‘We’re racially profiled as drunk Indians’ – experiences of Indigenous rural British Columbians accessing health care

Indigenous-led study on experiences of anti-Indigenous racism in health care

Integrating Indigenous research methodologies, this study explored experiences of racism encountered by Indigenous people accessing health care in rural British Columbia. Throughout this work, the authors engaged with Indigenous leaders and community members, health administrators, municipality members, nurse practitioners, midwives and physicians, as well as with academics, first responders and community health groups where relevant.

Emerging themes

Through interviews and focus groups with Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants in 107 rural communities, the researchers identified four themes:

Indigenous people across rural B.C. experience different forms of racism in health care (systemic, interpersonal and epistemic).

These experiences of racism have wide-ranging impacts on their health and health care access (see Tables 2 and 3 in the article for examples).

Physicians and Indigenous community members perceive health care experiences differently.

Community-identified initiatives and innovations demonstrate steps toward culturally safe and affirming health care.

Practical actions for cultural safety

Building on proposed solutions from Indigenous study participants (Table 5), the authors outline concrete actions for health care providers, including public health, to improve culturally safe health care and Indigenous health (Table 6). These actions aim to translate the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s broad recommendations into practical steps to strengthen health care for Indigenous people.

Use this resource to

Deepen understanding of the many impacts of experiences of anti-Indigenous racism in health care

Reflect on the concept of cultural safety and who determines whether care is culturally safe

Identify concrete actions to promote culturally safe health care and Indigenous health within your context

Alignment with NCCDH work

This resource supports the implementation of core competency statement 9.3 in Core competencies for public health in Canada: Release 2.0:

Uphold the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to self-determination, and human rights as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and engage with the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action (TRC).

This journal article and the suggested actions were profiled in the NCCDH’s podcast, Mind the Disruption: “Disrupting for culturally safe health systems” (Season 4, Episode 3).

The NCCDH also has resources on racism and Whiteness as determinants of health:

Let’s Talk: Determinants of health

Let’s Talk: Racism and health equity

Let’s Talk: Whiteness and health equity

This resource complements a body of work on cultural safety led by the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health.

See other resources on Indigenous health.

See other resources on cultural safety.

Reference

Aldred, T., Schweizer, C., Pritchard, E., Christmas, J., Liu, J., Hubler, D., & Yeates, L. (2025). ‘We’re racially profiled as drunk Indians’ – experiences of Indigenous rural British Columbians accessing health care. Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine, 30(2), 71–78. https://doi.org/10.4103/cjrm.cjrm_15_24