Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada

ABORIGINAL NURSES ASSOCIATION OF CANADA 16 CONCOURSE GATE UNIT 600 OTTAWA ON K2E 7S8 Tel.: (613) 724-4677 ● Toll Free: 1-866-724-3049 ● Fax: (613) 724-4718 ● Website: www.anac.on.ca

PRESS RELEASE

The Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada Extend an Invitation to Collaborate on Future Cultural Safety Initiatives

The Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada welcomes the document, Empathy, dignity, and respect: Creating cultural safety for Aboriginal people in urban health care as an important contribution to the health of Aboriginal Canadians. The document was released on December 10th by the Health Council of Canada. In a letter to the Health Council of Canada, the Interim Executive Director, Fjola Hart Wasekeesikaw also extended an invitation to work collaboratively on future cultural competence and cultural safety initiatives to improve health care of Aboriginal people. The Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada (ANAC) has been working on multi-phased Making It Happen cultural competence and cultural safety projects since 2008. These were primarily funded by the Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative of Health Canada (AHHRI-HC). Much of this work was completed in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) and the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) and included the following:

 In 2009, the document, Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety in Nursing Education: A Framework for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nursing was completed in partnership with CASN and CNA.

 During 2009- 2010, ANAC completed Phase 2, in partnership with CASN, in which six schools of nursing (Langara College, University of Alberta, Trent University, Laurentian University, Nova Scotia Community College and Saint Francis Xavier University) adapted their nursing curricula to reflect principles of culturally safe practices.

 During 2010-2012, Phase 3 of Making It Happen, the research project, Cultural Readiness in Schools of Nursing, was conducted. It included a survey of English speaking schools of nursing affiliated with CASN to assess their readiness to integrate cultural competence and/or cultural safety into their curricula. In 2011, the results of this research were presented at the national forum, “Sustaining a Healthy Future: From Indigenous Knowledge to Cultural Safety”. Currently, an article on this project has been accepted for publication in a referred journal.

Ms Hart Wasekeesikaw stated that the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada looks forward to continuing its work in the provision of culturally competence care and culturally safe care for Aboriginal people in Canada.

For more information, contact Fjola Hart Wasekeesikaw, Interim Executive Director, A.N.A.C., at (613) 724-4677 ext. 23 or via email at [email protected]