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In the photo, from left: Kathryn Durksen, Kokum Hazel McKennitt, Kokum Alvina Lake, Kristin Zelyck, Gillian Lemermeyer

When the Faculty of Nursing’s Indigenous Health in Canada course was launched in 2018, it was conceived in response to the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action No. 24, which states in full, 

“We call upon medical and nursing schools in Canada to require all students to take a course dealing with Aboriginal health issues, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, and Indigenous teachings and practices. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.”  

The course development was funded in part by Teaching and Learning Enhancement funding (TLEF) and designed by a dedicated and interdisciplinary group from health sciences, led by the dean of the Faculty of Native Studies, Dr. Chris Andersen, and local Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers.

The first teachers of the course were Charlene Rattlesnake, an Indigenous nurse, and Lyla Goin, both of whom had worked in nursing on First Nation reserves. In the ensuing years, the delivery of the course has changed due to increasing class sizes in nursing and the unexpected challenges of a global pandemic. These days, co-teachers Gillian Lemermeyer and Kristin Zelyck are attempting to attend to the original intent and spirit of the course with its commitment to sustainable relationships in community and experiential learning. “We recognize as non-Indigenous teachers we are on a journey of unlearning and learning and feel fortunate to walk alongside local Elders, Kokums, Indigenous scholars and community members — and these relationships inform everything we do in the course,” says Zelyck.

We spoke to Lemermeyer and Zelyck, who recently received TLEF funding to further this important work.

What drew you both to teach this course?

Lemermeyer: My scholarly interest is health ethics, in particular the close encounters between health professionals and patients. I was also very interested in the TRC Calls to Action and wanted to find a way to contribute to reconciliation if I could.

Zelyck: I did a master’s degree in bioethics and health policy and while I was working on that, the TRC was rolling out. This was a huge awakening for me — it really opened my eyes to the persistent systemic racism in our health-care system toward Indigenous people. When you’re a nurse and you’re in this sacred space with a patient, what do those encounters mean and what do they mean in the context of laws, treaties, cultural genocide? I ended up focusing my capstone on restorative justice for Indigenous health in Canada.

What do you know about the earliest iteration of the course?

Zelyck: From what I have read in the archives, there were specific commitments for course delivery when it was launched. These included three experiential learning components within the course, ongoing faculty development in this area, and ongoing evaluation of the course and its impact on students and health care. It also needed to be sustainable in community with local Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers.

How do you think it’s changed since then?

Lemermeyer: As we understand, when the course first started, the sessions were begun in a good way, grounded in experiential and relation learning, but over the years, especially during the pandemic, that sort of fell away. In the past two winter terms, I have been fortunate that Elder Bert Auger has offered us guidance, as well as opening and closing the course in a good way with ceremony including teachings, storytelling and ceremony.

The curriculum itself hasn’t changed much — we go through history from first contact, through residential schools, the ’60s Scoop and segregated care … and emphasize Indigenous resistance and resurgence through movements such as the Oka Crisis, UNDRIP, RCAP and the TRC. Even locally, so many things have happened since 2018 in our city, like the dismantling of unhoused encampments, more stories of harm in the health system, and the list goes on — so we are working on updating the curriculum.

Zelyck: We are also trying to be responsive not only to the learners, but in the context of what’s happening currently in the world around us. It’s important that we acknowledge the connections between our shared histories, currencies and futures. We have been taught by Florence Glanfield (Vice Provost, Indigenous Programming and Research) that curriculum is dynamic and living. This course is not meant just to check a box for the students or for the university. 

What do you hope to achieve with the support of this new TLEF funding?

Lemermeyer and Zelyck: Essentially, there’s been no revision or development since the course was first introduced. We are grateful that the Faculty of Nursing is supporting us to strengthen relationships and continue developing the course. The scholarship that the TLEF grant affords us to do will contribute to the sustainability of the purpose and intent of the course. As we continue to learn and relearn, there is an increasing accountability towards the relationships and to respond to Call to Action 24 in a meaningful way. We will be completing an environmental scan, capturing the stories of the gatherings, and co-creating a pedagogy of collective healing.

Students are aware, but to get them to acknowledge how embedded within the system we all are is a struggle and one we want to address in this class.

You mention your discomfort with teaching this course as white settlers. Can you talk a little more about working in that uncomfortable space?

Zelyck: We continuously grapple with terms like “decolonize” and “indigenize.” These are big terms that can be so abstract that we lose their meaning. We also know that Gillian and I cannot and should not teach Indigenous Knowledges. We are so fortunate that we continue to receive guidance and teachings from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers who also join the class to teach the students through ceremony, stories and lived experience. As instructors, we work with the students to question colonial ways of knowing in health care and education.

Lemermeyer: We’re uncomfortable with being congratulated on this work. We feel like we are doing the bare minimum in our accountability to the treaties and the TRC. But while we recognize that we may not be the right people to be teaching this, it also isn’t a simple matter of saying “I can’t teach this; somebody else should do it,” because that’s not quite right either, because we all have a role to play in working towards reconciliation. Originally the course was taught by an Indigenous instructor and an ally instructor, and this seems ideal. So we’re sitting in this tension of wanting to contribute, but knowing we need to do it in the right, respectful way.

What has this process taught you?

Zelyck: Gosh, we have learned so much. Maybe it's the way we are learning that is most important: through visiting, participating in ceremony, or going to a round dance. One thing that stands out is that reconciliation is really about building relationships and this takes time and commitment. These relationships have changed me so much, not only the way I teach but the way I live including the ways I am as a nurse, teacher, mother and student. Learning from Dr. Dwayne Donald has steered my PhD work towards the question of how treaty ethics might nurture nursing education which is helping me understand the importance of our treaty relationships and responsibilities. I don’t really see an end to this journey of learning.

Lemermeyer: Like Kristin, I’d say that being involved with the course has changed the way I think about health care, education and the world, including my own life. I didn’t know how little I knew, and that has been so uncomfortable; it’s like getting your feet swept out from under you. That said, the discomfort that comes along with learning the realities (past, present and future) of colonization, not only through academic writings, but through stories shared over tea, or on long walks, is necessary. Feeling unsettled, and angry, and accountable, may be the only way to break through my own colonial mindset and habits. I am so grateful for the generosity of the Indigenous people who have guided and advised and corrected us along the way.

Gillian Lemermeyer and Kristin Zelyck are grateful to Marissa Nakoochee, KD King, Kathryn Durksen, Kokum Hazel McKennitt, Kokum Alvina Lake, and so many more for their guidance, friendship and invaluable contributions to this work.