On June 21, CASN celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day. We honour the rich history, heritage, diversity, and cultures of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples and take this opportunity to celebrate their valuable contributions to nursing education, scholarship, research, and practice.
As a national organization, CASN operates across the land currently called Canada. From this land, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples have derived and developed deep and varied knowledge and medicinal systems. In our current efforts to honour this rich tradition, we must recognize that systemic racism and colonialism embedded in Western academia have led nursing education to largely discount and exclude Traditional Knowledge, land-based learning, oral traditions, and lived experiences from consideration as valid and empirical ways of knowing, teaching, and learning. As an organization, CASN reiterates its commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action to integrate all forms of knowledge and experience to advance nursing education, promote culturally safe environments, and engage in meaningful and respectful relationships.
CASN invites health care professionals and institutions to implement the TRC Calls to Action 18 through 24 in their workplaces and practices. CASN has developed a number of resources that offer direction to schools of nursing in responding to the TRC Calls to Action, such as the Framework of Strategies for Nursing Education to Respond to the Calls to Action of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2020).
“On National Indigenous Peoples Day, we invite everyone to join CASN in honouring the contributions of Indigenous Peoples. We encourage Canadians to engage in meaningful self-reflection, dialogue, and learning, along with a shared commitment to transforming nursing education, our health care system, and our nation to better meet the needs and aspirations of Indigenous Peoples,” said Jean Daniel Jacob, CASN Executive Director.
Related Resources (CASN)
- Indigenous Nurses Day
- The Nurse’s Role in Supporting Reproductive Justice with Indigenous Peoples (webinar)
- Cultural Humility and Cultural Safety Standards for Nursing Education in Canada (document)
- Framework of Strategies for Nursing Education to Respond to the Calls to Action of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (document)
- Addressing the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action in Nursing Education: Workshop Series
- Indigenous Nursing Student and Faculty Survey Report, 2022–2023
