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Ella: Good morning, you’re listening to Deep Blue, where we discuss the dark truths of Canada’s colonialist past, Indigenous peoples true stories, and how we can make a change for the better. I’m Ella, I’m Annika, and I’m Sarah, and today we will be talking about how addiction stereotypes of Indigenous peoples influence how they get adequate healthcare in healthcare situations.
Sarah: A lot of stereotypes exist in our society today, especially towards minority groups such as Indigenous people.
Annika: They exist in all aspects of life like sports, film, artistic mediums.
Sarah: It even manifests itself as systematic oppression…like in healthcare and education, they’re wrongfully treated because of stereotypes that surround them. Like that they’re unintelligent or they’re addicts, so they don’t get the right healthcare.
Annika: I’d like to point out that I feel that the addict stereotype is really significant especially in relation to healthcare because there’s always a bias that addicts don’t deserve the correct treatment or more help because they are doing it to themselves. They kind of deserve this punishment. But when that stereotype and that assumption is completely baseless, you are just harming people.
Sarah: I think that the addict stereotype in Indigenous communities is blown out of proportion because I’d like to think that almost settlers have this idea that all Indigenous people are entirely traumatized, broken people. Sometimes it stems from a place of a white saviour complex.
Annika: This entire stereotype is established by the settlers because they were the ones to introduce these substances and then they were the ones to traumatize this entire group of people to rely on these substances to get through that trauma and now perpetuate that stereotype when they are trying to break free from it.
Ella: In relation to health care with these stereotypes, specifically the addiction stereotype, it perpetuates the way that they are treated and the way that they are able to get the treatment that they need in hospitals and different health care situations. They are portrayed as addicts and “people who can’t take care of themselves.” Which is absolutely not true and it’s just a stereotype that settlers and white people have created. This stereotype makes it so that they don’t get the proper care that they need because people think that “Oh well they are just going to relapse” or something like that, so that puts that stereotype in people’s heads. Thus, Indigenous people can’t get the proper care they deserve and might need.
Sarah: Actually, on that topic, I heard a story about stereotypes in health care. Joyce Echaquan, I believe was a 37-year-old Indigenous woman who passed away in a Quebec hospital due to racist healthcare workers who mocked her as she laid dying. Mocked her as in “addict” and made fun of her and pretended that she was dying because she had opioids in her system. Since they basically stereotyped her as an addict, they didn’t provide adequate care and she unfortunately suffered the consequences of colonialist stereotypes.
Annika: Absolutely, and I believe they called her racial slurs and used racist language as she died, that is how egregious this act of racism and hate was against Joyce. It is just so harmful and upsetting and I cannot imagine being in that position myself.
Ella: Now, only two years later, they’re filing lawsuits against the hospital and the people who treated her this way, but it is not something that you should have to file a lawsuit against somebody for, as you shouldn’t even be put in that situation in the first place.
Annika: It is unquestionable medical malpractice created by stereotypes. The fact that people in power are still denying the fact that its even happening when we have these blatant instances of this happening is actively preventing any sort of forward development, and anyway we can make change to abolish this stereotype.
Sarah: The idea of stereotypes in healthcare is so unfair because you’re unwilling to give care to someone because ‘they might relapse later’ or ‘be back in a few months’ so ‘why would I waste my time.’ Its such an unfair generalization to make against a group because you don’t know their history.
Ella: You never know if this is somebody’s last opportunity to get the help that they need. Maybe they truly will get on a better path now that you’ve given them the help and support that they really need.
Annika: But instead, you deny it from them because you assume they’re an addict. The fact that its baseless too is harmful. I know another story of a woman who hit her head and had a brain bleed and yet these nurses just thought she was drunk. So, they did nothing and let her die because they made an assumption about her that was completely false.
Ella: Going back to Joyce, I just have the article open from Montreal CBC News, the coroner concluded, I believe in 2021, that there was an inquest into Joyce’s death, but the nurses thought she was going through withdrawal from opioids and narcotics. That was not the case at all as they could not find any substances in her system that their assumption could be based on. So, it was purely based on the assumption of those doctors and nurses who were treating Joyce. So, nothing was based on actual medical fact.
Sarah: Do you think that if higher ups in health care like in hospitals, like people working in administrative boards started to recognize this problem within their workplace, do you think this would help combat stereotypes in healthcare?
Ella: I definitely think it would push it in the right direction because it really starts with people recognizing that there’s an issue to be able to do something about said issue. If you don’t even recognize it in the first place, there’s no way you can do anything to fix it.
Annika: Not only do people in hospitals need to be recognizing these stereotypes but so do people outside that are in positions of power. They need to be acknowledging and working with Indigenous people and working for Indigenous people to help completely erase this bias that healthcare practitioners have against Indigenous people.
Sarah: So, starting a conversation to breakdown barriers and try to reverse the bias that you have in you.
Annika: I feel like even just providing courses or any sort of resources that educate these young and upcoming people that are going to be entering the healthcare workforce would work to help them recognize this bias that they have against these people already. So, they don’t end up making these same choices that older generations of nurses and healthcare workers made that hurt Indigenous people.
Sarah: I think our education system is doing a good job at trying to include Indigenous people in the conversation. Instead of teaching them as the “other” we’re bringing them in to tell their stories.
Ella: Especially in the course we’re in now, English First Peoples, is a great example because we go to public school, so it is available for everybody and it’s a course we have to take. Which is good because it integrates their knowledge and their experiences into our lives so that in the future, we can hopefully find ways to reverse trauma, or not necessarily reverse because that is very difficult to do but try not to perpetuate it and try to figure out ways to make it a little bit better.
Annika: So we can achieve reconciliation. I think that its really important, the fact that in these courses they are bringing in people who are Indigenous or have education around Indigenous culture, so they are aware of what makes Indigenous culture important to know. They can teach that to us as there’s, obviously, only so much teachers and people who don’t have experience with that culture can explain to others who also don’t have experience with that culture. Just having these course and being adamant in higher education spaces that they identify these issues and provide resources as well is really important to debunk these stereotypes.
Sarah: I think going to ____, the festival, really opened my eyes because in educations prior to this course, they often just talked about Indigenous people negatively. Like “oh they’re still living in the olden times” and that they all have this stereotype of “broken people” but seeing them all get together, sharing their culture, sharing their artwork with us, was a really eye-opening experience for me.
Annika: So, do you think that maybe they should try to do that more in higher education spaces, just so that they also have that exposure?
Sarah: I think that across Canada they should push this more instead of just in BC but that will definitely take some time.
Ella: I think that its really important that we try to integrate this into our generation because we are going to be the next people who are doctors, who are nurses, who are in these fields where these stereotypes are being perpetuated currently, like we saw with Joyce’s story and countless others. I do think that its really important that we continue to have this going on.
Annika: I feel we are taking the right steps. There are still inadequacies in the government with those people in power denying/refusing to acknowledge these as problems. I think the fact that people are becoming more educated and there are more classes that emphasize educating people about Indigenous culture and their history is going to eventually lead us to a point where we can reconcile. We can start to let go of our biases and let go of these stereotypes so that everybody can receive equal rights and equal access to adequate healthcare and to all these things that people in Canada should be getting already.
Ella: This was Deep Blue, thank you for diving deep into the topic of stereotypes in healthcare for Indigenous people in Canada. Please see the show notes for articles and additional information.
Shownotes:
Deep Blue
Today, Ella, Annika, and Sarah discuss the stereotypes that Indigenous Peoples face in healthcare in Canada.
Resources:
Âpihtawikosisân. “The Stereotype of the Drunken Indian.” Âpihtawikosisân, 2 Oct. 2015, https://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/10/the-stereotype-of-the-drunken-indian/.
“Investigation Finds Widespread Racism against Indigenous Peoples in B.C. Health-Care System | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 1 Dec. 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/bc-health-care-racism-report-1.5820306.
Bains, Camille. “Anti-Racism Policies in Health Care Should Be Led by Indigenous Staff, Report Says.” The Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail, 5 Apr. 2023, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-anti-racism-policies-in-health-care-should-be-led-by-indigenous-staff/.
Government of Canada; Indigenous Services Canada. “Indigenous Health Care in Canada.” Government of Canada; Indigenous Services Canada, 14 Apr. 2023, https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1626810177053/1626810219482.
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Yourex-West, Heather. “Evidence of Racism against Indigenous Patients Is Growing: Is a Reckoning in Canadian Health Care Overdue?” Global News, Global News, 20 Jan. 2022, https://globalnews.ca/news/8523488/evidence-of-racism-against-indigenous-patients-is-growing-is-a-reckoning-in-canadian-health-care-overdue/.
“Family Files $2.7-Million Lawsuit over Indigenous Woman’s Death in Quebec Hospital.” Montreal, 29 Sept. 2022, https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/family-files-2-7-million-lawsuit-over-indigenous-woman-s-death-in-quebec-hospital-1.6089451.
This podcast is hosted by Annika Budziszewski, Ella Maxwell, Sarah Wu and is brought to you by Deep Blue Productions.