Beyond 94
Providence is committed to honouring our promises and calling back a different song than previous generations.
Launched in March 2018, a national, interactive website will now monitor the progress of one of Canada’s most important tools for change: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.
The website, aptly named “Beyond 94,” was created by the CBC, and provides up-to-date status reports on the work being done to make good on the Calls to Action — the individual instructions collected between 2008 and 2014 to guide governments, communities and faith groups down the road to reconciliation.
It’s as much about accountability as it is about ensuring we move forward, together.
As a Catholic health care provider, we are committed to making good on the promises made in our signed Declaration of Commitment to Cultural Safety and Humility with the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) in Fall 2017. We are now working in concert with host nations, FNHA and Vancouver Coastal Health on further developing our services and our organizational cultural safety.
Since signing this declaration, our Urban Health Program has implemented the following in response to recognizing our role in reconciling, and making our facilities compassionate, safe and welcoming to all patients, residents and clients:
- Growing our Indigenous Health Team; this staff group focuses on the cultural safety of our patients, acts as an alley and advocate on their behalf, and helps to to connect patients, residents and their loved ones to sacred traditions and ceremonies in the hospital and community.
- Working with Plains Cree artist, Jerry Whitehead, to make our facilities more reflective of Indigenous culture or, in Jerry’s worlds, “to brighten the place up”. More than just a hit of colour or a beautiful wall painting, Jerry’s murals depict messages of family and connectivity, and create a space that all of our patients can see themselves in, and feel welcomed by. See Jerry in action in the video below.
- Providing direct care staff with more extensive education and skills in delivery culturally safe care in a project called safeCare, which is right now running with staff on 10C, with the vision of expanding across the organization.
We are only beginning our journey towards reconciliation with our patients, residents and clients, committed to calling back a different song than previous generations, and working together with FNHA to build a culturally safe and compassion-based partnership for the health and wellness of our First Nations communities and peoples.
