Indigenous Cultural Competency & Reconciliation Efforts

1. Land acknowledgements will be incorporated into all IEMHP events. 

2. Any work that IEMHP facilitates will follow Indigenous traditions (e.g. tobacco, opening prayer). An Indigenous perspective that includes the views of Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and Indigenous frontline staff will be applied to all activities – training, research, resource development. 

3. All IEMHP staff will take cultural competency and cultural intelligence training. 

4. IEMHP will endeavor to partner* with organizations and governments that have a commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) with an expressed focus on Indigenous communities. To ensure this is the case, IEMHP will create a checklist to review with potential partners that will reflect our criteria (e.g. have staff participated in cultural sensitivity training; is there a commitment to Indigenous communities and willingness to understand the impact of colonialism and the significance of decolonization, etc.).

*For the purpose of this work, partners/partnerships are those relationships where IEMHP is working with another organization toward a shared project goal and each organization is dedicating resources – financial and/or human – toward the joint work. 

5. When participating in any external committees, IEMHP will promote representation of Indigenous Peoples on the committee.

6. IEMHP will work intentionally toward having an Indigenous co-presenter at events where Indigenous individuals are part of the audience and/or the topic is specific to Indigenous people. This may take the form of panels or co-led presentations. When it is not possible to have Indigenous presenters/panelists, IEMHP will formally acknowledge where the knowledge and information being shared is coming from. Over time, IEMHP will build capacity to have available Indigenous speakers to be part of presentations so that experiences can be shared in the most authentic of ways. 

7. The unique trauma of Indigenous peoples in Canada will be part of any presentations on trauma developed by IEMHP. This will include the unique context of Indigenous peoples in Canada, the impact of colonization, and the outcomes of trauma, past and present.

8. In any research led by IEMHP in partnership with an Indigenous organization and/or community, IEMHP will acknowledge ownership of data to be with the Indigenous organization/community. For any use of the data (publications, presentations, etc.), IEMHP will make a formal request for permission - in accordance with the Ownership, Control, Access, Possession (OCAP) principles. 

9. Across all sectors and within SickKids, IEMHP will work intentionally to promote the Indigenous voice to be heard, and to make clear the impact intergenerational trauma and the history of colonialism may have on young children, their wellbeing and their families (this includes the acknowledgement of institutional betrayal). 

10. In its work, IEMHP will incorporate the recommendations contained in the Truth and Reconciliation Report, the UN Declaration on the Rights on Indigenous Peoples, and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report.