Indigenous Health Education Pathways to Healing Initiative

Nationally, we have been outraged and grief struck by the discovery in June of the remains of 215 students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, where prior to this discovery, this residential school reported 51 deaths. Buried in unmarked graves, some remains are believed to be of children as young as three, while there are no records to mark identity for most. This tragedy attests a colonial history of Indigenous genocide in Canada. The atrocities at Canadian Indian Residential Schools were done in the name of “education.”  All current educational institutions in Canada, including our medical school, bear a colonial legacy of exclusion, assimilation and racism with regard to Indigenous Peoples.

While we continue to reflect and grieve, we must also commit to action.  As a medical school, we have a responsibility and opportunity to advance reconciliation and healing. The Cumming School of Medicine’s (CSM) Indigenous Health Dialogue (IHD) highlights the critical role of Indigenous health education in achieving reconciliation and healing while acknowledging the reality of our schools’ limited educational resources to do so.

Guided by a desire to bring about change, the Indigenous, Local and Global Health (ILGH) Office is introducing the Indigenous Health Education Pathways to Healing initiative. This funding competition invites innovative community-partnered education projects to apply. The competition is designed to increase capacity and support reconciliation and healing with Indigenous Peoples through a deeper understanding of how colonization and intergenerational  traumas continue to impact health and healthcare. At the conclusion of this competition, successful candidates will present their educational innovations at a Pathways to Healing Indigenous Health Education Sharing Symposium. We hope this will inspire others to commit to action and be the first of many similar initiatives across the University of Calgary

Further details related to funding, eligibility and submission timelines will be announced in the following weeks. If you have any questions please contact the Indigenous, Local and Global Health Office at csmengage@ucalgary.ca. 

Dr. Lindsay Crowshoe
Assistant Dean, Indigenous Health
Indigenous, Local and Global Health Office, Cumming School of Medicine
                                                                                                                                             

Dr. Pamela Roach
Director, Indigenous Health Education
Indigenous, Local and Global Health Office, Cumming School of Medicine

Dr. Dianne Mosher
Associate Dean, 
Indigenous, Local and Global Health Office, Cumming School of Medicine

Dr. Aleem Bharwani
Director, Public Policy 
Indigenous, Local and Global Health Office, Cumming School of Medicine