Indigenous people face discrimination amongst healthcare professionals.
- Nina Arboine
- Nov 12, 2020
- 3 min read
Implicit attitudes are thoughts and feeling that often exit outside of conscious awareness, and thus are difficult to consciously acknowledge and control. Negative implicit attitudes about Indigenous people will contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in health and healthcare. In Canada, Indigenous communities face disparities in access to health care, the quality of care received, and health outcomes. Indigenous people also face disparities in terms of morbidity, mortality and health status (Wylie & McConkey, 2018). According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission (n.d.) Indigenous reported they were racially profiled in health care. They felt they were not taken seriously about their health issues because healthcare professionals had preconceived notions about Indigenous people being intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, have a history of alcoholism, or seeking out drugs. For example “ calling social workers or child protection agencies because parents are young and native - massive profiling in the selection of who has that involvement. Then, once that involvement starts, Aboriginal women are much more likely to have their babies removed for much more dubious reasons (Ontario Human Rights Commission, n.d.).
Negative attitudes towards Indigenous communities and personal characteristics often exist at the margins of awareness and are not easily accessible to individuals. Social psychology scholars have conceptualized prejudicial attitudes or bias as implicit and explicit. Explicit attires are thoughts and feeling that people deliberately think about and can make conscious reports about. On the flip side, implicit attitudes often exit outside of conscious awareness, and thus are difficult to consciously acknowledge and control. These attitudes are often automatically activated and can influence human behaviour without conscious volition (Wylie & McConkey, 2018).
The following video provides a good explanation in detail discussing what bias is and how healthcare professionals address it.
Negative stereotypes held by healthcare profession were identified as a signifiant problem for Indigenous people accessing health care services. They felt that these prejudicial beliefs among many of their fellow healthcare staff significantly undermined their ability to provide good care for Indigenous people (Wylie & McConkey, 2018). This included (Wylie & McConkey, 2018):
discrimination is the root of cause for health inequalities;
lack of quality in care;
disrespectful treatment by health care providers;
misdiagnoses of late-stage diseases (ex. cancer) due to assumptions of history of alcoholism;
assumptions of being poor, uneducated and homeless;
the Canadian health care system does not foster Aboriginal health/culture and works in a Western model;
Indigenous people still see the health inequities that exist between them and non-Indigenous people; and
still feel subjected to paternalistic and racist policies and legislations.
To end things off, Allan & Smylie (2015) articulated “Canada is one of the only nations in the world that continues to use legislation to limit access to services and benefits for Aboriginal peoples on the basis of a descent criterion. This practice has served to create artificial distinction among Aboriginal people, sometimes even within the same extended families, and serves mostly to exclude Aboriginal people who are not “registered Indians” from access to distinctly Aboriginal services and the power of self-determination, with no concern for how individuals define themselves. ”
While racist treatment prior to confederacy included the enslavement of Indigenous peoples, the entrenchment and enactment of racism through policy occurred most intensely during the ear of Confederation. The Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869, sever agendas of assimilation and control of ‘Indians’ and the erosion of Indigenous land rights. These two pieces of legislation were consolidated into the Indian Act of 1876, which remains an active statute in Canada. The Indian Act is a race-based legislation that provides the federal government of Canada with the right to determine who can and cannot be an ‘Indian.” This act includes stipulations for enfranchisement in which Indians could gain some of the same rights (Allan & Smylie, 2015).
While the India Act has undergone countless amendments since it's first passing in 1876,today it still predominately retains its original form. For more information on the The Indian Act in Canada, please go to the link provided.
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