Engaging with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples, Communities and Organizations, “Are You Ready?”
Engaging with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples, Communities and Organizations
Webinar | 60 mins | English
“It's nice to hear ‘don't be embarrassed’ and I can relate to feeling fearful of not being respectful.” -- Webinar attendee.
On July 22, 2020 hundreds gathered to learn about increasing organizational capacity for better engagement with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. This webinar featured:
Marilee A. Nowgesic, Chief Executive Officer with the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association (CINA) in Ottawa, ON
Kimberly Fairman (ᓰᑦᖁᕐᓗᒃ), Executive Director, Institute for Circumpolar Health Research in Yellowknife, NT
(Moderator) Alyssa Bryan, RN, MScN, Program Manager with the Standards and Evidence Development team at Health Standards Organization (HSO) in Ottawa, ON.
Health systems and organizations increasingly use a people-centred approach to improve patient safety and outcomes. Knowing how to be prepared to engage can play a key role in a project or system’s success. HSO was proud to collaborate with webinar host Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL) to present this webinar on Engaging with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
From the first point of contact at registration, attendees were invited to find and acknowledge the land they are on. They were asked to reflect on their knowledge of Indigenous-related history and readings.
Throughout the 60-minute webinar, Indigenous leaders Marilee, Kimberly and moderator Aly created a safe space for attendees to learn the “why” and the “how” of meaningful engagement with First Nations, Inuit and Métis groups. Attendees learned:
What you need to do to prepare for engagement
How you can tell whether you are ready to engage (nurturing relationships to a positive state)
How you can take those critical first steps to engage with First Nations, Inuit and Métis groups
Highlights of the webinar included:
A great number of attendees acknowledged in the chat the land where they were calling from. Marilee reflecting on engagement: “There is a parallel process that happens when you determine where you are in the engagement process. In doing so, how do you know what that parallel part is? Have you done it? In order to do so, there must be presentations made to the Elders and leadership of the community. Invoke that authority to say, ‘Yes, I've done that. I've recognized the protocols of respect required for this particular region and area.’ If you’re not sure, reach out to the people you would like to be respectful towards. In recognizing that, it will take you to further levels of engagement.”
Aly sharing key readings that she did before engaging with the Cultural Safety and Humility Standard Technical Committee and acknowledging that she needed to “be comfortable with being uncomfortable”: “When you’re ready to engage, you’re ready to have long-lasting relationships and an ongoing learning path. Each time you meet a new group, there will be different ceremonies to learn about and different ways of doing. Have transparency and be genuine about your engagement.”
Kimberly encouraging attendees to break through their own barriers: “You need to get over the barrier of waiting for someone to tell you what to do. Take personal responsibility. Honour the need to better understand. Seeing the work that some of the participants have gathered today and seeing the questions that are coming up, I see there is an ability to do that. To honour the Indigenous and non-Indigenous to better understand. Tolerate the discomfort and disagreement and move to the next step of our relationship. Move beyond the reluctance and to engage.”
If you haven’t already, you are invited to watch the complimentary webinar. You will learn about:
Specific, concrete examples of how you know when you are ready to engage and what that looks like
Why saying “hello” and “goodbye” is European, which is why First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples use different greetings
Tips on how to engage virtually with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples during the time of COVID-19