Cultural Reconciliation

At a Canadian nursing education conference, a familiar question arises: “What does cultural reconciliation look like in practice as an educator?”

A dean answers that, for her, it means changing practices so more Indigenous scholars participate in decision-making. A nurse educator adds that it means recognizing multiple worldviews as valid forms of scholarly knowledge. A clinical instructor explains that, for her, it means rethinking placements so students learn alongside Indigenous health partners rather than about them.

Weeks later, the same question surfaces again in the classroom. A student asks, “What does reconciliation look like in practice as a nurse?”

One student in acute care says it means noticing how bias can appear in documentation. Another in community health says it means understanding how place, culture, and wellness are connected. For a student in rural practice, it means collaborating with community leaders to build shared knowledge and foster mutual respect.

Reconciliation Looks Different Everywhere, Because It Is

Cultural reconciliation takes a different shape in every nursing program because each institution stands on different land with a different history. That individual history influences everything: how communities form relationships with local healthcare systems, how trust is built or broken within those systems, what populations are served, which health disparities are most visible, and what conditions nurses encounter most often. This piece focuses on what cultural reconciliation asks of nursing educators and institutions, recognizing that Indigenous communities define their own priorities, meanings, and pathways for reconciliation.¹

Reconciliation begins with developing a local schema. It asks caretakers to recognize that every healthcare program operates within a living network of land, people, and memory that continues to define it. During the past decade, nursing education has sought to translate that awareness into structured practice, one that respects the unique histories of the communities being served while preparing nurses to care equitably for each population.

Starting with Policy: 2015-2018

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action marked a turning point for nursing education in Canada. The commission named the health inequities created by colonial systems and, through Calls to Action 23 and 24, placed explicit responsibility on health systems and medical and nursing schools to address these issues. Across the country, nursing programs began developing visible commitments to this work, including policy frameworks, accreditation updates, and statements affirming the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in health education.

This early wave of activity carried urgency and good intention, but much of it remained procedural. The tendency to universalize this work, and to apply broad checklists or standardized curriculum goals, risks separating the idea of reconciliation from its origins. Educators began to recognize that policies alone could not determine what reconciliation should look like in different regions.²

Deepening the Work: 2018-2021

In the following years, the work became more tangible as programs began to face their individual history. Nursing institutions began forming partnerships with Indigenous organizations, hosting elders-in-residence, and co-developing curricula rooted in local knowledge systems. Reflection became more central: Educators examined how colonial assumptions persisted in grading, evaluation, and the language used in patient documentation.

Programs began embedding Indigenous case studies into clinical courses and redesigning placements to incorporate community-based learning. Faculty development also expanded, with training sessions and peer discussions encouraging educators to recognize how their teaching methods and evaluation standards reflected the inherited colonial structures.³

Reconciliation as Daily Practice: 2021-Present

By 2021, reconciliation had evolved beyond formal initiatives and had become an integral part of the daily fabric of nursing education. It now shapes how case studies are written, how placements are chosen, and how institutions share authority and credit with Indigenous partners.

Today, educators are increasingly recognizing that reconciliation cannot be achieved solely through broad institutional goals. The work depends on sustained attention to the specific: the histories of local Nations, the land on which programs are built, and the distinct health priorities of nearby communities. Here, learning is reciprocal. Students and faculty engage with communities to understand health as a collective process grounded in shared responsibility.⁴

Join the Movement: Cultural Reconciliation at Your Institution

As cultural reconciliation becomes embedded in national nursing standards, the next challenge lies in bringing it into daily academic and clinical practice. Educators want to build reconciliation-focused curricula, foster inclusion, and meet national expectations, but often lack the time, training, or confidence to initiate these efforts.

Programs that incorporate collaborative efforts with local Nations, Elders, and Indigenous faculty foster learning that reflects both geography and community needs. Elders and Knowledge Keepers, who are respected teachers and stewards of Indigenous knowledge and traditions, offer cultural, historical, and spiritual guidance when actively included in teaching.⁵

Most Canadian universities and colleges have an Indigenous Student Services office, an Indigenous Education Department, or an Office of Reconciliation and Indigenous Engagement, which typically includes staff directories or general contact emails for partnership requests. If your institution doesn’t have one, reach out to a local Friendship Centre or regional health authority’s Indigenous health team. Both maintain public contact emails and can help connect you with Elders or Knowledge Keepers.

The following are credible examples of ways to integrate reconciliation principles into nursing curricula.

Teach With, Not About, Indigenous Communities

Once relationships are established, the next step is collaboration. Teaching with Indigenous communities means sharing decision-making power, inviting Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and local partners to co-design learning experiences that reflect real community health priorities. These collaborations transform reconciliation from a theoretical value into an ongoing, relational practice.

Integrate Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Curriculum

Nursing programs are incorporating Indigenous knowledge systems into their curricula alongside Western frameworks, guided by the Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall’s principle of Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing), which encourages viewing health through both Indigenous and Western lenses simultaneously.⁶

Cultivate Cultural Safety and Ethical Practice

Ethics and safety are foundational to reconciliation movements. The field is moving from cultural competence, which emphasizes knowledge, to cultural safety, which emphasizes equity and self-awareness.

Remain Accountable to Sustain the Work

The longevity of reconciliation in nursing education relies on continuous dialogue with Indigenous educators and communities whose experiences and knowledge anchor the work. Sustaining that dialogue means ensuring these voices hold influence in decision-making, curriculum design, and the evaluation of outcomes over time.

These actions are starting points, but they must continue to evolve through long-term relationship-building, reciprocity, and community consent.

The Ethical Core of Nursing Education

Reconciliation invites nursing to reinterpret Florence Nightingale’s pledge to serve ‘the welfare of those committed to my care’ through a contemporary lens that recognizes care as relational, land‑based, and accountable to Indigenous communities.

Nursing education finds its future in the hands of a generation willing to look back. In doing so, they carry nursing’s oldest ethic forward: care rooted in respect, humility, and shared humanity.