Katie K.
In this letter to Canadians and residents of what is known as British Columbia, I intend to name and address Indigenous specific racism in the BC health care system. Upon reading “In Plain Sight,” (Turpel- Lafond, 2020), I was shaken by the reality that Indigenous people face when accessing health care in British Columbia. As a result, I have been inspired towards growth and advocacy as an ally to Indigenous people. I have taken responsibility for learning and committing myself to understand ways to decolonize myself as a student of social work and the systems within which I will practice. In this video, I begin by positioning myself and acknowledging the ancestors and their significance to the present reality of both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Canadians.
Juxtaposed with the words in my spoken letter, I have included images of landscapes, healing medicines and tools that have been shared with me. The video includes images of plant medicines including cedar trees, ferns, story telling, and the medicine wheels teachings as they were shared with me. The image of landscapes in the video are symbolic of transformation and growth that is possible within the BC healthcare system. The rocky shoreline represents the rich ancestry of the Snuneymuxw people and the shared History of Canadians as a foundation for change. The harshness of the rock that seems unmoving yet is shaped by time, is a representation of the challenge that Canadians face in transforming colonial narratives to move forward in change.
All footage was recorded on Coast Salish territory, in the unceded traditional lands of the Snuneymuxw people
