APPROACH

Settler colonialism is an ongoing cycle of destruction rooted in extractive racialized capitalism, patriarchy, supremacy, and conquest. It destroys positive relationships to health and cultural determinants that are necessary to sustain, thrive, and generate life. Instead, it operates as a mechanism fueled by greed, competition, violence, and oppression that destroys humanity and life-giving relationships with the land, community, and oneself. These anti-human values are reinforced in an unending cycle - produced and upheld uninterrupted by structures and institutions.

Across public health, education, and their intersecting disciplines, settler colonialism is ongoing. Settler logics are the foundation that built an imperialist settler nation state on occupied and stolen Indigenous lands. Structures we experience everyday were founded by such logics that legitimized genocide, rape, and white supremacy to remove Indigenous peoples from the land, capitalize upon it using domestic and international enslavement, and extract its resources as a source of power and wealth-building for settlers. These oppressive roots fuel destruction and cannot promote health and wellness, nor the futures we desire. Decolonizing is the pathway forward - we must heal and replace these oppressive roots for the benefit of all.

Inspired by the resilience and wisdom of our ancestors, we believe in the transformative power of Indigenous values that brings medicine and healing to all. When these values are lived and enacted, they pave the way for communities that are not only healthy, but also equitable, just and strong. This guides our approach to healing the lasting impacts of settler colonialism on our minds, bodies, communities, and within the systems that serve us. Under the principles of Indigenous science and values, we exist as a nurturing ground for the growth, protection, and legitimization of Indigenous-centered Health Justice.