Truth, Reconciliation and Ontario’s Nursing Profession

As Ontario’s nursing regulator, CNO recognizes its role in supporting nurses to provide safer, more equitable care for Indigenous Peoples. Since the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report in 2015, we have built relationships and worked alongside Indigenous organizations, health leaders, and Knowledge Holders to advance this work.

Edith Mercieca (left) with Carly St. Michel (right) from the Maamwesying Ontario Health Team (MOHT).

Informed by Indigenous knowledge, leadership and perspectives, we are grounding our efforts in the TRC’s Calls to Action, especially numbers 23 and 24, which relate directly to the health care sector. We are committed to listening to and learning from Indigenous perspectives to help us tackle these Calls to Action through all aspects of CNO’s regulatory mandate.

This page shares perspectives, knowledge and leadership from Indigenous Peoples and organizations, alongside resources that support continued learning and accountability. We invite you to explore the content below, and to check back as we add more items in the future.

Bridging two worlds

Indigenous voices shaping health care

June is National Indigenous History Month, a time to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments, cultures and contributions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples across Canada. It is also a chance to listen to Indigenous health care professionals whose knowledge and leadership are helping shape nursing in meaningful ways.

Indigenous voices and values in health and nursing

Introduced by Elder Albert Marshall from the Moose Clan of the Mi'kmaw Nation, the guiding principle of Two-Eyed Seeing is a powerful and respectful way of approaching knowledge, health and wellness by bringing together both Indigenous and Western worldviews. Practical examples include combining traditional elements, such as ceremonies and guidance from Cultural Practitioner, with standard medical treatments, enabling more wholistic and culturally safe health care.

Video: Indigenous health, Indigenous hands: a conversation with the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council

Hear from Nicole Blackman, RN, Chief Operating Officer, and Christi-Ann Poulette, RN, then Health System Transformation Manager with the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council (IPHCC), as they share perspectives on Indigenous health and nursing. Titles and affiliations reflect the time of recording.

IPHCC is an Indigenous governed, culture-based and Indigenous-informed organization that supports the advancement and evolution of Indigenous primary health care service provision and planning throughout Ontario.

Inclusive and culturally safe care resources

Providing inclusive and culturally safe care is a key principle of CNO's Code of Conduct for nurses. This principle highlights the importance of learning and understanding cultural context when providing nursing care, and how an increased awareness of biases can influence how clients receive and experience care. Check out these resources and reports that can help strengthen nurses' learning in this area.

To learn more, click here

IPHCC’s Position Statement – Equity, Diversity & Inclusion vs Reconciliation

The TRC’s Calls to Action have deepened our learnings and understanding of Indigenous rights. These rights are protected through treaties and land claims and by international legal frameworks, such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada actively supports. CNO’s Indigenous Equity Work Plan sets out actions and initiatives that focus on achieving equitable and culturally safe nursing care for Indigenous Peoples. Consistent with IPHCC’s position, CNO recognizes that actions and initiatives focused on advancing health equity and reconciliation should remain distinct from work focused on equity deserving groups. This distinction recognizes the unique rights of Indigenous Peoples, including inherent and Treaty rights, and the specific responsibilities arising from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. Both work plans advance organization-wide priorities, with every CNO team contributing to their implementation

Ten people stand and kneel in front of a large white teepee on a grassy field. Trees surround the area, and a cloudy sky is visible overhead.

IPHCC and CNO partner to strengthen nursing education and help support safer care for Indigenous Peoples

IPHCC and CNO are working together to advance cultural humility in nursing and cultural safety for First Nations, Inuit and Métis (FNIM) Peoples. Through this collaboration, CNO introduced a new educational requirement for all nursing programs in Ontario in response to Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action 24. The requirement, known as a foundational theme, establishes expectations for learning about Indigenous histories, rights and health needs, the ongoing impacts of colonization and anti-Indigenous racism, and the application of cultural humility and cultural safety in nursing practice. The partnership brings together CNO’s education mandate with IPHCC’s Indigenous-led expertise to support safer care for Indigenous Peoples.

To learn more, click here

Land acknowledgement

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) operates on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of many Indigenous communities across Ontario, which continue to be home to Indigenous Peoples. CNO’s office is in Toronto, on land that is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg (Awe-Nish-na-beck), the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee (Hoe-De-Nah-Show-Nee) and the Wendat peoples.

Both staff and members of CNO’s Council (Board) have embraced the process for sharing this Land Acknowledgement, with many volunteering to recite it before a large meeting. We understand, however, that reading the same words at every gathering can diminish their impact, and so CNO encourages each person to end their delivery with a personal reflection. CNO developed a short guide in collaboration with Indigenous contributors to support their reflection. These observations and expressions of personal insight can be a powerful way to truly embrace cultural humility.

Definitions

Indigenous Cultural Humility is a continuous and accountable practice of critical self-reflection and examination of power and bias. It requires that nurses recognize and learn Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, and to adapt their approaches to care in response to client needs and preferences. Indigenous knowledge and approaches to care should be understood through a wholistic lens that may include family, community, land, spirituality, language, identity, ceremony, relational care and emotional wellbeing. This includes understanding that mainstream approaches to care are not the only ways of practicing and being open to more wholistic and relational practices to health and wellbeing.

Citation: IPHCC – ICS Resources. For more definitions, see this Cultural Safety Continuum (PDF).

Indigenous Cultural Safety is the outcome of care that is experienced as respectful, responsive, and free from racism, power imbalances, and systemic harm, as defined by those receiving care. It requires nurses and health care systems to actively address these harms and ensure that care aligns with what is important to the client.