Indigenous Issues in Health and Healing: from pre-colonization to decolonization.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course examines the many issues surrounding the health of aboriginal people living in Canada.  During the 12 weeks of class, students will be come to understand the present day health issues of aboriginal peoples from the perspective of their historical and political context and the effects of health care policy. The many highly qualified speakers from the Aboriginal community, its focus on health and the healing process and its experiential format make this course unique in the university. Optional, but strongly recommended, field trips include a "medicine walk" on the Six Nations reserve in which students will be able to see first hand the source of some of the herbal preparations that are used in healing, and a purification (sweat) lodge ceremony outside the city. The course is enriched by its association between students of the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Aboriginal Studies program in the Faculty of Arts and Science. Registration is limited to 34 students.

 COURSE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

1.   To familiarize students with the historical and social contexts of the health of Native people in Canada, including the similarities of the health issues faced by Aboriginal peoples of Canada and indigenous peoples throughout the world;

2.   To expose students to indigenous ways of knowing and indigenous science through the teachings of Aboriginal elders, healers, and scientists as well as through personal experience, individual and group research and field trips.

3.   To become conversant with the connections between mind, body, spirit and emotions in health and healing,

4.   To facilitate students’ exploration of their emotional, physical, spiritual and mental relationship to their own cultural heritage and to the environment;

5.   To enable students to become better practitioners of their chosen fields by applying the above.

6.  To prepare students for the task of becoming citizens of the planet in a time of turbulent change.