Cultural Safety as a Catalyst for Change: Advancing Health Equity for Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Indigenous peoples in Canada continue to experience major health inequities and lower-quality care. Cultural safety provides a framework to address these disparities by transforming provider attitudes and practices and emphasizing the need for education and training to improve health care experiences and outcomes.

This paper deepens the understanding of cultural safety within Indigenous health care by highlighting the ongoing impacts of colonialism, systemic racism, and historical trauma on Indigenous health outcomes, and explores the role of nurses in advancing health equity.

The paper highlights gaps in nursing practice, including limited tools to assess cultural safety from Indigenous perspectives, and underscores nurses' responsibility to support systemic change aligned with Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

By identifying these issues and analyzing their impact on nursing practice, this paper underscores the urgent need for culturally safe approaches that are reflective, patient-defined, and embedded within both individual and institutional levels of care.