Latest news with #truthandreconciliation
National Post
30-07-2025
- Health
- National Post
Peter MacKinnon: Nurses warned of 'imbalances' in 'colonial' health-care system
Two centuries ago, liberal theorist John Stuart Mill wrote in his classic, On Liberty, that human liberty requires freedom of conscience, thought and feeling: 'absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects, practical or speculative, scientific, moral or theological.' His thinking has recently taken a battering, not least in our universities, but that beating is now joined by the foray of the Canadian Nurses Association into political thought. Article content Article content In its 2025 Code of Ethics, the association compels nurses to include a broad set of progressive political beliefs in their professional duties. Among these: nurses must respect the principles of social justice; advocate for the stewardship of the environment; advocate for freedom from oppression; and pursue truth and reconciliation. Article content Article content Article content On the subject of truth and reconciliation, nurses are encouraged to 'develop awareness of the Calls to Action contained in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada report to address racism and health inequity; understand the history of and the ongoing impacts of colonial policies and nursing practices on First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples' health and well-being; and acknowledge the power imbalances that exist due to historical contexts leading to the mistrust of colonial systems such as the health-care system …' Article content These are political quests which, depending on context, may be worthy of pursuit, but to establish them as professional duties for the nursing profession strays far beyond the requirements of conscientious individual patient care. Article content Article content Three observations are pertinent. First, these requirements do not have a settled meaning: nurses, like the rest of us, have different views about what constitutes social justice, environmental stewardship, reconciliation and freedom from oppression. If there is a prevailing orthodoxy in the association's leadership, it is not shared with the rest of us. Article content Article content Second, as with Lewis Carroll's Humpty Dumpty, these new duties will mean what the association says they mean at a given time. The consequence is that the association can hold its members to account for departures from current orthodoxies or the opinions of the leadership; members may not know what their transgressions are until after the fact when they are summoned for discipline. Article content Third and most important, what business does the association have in establishing these professional duties? It has an undoubted interest in its members' professional knowledge and skills, their willingness to work collaboratively in the health-care system and their ability to relate to patients including those from many and diverse backgrounds. But, their interest should not extend to telling them what to think, believe and advocate. Article content
CTV News
30-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to release names of residential school priests
An Every Child Matters Flag flies during a powwow at James Smith Cree Nation, Sask., on Friday, September 1, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu OTTAWA — The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation says it will soon release the names of 140 priests or brothers who worked in residential schools. Along with their names, the centre says it will also post online their personnel files and the names of the schools where they served. The list was developed with the Oblates of OMI Lacombe Canada, which the centre says played a 'fundamental role in Canada's residential school system.' The centre says the records are a 'vital' resource for families and communities as they research survivors and those who never made it home, and that the names of the priests and brothers will be 'updated on an ongoing basis.' Raymond Frogner, head of archives and senior director of research for the centre, says the files tell the story of the schools. He says they are 'creating a central source to examine, understand and heal from one of the longest serving and least understood colonial programs in the history of the country.' Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
CTV News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
White Feather event focuses on healing by educating public on Regina's history
Sundance Robson aims to educate the public on truth and reconciliation by sharing Regina's history of colonialism. (Sierra D'Souza Butts/CTV News)
