systemic barriers that perpetuate the status quo and actively acknowledging the disproportionate power imbalance between Indigenous peoples and the health care system.

Indigenization is a process of naturalizing Indigenous knowledge systems and making them evident to transform spaces, places, and hearts. In the context of post-secondary education, this involves bringing Indigenous knowledge and approaches together with Western knowledge systems. This benefits not only Indigenous students but all students, teachers, and community members involved or impacted by Indigenization.

Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people is concerned with repairing the effects of damaging relationships between a society of settlers and many cultural groups of Indigenous peoples over many generations and hundreds of years. It is about establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in this country. According to the TRC, “in order for this to happen, there has to be awareness of the past, an acknowledgement of the harm that has been inflicted, atonement for the causes, and action to change behavior” (p.1)