The Share Your Story (SYS) project was initiated by the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, in partnership with the Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition, and funded by Ottawa Public Health. The project’s goal was to collect specific stories about racism and discrimination experienced by Indigenous people seeking medical care, with the following intentions:
• Situate local experiences within the broader, historical, colonial context;
• Record and examine incidents of racism reported by a wide range of Indigenous community members, health care personnel, and other witnesses;
• Identify possible “hot spots” of racism across the Champlain region;
• Study the impact of these experiences of racism on health and wellbeing;
• Probe a reconsideration of ‘kind and competent care’ from the perspective of Indigenous clients and service users;
• Select stories that can be videotaped and used for ongoing training and educational purposes (e.g., Indigenous Cultural Safety training modules); and
• Identify solutions intended to improve the health outcomes for the Indigenous communities across the Champlain region.
This report is a culmination of the above stated intentions and is a five-year strategy with the full expectation that in ten years anti-Indigenous racism and discrimination will be eliminated in the health care system across the Champlain region.