Equaywuk teaches cultural sensitivity

The Equaywuk Women’s Group and the Better Care Giving project hosted a Cultural Sensitivity workshop for caregivers of Aboriginal clients at the Sunset Suites in Sioux Lookout.

February 18, 2010: Volume 37 #4, Page B7

The workshop took place over two days (Jan. 30-31) and was broken up into four sessions. There were more than 40 participants in the two-day workshop.

Darlene Angecooneb, project co-ordinator for the Better Care Giving program said the main purpose behind the workshop is to let people who are attending medical school or who are already working within the northern communities or organizations that deal with those communities know some of the cultural differences between Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people.

Darlene Angecooneb, project co-ordinator for the Better Care Giving program leads a cultural sensitivity workshop at the Sunset Suites in Sioux Lookout Jan. 31. The workshop was put on by the Better Care Giving program and the Equaywuk Women’s Group. It included four sessions on topics including residential schools, gaining cultural competence and Elder’s beliefs.
-Chris kornacki - Wawatay News

“We teach about the ethics of Aboriginal people and some of the health concerns of Aboriginal people; whether it’s physical, mental, emotional or spiritual,” Angecooneb said.

“We’re hoping to give insight into the life of Aboriginal people and some of the issues with Aboriginal people also. Like the high costs of healthy food for example and the high diabetes rate in the north.”

This is the second time a workshop has been done by Equaywuk and Better Care Giving to provide awareness about Native issues for non-Native people.

“The workshop is supposed to be geared to non-Aboriginal professionals working with Aboriginal clients working mostly in a hospital setting, but this year we have extended it to the general public because we think that cultural differences and understanding them is very important,” Jennifer Derosier, program director of Equaywuk said.

“It’s hard to recruit people to come because everyone is so busy, so we tried a weekend workshop this year. And it’s a nice turnout, people are willing to come and listen and raise awareness within themselves, and that’s a good thing.”

Derosier said that some other topics being addressed at the workshop were Native ethics, the history of the residential schools and the effects of the residential school system on the Aboriginal population and the work that is currently being done to address those effects. Also, the struggles communities have in the north because of high costs of living.

Other topics discussed over the weekend were contrasting communication styles being Native and non-Native peoples and how to deal with these differences, Elder teachings, understanding the clan system, and understanding the Anishinaabe worldview.

“Understanding is important and we are talking a lot about respect. And if we lived in a world were everybody had respect for themselves and for each other what a good world we would live in,” Derosier said.