Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

This workshop draws upon decolonizing, Indigenous and engaged pedagogies to walk participants through an experiential learning exercise aimed at enhancing intercultural capacity, understanding, empathy and respect for the immediate and inter/trans-generational impacts on Indigenous peoples' health. The experiential exercise is a 30-minute simulated walk-through of a series of colonial historical events that have impacted Indigenous peoples in Canada. The exercise engages participants in reflecting on their own experience in order to build empathy, understanding, and mutual respect, and encourages participants towards transformation and social action. The experiential exercise is followed by 60 minutes of reflection, deconstruction and discussion of the exercise. Discussion topics include: Identity: deconstructing racism, stereotypes and their impacts on health and well-being. Greif and Loss: Inter/trans-generational impacts of trauma Impacts of colonialism: power/powerlessness Indigeneity: resistance; reclaim, restore, revive and thrive; empowerment. Reconciliation: moving forward together to improve the health and well-being of all. Applicability of the exercise: -Builds personal intercultural understanding that can be applied when working with Indigenous populations in Canada. -Transforms misconceptions/misunderstanding towards empathy and mutual respect, which can be applied to Culturally Safe Care. -A lesson plan will be provided to all participants for those interested in conducting this exercise in their classrooms or institutions.