Profiles | Jodi John

Graduate Researcher | PhD Student

Jodi is Kanyen’kehá:ka, Bear clan from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory where she has been living and working as a Registered Dietitian and Diabetes Educator for over 10 years. She has Bachelor of Science in Biology/Psychology from Trent University as well as a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from McGill University. Her research interests include the social determinants of Indigenous health and community wellbeing, healthcare systems and policy, as well as relational and institutional ethics. Jodi was recipient of the Indigenous Mentorship Network of Ontario Scholarship 2021, funded through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as well as Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship 2022 awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Research Abstract

Exploring Placed-Based Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) values and relationship building with healthcare providers in Kenhtè:ke (Tyendinaga)

The Original Instructions of many Indigenous peoples, grounded in relational ethics, outline how to be happy healthy human beings (Barriera, 2010; Nelson, 2008; Porter, 2008). However, colonization intentionally interrupted these relational ways and separated us from our knowledge systems having devastating impacts on our life and health (Corntassel, 2012; Richmond, 2018). Disparities in Indigenous health now exist worldwide. In Canada Indigenous peoples have lower life expectancy than the general Canadian population and have higher rates of chronic disease such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer (PHAC, 2016; CCO, 2017). Indigenous peoples also suffer higher rates of complications, and poorer outcomes of chronic disease requiring long-term engagement in healthcare (Davy et al., 2017). However, racism and lack of culturally safe care make healthcare an unsafe space for many Indigenous people and create barriers to engagement perpetuating health disparities (Allan & Smylie, 2015; Reading & Wein, 2009; Shaheen-Hussain, 2020). As a healthcare provider in my own Kanyen’kehá:kacommunity, clients showed me the potential for improved health outcomes when together we move beyond the western clinical model of care and engage in our own ways of being. Using Indigenous methodology from a Kanyen’kehá:ka perspective grounded in the Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen (Thanksgiving Address) with an Indigenous resurgence aim (Corntassel, 2012; Simpson, 2016) , I will explore Kanyen’kehá:kavalues and ethics of care in the context of building trusting relationships with healthcare providers and creating safe and engaging healthcare spaces when both healthcare provider and client are Kanyen’kehá:kacommunity members from the same territory.

Goals:
  1. Creating healthcare spaces that are safe and engaging for Indigenous people, and in doing so contribute to improving Indigenous health outcomes.
  2. A corollary goal is to lead the development of a community research ethics protocol, which has been identified as a community need. Having our own research ethics policy will work to assert our autonomy and position ourselves as best suited to protect and foster the interests and health of community now and in the future (Bull & Hudson, 2019; KSDPP, 2007; MacCaulay et al., 1996.) 
Objectives:
  1. Contributing Kanyen’kehá:ka voice, values, needs, and desires to the spaces of healthcare.
  2. Contributing to community agency and pride in our own ways of being and doing as we work towards maintaining and revitalizing our own lifeways.