Entering the Human Rights and Social Justice program was a significant decision for me. My goal was to build on my social work degree in hopes of one day working within Indigenous communities. When I met with the practicum coordinator, I learned that I could complete my practicum in my home community of Goose Bay. This was meaningful as the community is predominately Inuit and Innu, and I personally belong to the Inuit community of Nunatsiavut. One of the things I was informed of was that we do not simply refer to Nunatsiavut as a “band”, because we are not First Nations. We refer to ourselves as a community. This reinforced the value of respecting proper Indigenous terminology, identity, and governance structures.
As an Indigenous student, I completed my practicum at the Labrador Health Center in Goose Bay, working on the “Indigenous Identifier Project”. This project was created to assist Indigenous patients accessing healthcare services. The projects’ purpose being to develop a respectful manner and consistent approach for nursing staff to ask all the patients whether or not they identify as Indigenous and if so, which community do they belong to. The information gathered would allow health staff to connect the patients to social workers and resources from their home community, thus ensuring they also receive culturally appropriate services, beyond what the provincial healthcare system can offer the Indigenous patients.
The project was not new, it had been developed before but did not go live because nursing staff expressed fear about asking the Indigenous Identifier question. They are worried that patients might feel targeted or stereotyped, or even that being asked about their identity could lead to fears of being treated differently or even receiving poorer care.
My role was to work closely with my two supervisors and a team of seventeen internal and external partners. These included representatives from local Indigenous communities, nursing directors, IT developers, policy staff, and forms designers. Together, we all aimed to redesign an approach that would make the staff feel supported in asking the identifier question and help them feel more confident as well as determine an appropriate stage of the admission process where it should be asked. Finally, together we would develop policy to ensure consistency across the health center. Our overall goal, to rebuild an existing framework that had been prepared a year ago.
This experience felt like a meaningful step into human rights and social justice work. As an Indigenous woman, I understood why this project mattered so much. It was because Indigenous people have the right to equitable, culturally safe healthcare in a system still shaped by colonialism and racism. At the same time, I understood also why some Indigenous people would feel singled out when asked these questions and identifying their identity. By contributing to this project, I had hoped to bring an Indigenous perspective that centered around respect, cultural understanding, and patient autonomy.
Although I met all the required learning outcomes, I felt the placement was more well suited for a student working over a period of a several of months rather than several weeks. Just as I was beginning to build the relationships necessary and gaining momentum with partners, my practicum hours came to an end. I am grateful for the experience because it taught me several important lessons. I learned how complex it is to develop initiatives that benefit Indigenous peoples. I learned how much time is required to build relationships within the healthcare setting. And more importantly, I learned that my passions lie with working directly with Indigenous people, in Indigenous communities, where I can work front-line and contribute meaningful change.