The Pros And Cons Of Indigenous Health

According to King et al. (2009), Indigenous social inequalities resulted from a combination of classic socioeconomic and alienation as well as Indigenous-specific factors related to colonization, globalization, migration, loss of language and culture, and disconnection from the land leading to the health inequalities of Indigenous peoples. Language serves not only as a means of communicating but for preserving cultural identity thus chronicling all that happened in the past, present and the future. The assimilation policies and the residential schools system, where Indigenous people were punished for being Indians were the major avenues for stripping them of their language, dances, value, self-worth, and identity (Brown et al., 2012). Passing of traditional and cultural knowledge from one generation to another ensuring its many forms of expression rests on knowing the language is central to every expression of cultural identity and fundamentally connected to health. In a report submitted to the World Health Organization in 2007, Mowbray wrote “This process continues to impact health and wellbeing and must be remedied if the health disadvantages of Indigenous Peoples are to be overcome. One requirement for reversing colonization is self-determination, to help restore to Indigenous Peoples …show more content…
Elders in the Namgis Aboriginal communities in Western Canada have reiterated the importance of preserving language and sustaining a connection to the land, critical determinants of health and wellbeing not generally recognized in Western biomedical traditions (Brown et al., 2012). Two pathways of dispossession; uncertain identity (loss of language) and displaced connections have greatly undermined the wellbeing and health equity of the Indigenous