Nunavut-bound doctors now getting cultural training
Health minister calls first round of training delivered in February ‘a success’
Health Minister John Main says doctors planning to practice in Nunavut are receiving cultural competency training. (File photo)
Doctors who come to work in Nunavut are now required to receive cultural competency training, according to Health Minister John Main.
The Cultural Competency Training initiative “acknowledges the unique history and traditions of Inuit and aims to integrate those insights into a compassionate and comprehensive health care experience,” he said Monday in the legislative assembly in Iqaluit.
Main called it vitally important for doctors to have a solid understanding of Inuit culture and history when they work in the territory.
“In early February, we launched the first delivery of this new training and are pleased to advise it was a success,” he told MLAs.
“[The] next phase of this project will include an online module for physicians to complete before coming to work in Nunavut.”
Main said a grant from Healthcare Excellence Canada, an Ottawa-based non-profit, supports the training.
The cultural training program was developed “by Inuit for physicians to build their foundational understanding of Inuit culture, values and the emotional effects of past traumas and well-being.”
Main didn’t say how many physicians took part in the first sessions or when the online modules would be ready for doctors who plan to work in Nunavut.
If the profession was self regulating in Nunavut they would follow suit like every other profession in requiring cultural competency education and training. Leaving this government regulated is bad for everyone except those physicians who don’t want to live up to normal standards as we all know the government does not seriously upload professional standards due to its decency on also employing the doctors. In short, the government is too conflicted to effectively regulate this profession.
Almost spat out my coffee to be honest. It’s wild that any one with two brain cells to rub together thinks this will do anything. It’s like any of the other mounds of paper work, 20 hours of safety training videos companies make you watch so they’re cleared if you hurt yourself. Do you honestly think people take any of those things seriously. If it’s video modules I’m calling it right now, anyone will put the video on, mute it and let it play to completion to get whatever required completion certificate.
Now do you think we could give the community some training on how to remotely act civally in the health centres? It’s a zoo of disrespectful individuals, often repeat individuals.
I feel horrible for our health care staff across Nunavut.
wow, the amount of ignorant comments, it’s cross culture, my mother died of phenomena because she refused to deal with racist and prejudice attitude of health professionals, how many Inuit children and people died because they were prescribed Tylenol?
Care to provide some actual statistics on that? Care to elaborate how you think your hospital visit south would be any different should you go to the emergency room / drop in? I can give you a hint on that one, it wouldn’t be different except you would spend 13 hours waiting in the wait room.
I have never seen so many people routinely go to a health centre for trivial sicknesses, stomach ache head ache, sore throat etc. I could not even fathom for a second if people had that attitude south. The hospitals would be even more overrun then they are. You would have lines heading the door and down the streets.
You can’t just expect a perfect diagnosis everytime nor should you expect to be magically cured of every single little cold each time you go to the health centre.
There’s a tremendous amount of steps twords good health not practiced, but most of the unhealthy things have made their way into people’s lives and they wonder why they feel miserable all the time. Look at the diets. Pop, sugar, lard daily. Smoke, drink, repeat. Any surprises people feel sick all the time. They are solution most of the time is a lifestyle change but people don’t want to do that so you get Tylenol.
How many health professionals are traumatized by the bigoted and racist attitudes of the patients they serve?
It is, sadly, a two-way street, and much training is needed all around.
I think alot of people in Nunavut need to stop playing the role of proffesional victims all the time. They need to take responsibilty for there actions and behaviour and quit blaming everyone else for there short comings. I have never seen a group of people giving so much oppurtunties and chances and have every excuse not to make it in life. I have never seen such disrepect for goverment workers and infastructure and always falsely accused goverment and its workers its there fault when it is actually theres. No people do not need culture training to perform there jobs. I think a big problem is a group of spoiled people that have been given too much and always want more..
Face palm.
We the people should make modules and videos for John Main, a mandatory watch.
Module A, Definition Safe. Video 1, Pinocchio, Video 2, Boy who cried wolf. Module B, Definition Effective.
All medical professionals coming to Nunavut requires cultural training not only doctors.
Numerous times, I or my wife have been accused of spanking our babies by new nurses to Nunavut as they are not familiar with Mongolian Spots.
Few times we have been asked if we burn our infant with cigarettes as they had a Cherry Birthmark.
Boy did it make us feel uncomfortable to be asked those questions. Had to tell the nurse to consult with the Dr or other nurses that have been around. I trust you not they were on the verge of calling the RCMP and social service.
It is a traumatic experience especially for new young parents.
I can imagine that was distressing. I’m surprised that nurses were not familiar with these marks, they are very common among Asian populations.
I would also like to see cultural training for all patients in Nunavut. The shockingly inappropriate comments that are so common from patients to visible minority medical staff are incredible. A few hints: don’t ask Asian staff if they are ‘real’ nurses; equally, don’t pull the corners of your eyes up and try a mock Chinese accent. Don’t refer to White staff as Qablunaq. Address people using the term that they use to refer to themselves. Also, don’t refer to French speaking Canadians as “Oui ouis”. Don’t call staff of South Asian ancestry as “P$%#s”. Finally stop calling Black staff portugee.
This is just a start.
Will John Main also be instituting a training program to deal with this? Lots of cultural sensitivity training is needed in this territory.
I am also surprised that the doctors/nurses are not aware of those birthmarks as they are quite common. I am sorry to hear you had to go through this as young parents.
However I do agree its a 2-way street in terms of cultural training. Racism is so rampant in Nunavut that its shamefully normalised. I have seen young children telling a visible minority person to “go back to your country”! The kids did not learn this on their own.
Qalunaaq (Caucasian) Puatiki, (dark skin) Uivi, (French) are in the Inuit language that is widely accepted and understood.
If you have alternatives Inuktitut words we should be using please let us all know.
Using the works White, Brown, Red, Black, Yellow can be translated into Inuktitut but, there are white Inuit, Black Inuit, Brown Inuit too so
If you think they are derogatory words please enlighten us what other words we should be using.
Thanks
How about simply not referring to someone by their skin colour? It is not okay to say “hi black guy or yo Asian lady” when trying to get their attention. Also when you hear “f—ing qabloonaqs” I don’t think they are just saying it because it’s an inuktitut word.
Do you have any other Inuktitut words that we can use to substitute these Inuktitut words?
Why don’t you learn Inuktitut, create the new words then standardize them.
I just watched a video on military. Looks fun. I just signed up.
You can friggin call me Northern Eskimo for all I care, just don’t give me Tylenol and send me home. Figure out propriety why it hurts when I do this or whatever reason I went there in the first place.
Wow I was surprised they don’t already do this, I know a lot of positions in the GN don’t do this and we can tell when the GN goes against the Nunavut Agreement because the GN staff has no clue about the Nunavut Agreement, a lot of waisted time and energy in fighting with the GN staff, after all that and throwing away the work and start ove, time, money and work not getting done at the GN,
I find it strange that our own government a lot of times are going against the Nunavut Agreement and most times they don’t have a clue that they are going against it.
How long have we had Nunavut? It’s taking the GN a very long time to do things right.
Eskimo is a perfectly good and recognizable word for those Asiatic-appearing people who live in the north. If you know another English word for them I’d be happy to hear it. Oh wait, why don’t we use their term for themselves?
Address people as they address themselves. Eskimo is widely understood, yet it has been replaced (in Canada anyway) by the term that people call themselves. Fair enough, just be equitable and practice it for all people. Anything less is a racist double-standard. It doesn’t matter if they are ‘widely understood’ Inuktitut words, they are disrespectful.
Perhaps take a page from the same book and use people’s term for themselves , whether it is originally Inuktitut or not, rather than imposing another term on them, hmmm? It was done for Inuit, why can’t Inuit do it for others?
Pretty easy, eh?
Why use Inuktitut words? I am Acadian (not White, not Qablunaq, Acadian and intensely proud of it) I would expect that I would be referred to as such. If there is no word in Inuktitut for my identity, that is a failing of the language that needs to be filled. There is a perfectly good word that can be used – Acadian.
I’d like to know, honestly, do most Inuit understand the difference between different White cultures and identities or do many see them as one giant amorphous blob? From my limited personal experience there doesn’t seem to be an interest at all in acknowledging or understanding different White ethnicities and cultures. Why? Why use the Qablunaq instead of learning a person’s true identity? For example, it is vitally important to know if someone is Quebecois or Scots-Irish Cape Bretoner given the incredible cultural difference.
I have the same question about the view of South Asian ethnicities and cultures. Everyone seems to be called P@#* with no attempt at differentiating different peoples.
By the same logic there would be no reason to see Inuit as Inuit, it would enough just to refer to them as Indigenous. Yet, that isn’t the way that it is done. Why this double-standard?
I can only put it down to the homogeneity and insularity of Nunavut.
Doctors and other specialized medical professionals will continue to choose to not stay or work in NU. But at least now they will have a better understanding (excuses some may call it) of why an intoxicated, mentally unstable person is exhibitng blind hatred towards them.