An Overview of Canada s Moral & Ethical Conduct with Indigenous People

Transcription

1 An Overview of Canada s Moral & Ethical Conduct with Indigenous People Dawn Martin-Hill Anthropology McMaster University 1/28/2015 1

2 Canada s race problem? It s even worse than America s. For a country so self-satisfied with its image of progressive tolerance, how is this not a national crisis? Scott Gilmore January 22, 2015 Politicians too craven to admit the reserve system has failed? Elders like Chief Ava Hill, cynically willing to let a child die this week from treatable cancer in order to promote Aboriginal rights? Aboriginal people themselves for not throwing out the leaders who serve them so poorly? 1/28/2015 2

3 A Little Girl Died Because Canada Chose Cultural Sensitivity Over Western Medicine Makayla went off chemotherapy because the Canadian government and its child protective services refused to override the parents and child s wishes to discontinue treatment; after supposedly having a vision of Jesus while in the hospital, Makayla had become convinced that chemotherapy was killing her. Indeed, after she died the family blamed the chemotherapy, 1/28/2015 3

4 Ethics? What was Canada s institutions record of ethical conduct, ethical policy or ethical research? produced for the health and well being of First Nations? An Indigenous historical lens of Canadian ethics applied to Indigenous peoples should inform our current debate of cancer care for two F.N. children. 1/28/2015 4

5 Canada s Colonialism components: The incursion of the colonizing group into a geographical area Colonization s destructive effect on the social and cultural structures of the Indigenous group. Colonizers destroyed the people s political economic, kinship, and, in most cases religious systems Interrelated process of external political control and Aboriginal dependence 1/28/2015 5

6 Colonization Is the provision of low quality social services for the colonized Aboriginal people in education and health. Prevention from entering into the economy creating a culture of poverty (Frideres:2005). 1/28/2015 6

7 Education used by government as the tool to eradicate Native culture, Minister Scott, 1924 We will continue until there is not a single Indian left in the body politic! (Titley) Residential & Boarding schools thousands of children abducted and where physically, emotionally psychologically and sexually tortured. Many died due to the poor diets, lack of ventilation help spread diseases such as T.B. and small pox. A report by Dr. Bryce slamming conditions to Indian Affairs: Their response, But they will die as Christians (Milloy:2000, Fournier & Grey:1998, Annett:2003) 1/28/2015 7

8 Colonialism Impact: Historical Trauma Cumulative trauma - collective and compounding emotional and psychic wounding (Niederland,1989) both over the life span and across generations. Involves a constellation of features identified in the literature on Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and psychic trauma (Kystal, 1984; van der Kolk, 1987.) It is associated with the reaction to massive generational group trauma historical unresolved grief involves the profound, unsettled bereavement that results from generations of devastating losses (Braveheart:288:1998). 1/28/2015 8

9 Colonialism Impact: Historical Trauma Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and psychic trauma experienced from early to late colonization include unresolved grief responses, these include:1) withdrawal and psychic numbing, 2) anxiety and hyper vigilance, 3) guilt, 4) identification with ancestral pain and death, 5) chronic sadness and depression. Brave Heart argues, at a time when ceremonies for grieving were most needed they were outlawed (1998). 1/28/2015 9

10 Ethics of Government Policy Colonial policies outlawing or criminalizing culture. Indian Act outlawed cultural practice-ceremonies or regalia Exacerbating the colonial legacy is alienation and marginalization of First Nations people within their own countries. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. ibid. 1/28/

11 Ethics of Representation: This sense of what the idea of the West represents is important... because to a large extent theories about research are underpinned by a cultural system of classification and representation, by views about human nature, human morality and virtue, by conceptions of space and time, by conceptions of gender and race. Ideas about these things help determine what is real. Systems of classification and representation enable different traditions or fragments of traditions to then be played out in systems of power and domination, with real material consequences for colonized peoples (Smith: 1999: 44). 1/28/

12 Cross-cultural implies culture rather than a legitimate analysis it s a view point. Diagnostic policy imposes normal on moral legitimacy from western basis. Intelligence testing as human sciences are founded on western philosophy shaping disciplines discoursewestern subjectivity is imposed on the colonized. Fanon 1/28/

13 Ethics Impact on F.N. children? There is no doubt colonialism has had direct and indirect impacts on First Nations peoples collective health and well-being, and this must be considered when examining current health studies situating First Nations communities within the impacts of colonial policy. Voyle & Simmons:1036: /28/

14 Ethics in Health Policy EUGENICS IN CANADA-U.S Sterilization his-as many as 42 percent of all Indian women had been sterilized without their knowledge 3406 half a million sterilization Alberta-sexual sterilization act 1937-consent not needed individuals incapable of good parenting 1988-government destroyed 4785 files overrepresentation in the existing files of Aboriginal women-6 percent even though only 3 percent of population. In Restoring 1/28/2015 the Balance 14

15 Do we have ethics? Indigenous medicine World Health Organization declared that health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. And later, in 1986, the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion declared that health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life; where they learn, work, play and love. 1/28/

16 Allende in The five year study identified resilience indicators as: achieving a measure of self-government; securing Aboriginal title to traditional lands; an accomplished measure of local control over health, education and policing services; and the creation community facilities for the preservation of culture as markers of cultural continuity. This work is extended by identifying two new cultural continuity markers as an achieved measure of local control over child welfare services, and female leadership. Other studies cite language is a key protective factor 1/28/

17 Indigenous methods and practices for helping and healing serve as community strengths and this is evident in a number of studies indicate that traditional activities are protective factors against certain ailments like alcoholism, depression, stress and suicide. The youth also recognize ceremonies and Elders as strong community strengths and researchers, policy and program developers ibid. ibid. McIvor, O., Napolean, A., & Dickie, K. (2009). Language and Culture as Protective Factors for At-Risk Communities. Journal of Aboriginal Health, November, /28/

18 Wane et al., contends that Indigenous knowledge exits outside dominant institutions fueling ideological philosophies that define identity and is a reference point to dominant representations. If a First Nations child only sees themselves through Eurocentric representations of themselves, it is not likely going to be a encouraging representation of the self Wane, N. (2000). Indigenous knowledge: Lesson from the elders: A Kenyan case study. In G. Dei, B. Hall, & D. Rosenberg (Eds.), Indigenous knowledge's in global contexts: Multiple readings of our world (pp ). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1/28/

19 Traditional Medicine The examination of traditional medicine includes articulating an Indigenous knowledge approach to understanding what traditional medicine is and why it historically existed outside dominant institutions, biomedical models, and Eurocentric paradigms. 1/28/

20 The term traditional medicine, as identified by the World Health Organization is the sum total of knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences Indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement of treatment of physical and mental illness. (WHO/EDM/Traditional Medicine/Definitions, modified: Tuesday, 30 October 2001) 1/28/

21 Traditional healing has been defined as practices designed to promote mental, physical and spiritual well-being that are based on beliefs which go back to the time before the spread of western scientific biomedicine. When Aboriginal Peoples in Canada talk about traditional healing, they include a wide range of activities, from physical cures using herbal medicines and other remedies, to the promotion of psychological and spiritual well-being using ceremony, counseling and the accumulated wisdom of elders (RCAP, 1996, Vol.3: 348). 1/28/

22 Indigenous Medicine a practice that emphasizes botanical and pharmacology knowledge of the indigenous plants and fauna. Often these individuals work closely with other Indigenous doctors and assist in providing remedies for individuals whom they or others have diagnosed. Their practice can be highly specialized in one field, such as remedies for snakebites, or as diverse as the illnesses themselves. 1/28/

23 According to the Rural Advancement Foundation Institute Report to the United Nations, over 80 per cent of the world s people depend on Indigenous knowledge for health and security The annual market value of pharmaceutical products derived from medicinal plants discovered by Indigenous peoples exceeds US$43 billion, but the profits are rarely shared with Indigenous Peoples. Traditional healers have employed most of the 7000 natural compounds used in natural medicine for centuries; 25 percent of American prescription drugs contain active ingredients derived from Indigenous knowledge of plants 1/28/2015 (Daes, 1993: 1; Battiste and Henderson, : 124).

24 Ethics of Indigenous medicine The overall need for ongoing consultation with Elders and healers is primary to the traditional medicine component. The enthusiasm of Elders and healers to participate in discussions, to find solutions, and to work towards improving the state of Aboriginal health in Canada was overwhelming. Indigenous knowledge which is possessed by Elders is our greatest asset and through the above summary of Elder/healers directives and guidance, their intellectual contributions have offered extraordinary insights that need to be implemented 1/28/ into policy.

25 And that is the problem a problem that makes the law and the Canadian government complicit in Makayla s death. The so-called right to pursue traditional medicine is simply an unwarranted respect for faith, a right to impose the religious or superstitious beliefs of parents on their young, indoctrinated, or unreflective children. It is the right to harm children in the name of faith. And that right doesn t exist for parents who simply impose quack cures on their children, for those parents can be jailed for child abuse, negligence, or even manslaughter. 1/28/

26 Terry Glavin: Makayla s death, but our disgrace Everything that McMaster Hospital had explained to the Sault family about the Maykala s leukemia came down to the horrifying fact that it is known to be curable only by chemotherapy treatment, and without treatment death is all but certain. But what ultimately mattered was the claim to an aboriginal identity that everybody was making on Makayla s behalf. 1/28/

27 Caring for Aboriginal patients requires trust and respect, not courtrooms Lisa Richardson MD MA, Matthew B. Stanbrook MD PhD The blame that has been leveled at all parties must stop. In turning to the court, the hospital and medical team were no doubt driven by fear for the child s life. Despite refusing chemotherapy, J.J. s family were not uncaring, negligent or ignorant indeed, child and family services refused to inter- vene on this basis. Although some people have disputed the correctness of the judge s ruling, it appears to have been a thoughtful decision addressing a complex area of law. 1/28/

28 All health professionals must know about the ongoing health inequities affecting Aboriginal people and strive to address their collective repercussions. Evaluating quality of care must include the experiences and relationships of our Aboriginal patients with the health care system in addition to disease outcomes. 1/28/

29 Indigenous Medicine Study (NAHO) Elders felt towards alternative medicine models; several identified naturopathic medicines as more compatible with traditional medicine finding it difficult for the three approaches to medicine to work together, was due to these approaches lack of knowledge of each other and then there [sic] 1/28/

30 For our children they need to be educated in the same place, to learn how to really work together (Interactive Study Group) approaches held promise for improving the quality of life for Aboriginal people because they incorporate the holistic model and do not just medicate the problem Medical people can learn to work with us. 1/28/