Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Media and social influencers

Recommendation 59: We call upon all media, news corporations and outlets, and, in particular, government funded corporations and outlets; media unions, associations, and guilds; academic institutions teaching journalism or media courses; governments that fund such corporations, outlets, and academic institutions; and journalists, reporters, bloggers, film producers, writers, musicians, music producers, and, more generally, people working in the entertainment industry to take decolonizing approaches to their work and publications in order to educate all Canadians about Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. More specifically, this includes the following:

1. Ensure authentic and appropriate representation of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, inclusive of diverse Indigenous cultural backgrounds, in order to address negative and discriminatory stereotypes.
2. Support Indigenous people sharing their stories, from their perspectives, free of bias, discrimination, and false assumptions, and in a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive way.
3. Increase the number of Indigenous people in broadcasting, television, and radio, and in journalist, reporter, producer, and executive positions in the entertainment industry, including, and not limited to, by providing scholarships and grants aimed at Indigenous inclusion in media, film, and music industry-related fields of study;
providing scholarships and grants aimed at Indigenous inclusion in media, film, and music industry-related fields of study.
4. Take proactive steps to break down the stereotypes that hypersexualize and demean Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and to end practices that perpetuate myths that Indigenous women are more sexually available and “less worthy” than non-Indigenous women because of their race or background.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Health and wellness service providers

Recommendation 64: We call upon governments, institutions, organizations, and essential and non-essential service providers to support and provide permanent and necessary resources for specialized intervention, healing and treatment programs, and services and initiatives offered in Indigenous languages.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Health and wellness service providers

Recommendation 65: We call upon institutions and health service providers to ensure that all persons involved in the provision of health services to Indigenous Peoples receive ongoing training, education, and awareness in areas including, but not limited to:

• the history of colonialism in the oppression and genocide of Inuit, Métis, and First Nations Peoples;
• anti-bias and anti-racism;
• local language and culture; and local health and healing practices.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Health and wellness service providers

Recommendation 66: We call upon all governments, educational institutions, and health and wellness professional bodies to encourage, support, and equitably fund Indigenous people to train and work in the area of health and wellness.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Health and wellness service providers

Recommendation 67: We call upon all governments and health service providers to create effective and well-funded opportunities, and to provide socio-economic incentives, to encourage Indigenous people to work within the health and wellness field and within their communities. This includes taking positive action to recruit, hire, train, and retain long-term staff and local Indigenous community members for health and wellness services offered in all Indigenous communities.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Health and wellness service providers

Recommendation 68: We call upon all health service providers to develop and implement awareness and education programs for Indigenous children and youth on the issue of grooming for exploitation and sexual exploitation.

Recommendation 69: We call upon all transportation service providers and the hospitality industry to undertake training to identify and respond to sexual exploitation and human trafficking, as well as the development and implementation of reporting policies and practices.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Educators

Recommendation 82: We call upon all elementary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions and education authorities to educate and provide awareness to the public about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and about the issues and root causes of violence they experience. All curriculum development and programming should be done in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, especially Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Such education and awareness must include historical and current truths about the genocide against Indigenous Peoples through state laws, policies, and colonial practices. It should include, but not be limited to, teaching Indigenous history, law, and practices from Indigenous perspectives and the use of Their Voices Will Guide Us with children and youth.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Social workers and those implicated in child welfare

Recommendation 89: We call upon all governments and child welfare services to ensure that, in cases where apprehension is not avoidable, child welfare services prioritize and ensure that a family member or members, or a close community member, assumes care of Indigenous children. The caregivers should be eligible for financial supports equal to an amount that might otherwise be paid to a foster family, and will not have other government financial support or benefits removed or reduced by virtue of receiving additional financial supports for the purpose of caring for the child. This is particularly the case for children who lose their mothers to violence or to institutionalization and are left behind, needing family and belonging to heal.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Social workers and those implicated in child welfare

Recommendation 91: We call upon provincial and territorial governments and child welfare services for an immediate end to the practice of targeting and apprehending infants (hospital alerts or birth alerts) from Indigenous mothers right after they give birth.