Ever since the late 1400’s when the European discovered North America they brought along with them a practice of domination leaving the first nation people with very little rights forcing them to stand defenceless. Ever since the settlers arrived, the lives of the First Nation people have forever been damaged with the implementation of new ways of living. These changes have created an image of what First Nations people are prejudiced as. These prejudices have lead to stereotypes and even forms of discrimination and racism. Unfortunately, the majority of the beliefs are negative and have been widespread amongst non First Nations people. Some of the unfortunate cultural stereotypes that exist in today’s society are that First Nations people are; poor, uneducated, dirty, bad parents, and alcoholics. These beliefs and attitudes can all be rooted from practices that European settlers have indirectly instilled within Canada’s institutional procedure.
Systemic prejudice and oppression towards First Nations women can be best explained as the result of formal and informal colonial policies and so can be best addressed by changing the prejudiced individual. A chief illustration of prejudice that First Nations women experience is through the health care system. The health care system has and continues to; discriminate, execute racism as well as permits structured inequalities that only hinders First Nations women.
Health care is a direct reflection of the social, political, economic, and ideological relations that exist between patients and the dominant health care system (Browne and Fiske 2001). Internal colonial
References: Browne, A. J., and Fiske, J. (2001). First Nations women’s encounters with mainstream health care services. Western Journal of Nursing, 23, 126- 147. Gerber, L. M. (1990). Multiple jeopardy: A socio-economic comparison of men and women among the Indian, Metis and Inuit peoples of Canada Morrison, G. T., & Morrison, A. M. (Eds.). (2008). The psychology of Modern Prejudice. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Nelson, D. T. (2006). The Psychology of Prejudice. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. O’Neil, J. D. (1989). The cultural and political context of patient dissatisfaction in cross-cultural clinical encounters: A Canadian Inuit study Voyageur, C. J. (1996). Contemporary Indian women. In D. A. Long & O. P. Dickason (Eds.), Visions of the heart: Canadian aboriginal issues (pp