April 7, 2022
SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2022
Indigenous Nurses Day is a tribute to Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture who was born on April 10, 1890 and died in 1996. She belonged to the Six Nations reserve in Ohsweken near Brantford, Ontario. Edith was refused acceptance to any of the nursing schools to which she applied in Ontario, due to the restrictions The Indian Act placed upon Status Indians. She attended nursing school in the United States and became a registered nurse in 1914, graduating first in her class.
The special day is being celebrated for the first time this year as a means of offsetting the popular International Nurses Day that takes place on Florence Nightingale's birthday (May 12). Observing this day separately from International Nurses Week serves as a way of focusing on "provincial and national efforts to dismantle a widely recognized colonial healthcare system."
You are encouraged to get active on social media (#IndigNursDay) to promote awareness of the need for such a day, to support and acknowledge the work of Indigenous nurses, past, present and future, and "to elevate the voices of Indigenous nurses and bring attention to their important role in improving Indigenous health equity."
You can read more about this initiative in the Nurse Manifest Blog and Nursology.
MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2022
Continue the celebration the following day with Indigenous guest speakers, sharing circles, and stories shared by the families of Edith Monture and Rose Casper. For more details, please check out the PDFs linked below, or download the attached PDF, How to Get Involved.
