Vanessa Mitchell

Background

About Vanessa Mitchell

I often call the work that I do, hard work and heart work. It is hard work because of racism. It is heart work because I know there are Indigenous peoples not accessing healthcare to the detriment of their own health due to experiences of racism and discrimination. Right now, there are a lot of efforts towards cultural safety and as many definitions. So, what is cultural safety not? Cultural safety is not about teaching culture. It is a journey of self-reflection and doing the work. Doing the work includes (but is not limited to) being truthful about the power and privilege you hold, and unpacking the racist ideologies that you have learned and perpetuated knowingly and unknowingly, as well as understanding the colonial narrative of so-called Canada. Cultural safety is not about cultural voyeurism. To me, cultural voyeurism is when someone only wants to be entertained by the food, song, and dance of a people with no desire or interest in knowing, listening, hearing, or understanding the story (his story, her story, their story) of a people. Cultural safety is not simple nor is it a check box. Rather it is a journey and way of practice. Those are some of my thoughts and reflections.