Developing Relationships on a Shared Path to Reconciliation: The Core of Health Transformation and Safe Care for Indigenous People

Abstract

This article describes the experience of a pan-Canadian health organization that led a quality improvement collaborative focused on suicide prevention and life promotion with Indigenous communities in northern and remote regions of Canada. Working in partnership with a Guidance Group, it became clear that working in a relational way that is culturally safe and acknowledges “two-eyed seeing” helps to create an ethical space in which open dialogue and collab-oration can occur. Relational work enabled the improvement teams in the Promoting Life Together Collaborative to co-develop life promotion activities within their communi-ties. The primacy of building relationships is at the core of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and is a key enabler of system transformation required to support the health and wellness of Indigenous communities across Canada.