Building Relationships and a Reciprocal Research Agenda for the Unlearning & Undoing White Supremacy and Indigenous Specific Racism Lab for Population and Public Health in BC
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Year 2024
- Principal investigator Kate Jongbloed
- Co-lead(s) Danièle Behn Smith, First Nations Health Authority
- Host institution University of Victoria
- Research location BC Centre for Disease Control
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Team members
- Danièle Behn Smith, First Nations Health Authority
- Jorden Hendry, University of British Columbia
- Nicole Jules, University of British Columbia
- Kirsten White, University of British Columbia
First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples have a right to health. BC laws affirm this right. Settler health systems have not yet fulfilled our obligations. Evidence is clear that Indigenous-specific racism persists across BC’s health system.
But how can we change what we are doing to uphold Indigenous rights and eradicate Indigenous-specific racism? This is the question we get most from our colleagues in population and public health.
Getting at the “how” is the focus of a newly created “Unlearning & Undoing White Supremacy and Indigenous-Specific Racism Lab.”
The U&U Lab brings together 3 provincial population and public health organizations: BC Office of the Provincial Health Officer, the BC CDC, and Provincial Health Services Authority-Indigenous Health.
To start our work in a good way, we need to come together to:
1. Undertake territorial protocols with Coast Salish Nations
2. Build relationships
3. Map our vision, grounding principles, and research agenda for the next 5 years
We will host a meeting bringing together representatives from Coast Salish Nations, Indigenous health thought leaders, and settler population and public health leaders to set vision, grounding principles, and research agenda for the U&U Lab.