Topic: Barriers and Challenges to Care for Indigenous Women

Policies and biomedical perspectives present barriers and challenges to Indigenous patients increasing inequalities in health care (Tong, 2019). Indigenous women also face certain barriers when accessing health care services. If Indigenous women are living in remote communities, services and care may not be readily available and present geographical obstacles to receiving care in a timely way. In addition, health services may be limited, and culturally appropriate and safe treatments might not be available (Telus Talks, 2023).

Outdated and racist perspectives continue to filter throughout the health care system resulting from the colonial impacts of policies and legislation. The negative stereotypes of Indigenous people have been ingrained into the health system and can still be felt today through the dominant view of Indigenous women as devalued by the health care system. Indigenous women key informants with the Mending Broken Hearts project relayed that they faced bureaucratic challenges and essentially fell through the cracks of the health care system. Common experiences shared were challenges filling out disability paperwork, not being recognized as having a disability by health care staff despite showing debilitating signs. Some Indigenous women felt they were being pushed off to specialists without proper follow up or continuity of care from the HCP. These examples illustrate their experience of invisibility and how they are devalued and marginalized when seeking care.

To hear more of the conversation regarding Indigenous women’s experiences in health care and systemic racism, please watch the video clip, Advocating for Indigenous women’s health: Chastity Davis

From the identified barriers, discriminatory and racial experiences faced by Indigenous women, it is clearly important to implement cultural safety into the health care practices.  Indigenous women would have a safe space and feel safe to open up about what is happening in their lives without judgement, discrimination and prejudice. A culturally safe approach to health care when working and dealing with Indigenous women should consider external socioeconomic factors, intergenerational trauma, and colonial impacts.