Consultation Process
The Health Sciences Library has a librarian who works closely with the Indigenous Health Learning Lodge (IHLL) and the collections librarian for the ongoing development of our Indigenous health collection. This collection is robust and responsive to recommendation from our community. When we receive a resource requests from an Indigenous member of the community the item is purchased and added to the collection. Requests received from non-indigenous persons will require consultation before purchase, and this will occur with our Indigenous book vendor, liaison librarian to IHLL, or another member of the Indigenous community.
As we develop the Indigenous health collection we welcome your feedback and recommendations, particularly if you identify as Indigenous. Requests may be submitted to Andrea McLellan: mclell @mcmaster.ca
Reviews and Reports
- In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-specific Racism and Discrimination in B.C. Health Care
The report, written by former judge Dr. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, is based on consultations with nearly 9,000 people, including 2,780 Indigenous people and 5,440 health care workers. In Plain Sight describes findings of widespread systemic racism against Indigenous peoples in the B.C. health care system. In particular, 84% of Indigenous peoples described personal experiences of racism and discrimination that discouraged them from seeking necessary care and that reduced access to care, negatively affecting their health. These outcomes reinforce stereotypes and perpetuate the cycle of inequity.
Dr. Turpel-Lafond’s report makes recommendations to improve equity in health care and calls on the B.C. government and the health care system, in collaboration with Indigenous peoples, to remedy the lasting consequences of colonialism and improve accountability for Indigenous-specific racism. The report also calls attention to the need for improved cultural safety in health care and increased Indigenous leadership within health services, regulators and education.
Indigenous Health Resources: Books, Videos, and Databases
An Introduction to Indigenous Health and Healthcare in Canada by Publication Date: 2020-First edition named a 2013 PROSE Award Winner in Nursing and Allied Health Sciences.This textbook for Canadian nursing and allied health students explores the major health issues of Indigenous populations and how to improve their overall health.
Medicine unbundled : a journey through the minefields of Indigenous health care by
An investigative exploration of the separate "Indian hospitals" that existed in Canada for many decades, told through memoir, archival research, and interviews with survivors
Publication Date: 2017
Structures of Indifference by
Structures of Indifference examines an Indigenous life and death in a Canadian city and what it reveals about the ongoing history of colonialism. In September 2008, Brian Sinclair, a middle-aged, non-Status Anishinaabe resident of Winnipeg, arrived in the emergency room of a major downtown hospital. Over a thirty-four- hour period, he was left untreated and unattended to, and ultimately died from an easily treatable infection.McCallum and Perry present the ways in which Sinclair, once erased and ignored, came to represent diffuse, yet singular and largely dehumanized ideas about Indigenous people, modernity, and decline in cities. This story tells us about ordinary indigeneityin the city of Winnipeg through Sinclair's experience and restores the complex humanity denied him in his interactions with Canadian health and legal systems, both before and after his death.
ISBN: 9780887558351Publication Date: 2018-09-07
Under-Served: health determinants of Indigenous, inner-city, and migrant populations in CanadaPublication Date: 2018Platform: ProQuest Ebook Central
- Films on Demand Indigenous Studies: Future History This link opens in a new window Created in Canada. This playlist includes two seasons produced by RedCloud Studios and featuring Archaeologist/Artist Kris Nahrgang and Dancer/Activist Sarain Carson Fox. Both share their personal origin stories and talk about where they are at in their own journey of identity.
- Films on Demand Indigenous Studies: Individual Titles This link opens in a new window Created in Canada. This playlist features Canadian programming covering the various effects of colonialism in Canada from a historical and contemporary perspective.
- Films on Demand Indigenous Studies: Wild Kitchen and Merchants of the Wild This link opens in a new window Wild Kitchen is a playlist based in the Canadian Sub-arctic about people who harvest wild food. From Indigenous hunters and multi-generational fishermen to pioneering homesteaders, Wild Kitchen explores living sustainably off the land. Juno award-winning Inuit actor and performing artist, Tiffany Ayalik and her production team, travel to the remote wilderness to learn about wild food, its cultural significance, and the people who harvest it..
- Informit Indigenous Collection This link opens in a new windowPlease note: To search subscribed content, select "Only show content I have full access to". Informit Indigenous Collection covers both topical and historical issues within Indigenous studies. The multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary framework provides access to emergent and ground-breaking research within the global community and offers scope for critical international engagement and debate.
- Sage Research Methods: Diversifying & Decolonizing Research. This link opens in a new window
