As a condition of their employment, all Interior Health employed PCN allied health and nursing positions are required to take San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training and the IH Aboriginal Cultural Safety and Humility iLearns. Reichert’s evaluation of the remaining cultural safety training courses was used as a guide for selecting additional training programs to include in the toolkit as suggested training options. The toolkit also includes a local nation information section, foundational and suggested readings, and a section on the health regulatory colleges position on cultural safety. The local nation information, foundational and suggested readings, and what your college is saying sections were added to the toolkit to enhance the San’yas and IH Aboriginal Cultural Safety iLearns.   

The local nation information section provides PCN clinicians with links to information on the 3 Nations and 14 communities in the CIR PCN region. Understanding the local indigenous context for cultural safety training is important because indigenous cultures vary widely from region to region, and incorporating local context allows for more effective communication, engagement, and understanding.

The foundational readings include the In Plain Sight Report, the TRC’s Calls to Action, and Jordan’s and Joyce’s Principles, all of which are critical in informing cultural safety training. These reports provide insights into the challenges faced by Indigenous peoples in the healthcare system and underscore the need for cultural safety training. Healthcare providers can use these reports to guide their practice and ensure that they are providing culturally safe and respectful care to all patients, including Indigenous peoples.

The Culture Kit website also includes other learning resources in the watch, read, and listen sections of the Your Learning Journey page that were researched and taken from other suggested cultural safety training materials from Universities, Indigenous organizations, the BC health colleges, and other healthcare organizations provincially and nationally. Overall, the toolkit and Culture Kit website provide a starting place for the CIR PCN providers to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to provide culturally safe care and work towards improving health outcomes for all patients, regardless of their cultural backgrounds or identities.

The Secwepemc, or Shuswap, are part of the Interior Salish peoples who inhabit the Cordillera region of North America in central and southern British Columbia. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Secwepemc have inhabited the Williams Lake valley for at least 4000 years if not longer. The local band, T’exelc, known also as the Williams Lake First Nation Band, once inhabited the west side of Williams Lake, the current site of the city, but the coming of settlers to the region during the gold rush in the 1850s and 60s forced them to move. The Sugarcane Reserve, across the lake from the city, was also next to the residential school which operated into the 1980s before it was torn down. Today the band, and the nation more broadly, have become integral members of the business community in the Cariboo Chilcotin, running local organizations and managing private businesses.

The Tsilhqot’in are an Athabaskan speaking peoples who inhabit the Chilcotin plateau, stretching from the Coast Mountains east to the Fraser River. Many Tsilhqot’in operated long distance trade networks, bringing salmon from the Nuxalk and Heiltsuk nations on the coast to the inland nations on the east side of the Fraser River. They also traded in fish oil and furs, attracting European traders who built Fort Alexandria in 1821 on ?Esdilagh land, where the Alexandria Reserve is today. The Tsilhqot’in, in response to settler encroachment, launched a war in 1864 to defend their land from road builders. The war ended when the Tsilhqot’in leaders were hanged at Quesnel at the end of that year. Today, the Chilcotin War remains an important moment in the history of Indigenous and settler relations.

The Dakelh, or Carrier, are a Northern Athabaskan speaking peoples who inhabit central British Columbia, spanning the lakes north of Prince George, east through the Nechako Country, and south down the Fraser River and the west Chilcotin. They traditionally shared their territory in collaboration with the Tsilhqot’in to the south, though both nations were avid traders and travellers. The Dakelh were responsible for helping guide the European fur trader, Alexander Mackenzie, and his crew across the BC interior to the central coast in 1793, marking the first trans-continental trek by a European in North America. Today, their bands actively participate in the local economy, society, and culture.