Aboriginal Canadians: Historical Trauma & Ongoing Adversities - Essay Sample

Introduction

The adversities that the Canadian aboriginal community has endured over time has rendered them vulnerable to physical, social, cultural as well as mental challenges. Their misery set off during the European invasion and consequential colonization, where more than 90% of their population perished as a result of infectious disease, slavery and warfare, and the nineteenth century (Boksa, Joober, & Kirmayer, 2015). The children of the aboriginals were then forced to attend residential schools, where they were separated from their parents and subjected to cruel treatment and discrimination as a process of making them more westernized. The creation of reserves for the aboriginals by the Canadian government with the aim of creating more fertile land to the Europeans also led to their displacement and separation, and many lost touch with their cultural lands. These historical traumas, coupled up with healthcare disparities, has created a perpetual mental health crisis among the aboriginal communities, to the point that suicide rates recorded by the youths from the Inuit community are among the highest globally (Kestler-D'Amours, 2016). The indigenous communities are hence inevitably witnessing a dying future. This paper will, therefore, analyze critically the issue of mental health crisis concerning the aboriginal communities to include the first nations, Inuit and Metis peoples of Canada. The sources, complex nature, and outcomes of mental health issues will then be investigated as well as the possible structural, social and cultural adjustments that can be made to salvage the situation, repair the damages and promise a future of mentally healthy aboriginals within Canada.

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The rate of suicidal attempts in the aboriginal Canadian community qualifies to be termed as a mental health crisis. In the aboriginal community, suicide is the leading cause of death, and this is more so for the youths (Pollock, Healey, Jong, Valcour, & Mulay, 2018). Suicide rates for males from the aboriginal community are 126 per 100,000 people, while that for females is 35 per 100,000 people for individuals between 15 and 35 years. This issue does not singly affect the present welfare of the aboriginals but also their future, as it is the young population that is vastly affected by the mental health crisis. The aboriginals are subjected continuously to social, historical, economic as well as political factors that hinder the attainment of a calm, relaxed, and peaceful mental state. This is a phenomenon that can be primarily attached to their minority status within Canada. The aboriginals form 4% of Canada's population, with 60% being the First Nations people, 33% being the Metis, and 4% being the Inuit (Boksa et al., 2015). As members of a minority group, the aboriginals are prima facie vulnerable to disparities and discrimination across numerous aspects of their lives, healthcare being one of them. Mental health issues that affect these individuals include substance abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, and stress from situations such as poverty and homelessness. Sexual abuse is also a leading course of mental illness, more so when it involves children. While the historical and socioeconomic causes of mental health are persistent across all the aboriginal group, the most significant cause of this crisis is the lack of services and facilities that offer interventions to mental health. Counseling services, direly needed by these individuals are often minimal or completely non-existent (The Canadian Press, 2016). As a result of this, many individuals seeking help may have to look harder to find services that might help them, while many despair and have to live with their mental illness without intervention.

Another cause of mental health illnesses stems from structural factors. Homelessness, for instance, causes high mental health, and this issue escalates with the defragmentation of the social services and healthcare interventions that could help stabilize the housing as well as psychological situations of such people Bingham et al., 2018). An issue such as homelessness stems from historical disparities that led to the dispossession of community land from the aboriginals, rendering most of them landless. Policies from the Canadian government also contribute to mental health issues. For instance, child protection policies often deprive children of the typical home upbringing, and this elevates the levels of stress and homelessness in many indigenous communities. Healthcare disparities form yet another critical barrier when it comes to mental health. Generally, there exists a healthcare disparity when comparing the non-aboriginal and aboriginal Canadians. Aboriginal Canadians often face disparities in access to healthcare facilities, and this is an issue that is perceived across the biomedical as well as postcolonial perspectives (Horrill, McMillan, Schultz, & Thompson, 2018). Socioeconomic factors contribute highly to this disparity, since most of the aboriginals face economic problems, while others are entirely unemployed. Racial prejudice also persists within the healthcare system resulting in prejudices and biases against the aboriginals. This highly hinders the access and quality of care.

Numerous strategies have been conjured to address the mental health crisis. Reconciliation has been one of these interventions. It has been primarily led by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) (Richmond & Cook, 2016). The historical aspect of the mental health crisis evidence among the aboriginals is thus addressed. The aboriginal communities are also devising mental wellness programs that utilize the community as well as the family to impact therapeutic effects on the mentally ill. The combination of cultural approaches, as well as western interventions, also aid in limiting the impact of mental illness. Numerous aboriginal programs have been developed to address the issues that these communities face. Among these programs include indigenous patient advocacy, where the needs of the aboriginal patients are presented to ensure a holistic approach to health. This eliminates the disparities in the social determinant of health and allows for the aboriginals to access healthcare as equally as the non-aboriginals do. Culturally competent care is also on the rise, and this incorporates care that takes into consideration the beliefs, diversities, and adversities. Such care includes training healthcare professionals to offer culturally competent care, as well as creating culturally specific programs (Clifford, McCalman, Bainbridge & Tsey, 2015). With these interventions and many others put in place, the mental health crisis could be hopefully resolved.

The dying future of the aboriginals is an issue that not only concerns their communities but also the world as it presents a threat to diversity. The causes of this can be traced to the mental health crisis that stems from the colonial and postcolonial historical events, socioeconomic limitations, and barriers to access healthcare. To solve these issues, culturally competent strategies, as well as healthcare adjustments regarding access and equity, have been made. The communities have also been involved in creating interventions that incorporate the resources within their reach to address mental health issues. However, Canada is a developed nation, with one of the best healthcare services add despite this, the aboriginals have continuously been disadvantaged. Even with the existing strategies to remedy this, are there any assurances that their conditions will ever change?

References

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Boksa, P., Joober, R., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2015). Mental wellness in Canada's Aboriginal communities: striving toward reconciliation. Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience: JPN, 40(6), 363-365. doi:10.1503/jpn.150309

Clifford A., McCalman J., Bainbridge R. & Tsey K. (2015). Interventions to improve cultural competency in health care for Indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA: a systematic review, International Journal for Quality in Health Care.27 (2). Pp 89-98, https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzv010

Horrill, T., McMillan, D. E., Schultz, A., & Thompson, G. (2018). Understanding access to healthcare among Indigenous peoples: A comparative analysis of biomedical and postcolonial perspectives. Nursing inquiry, 25(3), e12237. Doi:10.1111/nin.12237

Kestler-D'Amours J. (2016). Canada and the Aboriginal mental health crisis. Al Jazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/03/canada-aboriginal-mental-health-crisis-160317100523366.html

Pollock, N. J., Healey, G. K., Jong, M., Valcour, J. E., & Mulay, S. (2018). Tracking progress in suicide prevention in Indigenous communities: a challenge for public health surveillance in Canada. BMC public health, 18(1), 1320. Doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-6224-9

Richmond, C., & Cook, C. (2016). Creating conditions for Canadian aboriginal health equity: the promise of healthy public policy. Public health reviews, 37, 2. Doi: 10.1186/s40985-016-0016-5

The Canadian Press (2016). Lack of services contributing to indigenous mental health crisis: frontline workers. Retrieved from https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/lack-of-services-contributing-to-indigenous-mental-health-crisis-frontline-workers-1.3178797.