OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND ON WHICH WE WORK
The members of NEST live, work and play on the traditional territory of the people of Turtle Island. Some of us are descendants of the original stewards of this land; some of us are descendants of settlers, or are settlers ourselves.
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The Indigenous people of Turtle Island continue to suffer from ongoing genocide. As healthcare providers, we have a responsibility to directly advocate for determinants of individual and community health. This includes demanding reparations by the Canadian government. We urge all to demand that the 94 calls to action that emerged from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission be urgently and meaningfully enacted.
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As naturopathic doctors, we have an imperative to ensure our services are accessible to the original stewards of the land on which we work. As a profession who benefits from Indigenous knowledge systems, we have a deep debt to pay, which can start with meaningfully integrating Indigenous ways of knowing into our training, and appropriately honouring the origins of the medicines we use.
How can you take action? Here are some suggestions:
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Write to your Member of Parliament to demand action on the TRC recommendations (https://www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en/search)
Learn more about the TRC recommendations, and the history of the ongoing genocide in so-called Canada (http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf)
Donate to Indigenous-led organizations working to support the health of survivors of residential schools, and others who continue to suffer due to the ongoing genocide; here are two to get you started:​
Contact the institution from which you graduated as a naturopathic doctor - or the AANMC (https://aanmc.org/) - and demand that the curriculum be modified to appropriately center Indigenous knowledge systems in naturopathic training
Contact the CNME (https://cnme.org/) to demand that the above curricular modifications be embedded in accreditation standards