Cultural awareness’ key to supporting the career ambitions of Indigenous youth – The Globe and Mail
While on a student placement as a medical laboratory technologist in Barrie, Ont., 33-year-old Inuk Muckpaloo Ipeelie felt invisible.
“I was removed from my Indigenous peers and support system and placed in a very Western health sciences field where I didn’t feel supported,” says Ms. Ipeelie of the placement, which she completed last year. “There was a lack of Indigenous knowledge and ways of thinking.”
Ms. Ipeelie says this dearth of Indigenous knowledge permeated her entire three-year program – the course discussed a lack of resources for Indigenous communities but didn’t mention cultural awareness and issues such as residential schools, racism, youth suicide and substance abuse.
