Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Indigenous peoples in Canada experience alarming disparities in social determinants of health, health outcomes and access to healthcare. The social determinants of Indigenous health resulting from historic and ongoing colonial policies and practices mean that Indigenous peoples are more likely to experience poverty, under or unemployment, marginal housing or homelessness, food insecurity, barriers to accessing education and economic security, violence, incarceration and apprehension of children by the child welfare system. There is an urgent need to address the impacts of racism on Indigenous health in Canada. The proposed meeting aims to build on the discussion paper - First Peoples, second class treatment: Examining the role of racism in the health and well-being of Indigenous peoples - by bringing together Indigenous health researchers, representatives from Indigenous health professional organizations, regional and national public and population health policy makers, and key international experts to share knowledge and increase our collective capacity to understand, evaluate and respond to racism as a driver of disparities in Indigenous health and healthcare access in Canada. Importantly, the meeting will contribute towards the development of future research capacity by emphasizing the active inclusion of Indigenous graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and community health service providers. Problematically, recent discussions of racism as a determinant of health in the Canadian context have tended to focus on racism as a broad concept, excluding the needs and interests of Indigenous peoples. Examining the role of racism in Indigenous health is fundamental to creating any meaningful change in the alarming and persistent disparities in health and healthcare access experienced by Indigenous peoples in Canada.