cut off one part, and the entire unit will run off balance.
correcting imbalanced social systems that are numb to the nuances of society’s participants — at times lacking sensitive and respectful treatment while trying to heal people — is an arduous task.
dr. tootoosis, who hails from poundmaker cree nation and runs a practice in north battleford, was appointed to the role initially as interim vice-dean in june 2022. her mandate includes key consultations with the university’s governance office, provost office, and vice-president academic office. the department of indigenous health and wellness received university council approval in april and was officially welcomed in october.
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the new department is intended to provide indigenous medical students the option of having their credentials recognized as specialized in indigenous health. the dean of medicine, dr. preston smith, hopes this will provide credentials that are not colonial within traditional academia.
saskatchewan made national headlines in 2001 after missteps in providing care to a cree woman who had just given birth to her sixth child in saskatoon and was presented with a consent form for sterilization . she tried to wheel herself away from the operating room but the doctor wheeled her back, according to a government report that detailed the incident.
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racial prejudice against indigenous people in health care was also well noted in the quebec case of first nation woman joyce echaquan , a 37-year-old mother of seven from manawan, quebec who filmed herself on a live social media feed as a nurse and an orderly made derogatory comments about her at a hospital northeast of montreal. echaquan died in hospital on sept. 28, 2020. a coroner’s report a year later found systemic racism “undeniably” contributed to her death and that echaquan would likely still be alive if she were a white woman.
“systemic racism in the health system has an impact on not just indigenous individuals but marginalized individuals new to canada,” dr. tootoosis says.
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its calls to action for medical communities are aligned with the recommendations made in the 2015 report of the national truth and reconciliation commission. eight of the commission’s 94 calls to action focused on health care, which includes requiring medical schools to facilitate training on indigenous issues and recognizing the value of indigenous healing practices.
dr. tootoosis was a founding member of the saskatchewan health authority’s board of directors and is a former president of the saskatchewan medical association. she left the sha board in 2021, weeks before the sha’s first ceo, scott livingstone, resigned, citing external pressure on the board causing fatigue and low morale.
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even in our most trusted and seemingly assured systems, there is a power dynamic, she says. the goal of parity is not only to ensure fair and equitable treatment, but to foster a truthful and nuanced understanding of people and history.
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what would she like her department’s work to bring about in the next five to 10 years?
“that there would be fewer marginalized people, including indigenous people, harmed in our health system,” she says. “that the health system becomes safer for all of us.”
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