Cultural Safety for Mi’kmaw Students and Staff at Cape Breton University

Abstract

Cultural safety reflects the extent to which an individual feels that their culture is respected, accepted and understood by the larger society in which they live.The concept was originally developed in the context of Indigenous Peoples, but it could also easily be applied to members of other minority groups whose voices are underrepresented in mainstream society (e.g., the LGBT community, the differently-abled, other ethnic minorities). In this paper, I discuss my ongoing efforts to assess and measure cultural safety in Mi’kmaw First Nation students, staff and faculty at a small university in northern Nova Scotia. To maximize the chances of Indigenous students graduating and achieving to their full-potential within post-secondary institutions, we need to stop and ask whether they feel a sense of belonging, connection and cultural safety on-campus. If the answer is ‘No’ or ‘Only in the Aboriginal student centre’, then we need to collaborate with Indigenous students to design and implement interventions. These may involve altering both the physical campus and the way in which non-Native individuals on-campus think about and relate to Indigenous culture and individuals.