Our Vision and Mission
Background
The Indigenous Health Movement (IHM) is a network for young Indigenous and Ally leaders to initiate reconciliation in the field of Indigenous health across Canada. Our commitment is to the communities we are advocating with and for. We want to continue putting these communities at the center of our work and ensure we work together with community based agencies to support Indigenous care and community health.
Building from the Anishinabe concept, Mno Nimkodadding Geegi (“we are all connected”), the Indigenous Health Movement will be a collection of chapters that will each focus on advocacy campaigns, community learning sessions, and host their own Indigenous Health Conference. The most important aspect of this expansion is making the impact of our conference more sustainable in order to make community-centered change. We recognize the broad cultural and geographic variation amongst Indigenous populations across Canada, and as such, IHM chapters will be expected to work with their Indigenous communities and Elders to ensure the core values of IHM, listening and understanding people’s stories and histories, is maintained. This community centered approach involves having learning sessions lead by community agencies, focusing the Indigenous Health Conference on the local needs, and advocating using frameworks for health relevant to the unique community you are working with.
Vision
IHM aims to sustainably change Indigenous health through community centered, student-led chapters across Canada that engage with Indigenous Knowledge, narratives in health, and learnings from medical practice to advocate for equitable access and appropriate care to decrease the disparities in Indigenous health.
Mission
This movement is committed to delving even deeper into the dialogue of reconciliation and the action of relationship-building than ever before. Just as Indigenous medicine wheels represent the alignment and continuous interaction of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual realities of an individual, the 4 guiding principles of the Indigenous Health Movement represent the interconnectivity of various aspects of our lives, including connection with ourselves through lifelong learning, Indigenous peoples by putting First voices first, non-Indigenous knowledge bases by incorporating Two-Eyed Seeing, and our wider communities in the form of advocacy.
Our STRATEGY & INITIATIVES
Our strategy is to identify disparities in Indigenous peoples’ health and advocate for equitable and culturally appropriate health care by normalizing and embracing Indigenous knowledge.
Each of our initiatives respectfully and passionately brings together our different ways of knowing to motivate people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, to use our collective understandings to address barriers to equitable health and healthcare in Indigenous communities.