In Search of the Truth: Uncovering Nursing’s Involvement in Colonial Harms and Assimilative Policies Five Years Post Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The year 2020 marks five years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada released its Calls to Action, directing nursing to take action on both “truth” and “reconciliation.” The aim of this article is to examine how nurses have responded to the TRC’s call for truth in uncovering nursing’s involvement in past and present colonial harms that continue to negatively impact Indigenous people. A narrative review was used to broadly examine nurses’ responses to uncovering nursing’s complicity in five colonial harms: Indian hospitals, Indian Residential Schools, child apprehension, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), and forced sterilization. The paucity of results during the post-TRC period demonstrates a lack of scholarship in uncovering the truth of nursing’s complicity in these systems. Based on findings, we explore two potential barriers in undertaking this work in nursing, including a challenge to the image of nursing and anti-Indigenous racism

Indigenous women with heart failure in the Interior of British Columbia: Implications for health care system change

Disparities in outcomes for Indigenous women with heart failure (HF) are well documented and clearly linked to: colonization, racism,and discrimination, determinants of health, and a lack of cultural safety in Western health care. The purpose of this research was to center the voices of Indigenous women themselves to inform actions for health system change which has the potential to improve their health outcomes. By utilizing conversational methods within an Indigenous research paradigm, the unique experiences of six Indigenous women within the Interior Health region of BC were explored, providing insight into what Indigenous women need to live well with HF, challenges and barriers to their wellness, and strategies to move forward in a good way.The researcher’s personal reflexive work is woven throughout to demonstrate the journey to decolonize herself and her nursing practice as a non-Indigenous settler-nurse researcher.health system changeIndigenous womenheart failureIndigenous research methodologyconversational methodscultural safet