Catch da Flava Radio - Indigenous Cultural Awareness

For this edition of Health Talks Youth Radio, host Diamond chatted about the importance of Indigenous Cultural Awareness with our youth panel. In introducing the topic, Diamond mentions that a person’s cultural background has a powerful influence on their personal development because as they interact and communicate with others, they draw from their cultural beliefs and values learned from birth. This is especially important to understand the different cultural perspectives people are coming from, especially the Indigenous community. According to a recent statistic, the number of the Indigenous population is estimated to rise to between 1.7 million and 2.2 million by 2031, or between 4.0% and 5.3% of the total population. With the Indigenous community ranging into the millions, chances are we will meet at least one Indigenous person in our life, which means it’s worthwhile to understand where they are coming from, their social-psychological background, so we can better communicate with one another.

Some things our panelists considered were what their definition of cultural awareness is, what the benefits of developing Indigenous awareness is, what we can do to achieve this, how traveling to other parts of the country can improve cultural awareness, and such. Another interesting topic explored was “cultural safety” which is described as an environment that is spiritually, socially, and emotionally safe, with physical safety also a priority. There is no assault challenges or denial of identity, which we explore when it comes to the Indigenous community and why it is especially important given their painful history with the government, going through systemic barriers and abuse. The panel had a lot of interesting and valuable opinions when it comes to these ​ issues.

We’d like to thank Gisela, Kylie, and Travis for being on air with us and chatting about the very important topic.

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