Canada’s pharmacy faculties join indigenization efforts

Pharmacy faculties across the country are making strides to indigenize their curriculum and encourage more Indigenous students into the profession. Waterloo’s Faculty of Pharmacy is the most recent to launch indigenization initiatives, while the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia (UBC) has implemented mandatory learning for PharmD students focused on Indigenous cultural safety and allyship, with the option for a further elective on Indigenous health. Other examples include the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto, which has implemented a course on Indigenous health terminology, and the University of Montreal which is working with other entry-level doctorate programs in health and sciences to change the admission criteria to include places for Indigenous applicants. Every month, representatives from every Canadian faculty of pharmacy meet virtually as part of the Truth & Reconciliation Special Interest Group (SIG), first established in 2018 and facilitated by the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC). The goal of these meetings is to provide updates on new initiatives and collaborate on what can be done to address calls to action from the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada. “I look back at the past three and a half years since we started this and see how much progress has been made, especially in the commitment by faculties to work together,” says Janet Cooper, executive director of AFPC. This past June the group hosted a virtual conference where each pharmacy faculty provided an update on how they are addressing indigenization, sharing lessons learned so far and tips for moving forward. Jaris Swidrovich, founder and co-chair of this SIG—and the first Indigenous pharmacy faculty member in Canada—says it’s encouraging to see faculties coming together to find ways to address better Indigenization of pharmacy faculties. “I think we’ve seen the strongest leaps and bounds at UBC where, even though there are no indigenous faculty members yet, they are working with the appropriate stakeholders (e.g., the BC First Nations Health Authority and elders from various Indigenous communities) on-campus and off to ensure there is progress being made,” he says. Read: Waterloo launches indigenization journey at pharmacy faculty Still, there is much work to be done, he adds. “It’s been difficult to move in an accelerated way on these issues without the participation of Indigenous pharmacists either within or outside our academic institutions,” he says. To that end, he says pharmacy faculties will have to make concerted efforts to make space for more Indigenous hires going forward. “People need to see themselves reflected in the profession,” he says. “I think more people would also feel more comfortable disclosing who they are if they knew they’d be surrounded by a community." Elaine Lillie, who is leading Waterloo’s indigenization initiative and co-chairs the SIG with Swidrovich, says making the faculty a welcoming place for indigenous students is a top priority. “Our hope is that by doing things that make it obvious we are a safe space, people will feel comfortable applying to Waterloo or identifying as Indigenous,” she says, noting that that includes having an Indigenous person on the admission panel. “You can’t imagine yourself in a role if you don’t know what it is, so it’s important that we also work with high school students to give them a sense of what pharmacists do,” she says. Read: Self-reflection and learning: resources for healthcare professionals marking the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation

Canada’s pharmacy faculties join indigenization efforts

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