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The official formation of the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association (C.I.N.A.) was in 1975 as Registered Nurses, Indian and Inuit Association of Canada. In 1974 the groundwork was started for the actual formation of the association by several nurses who shared a common vision founded in their unique perspective as Indigenous caregivers to Indigenous people.
The initial task facing two proponents of the organization, nurses Jocelyn Bruyere and Jean Goodwill (pictured), were to identify and contact other nurses of Indigenous ancestry. This proved to be a major undertaking since at the time there was no existing registry to help locate nurses according to their ancestry. However, through word of mouth and a lot of networking, a preliminary list of Indigenous nurses was developed.
Almost a year later, 41 of these nurses came together in Montreal to discuss their common role in addressing the many health problems affecting Indigenous People. Their commonalities in education and training, cultural background and concern for the health of their people resulted in a common vision and goal. The formation of what was then to be called the Registered Nurses of Canadian
Indian Ancestry.
The association’s founders initially came together to pool their skills, education and cultural heritages to ultimately improve what they witnessed firsthand as Indigenous nurses - the appalling overall health conditions faced by their own people.
They soon discovered that if their association was to survive and grow and successfully achieve the objectives that first brought them together, they would also have to become familiar with the culture of politics and bureaucracy, they would have to learn the subtleties of funding criteria and to develop new skills in the arts of diplomacy and persuasion.
To learn more about their goals and their victories, go to indigenousnurses.ca.
