Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is dedicated to equipping students to discover meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. Drawing upon the riches of the Christian tradition, we are committed to uniting faith and reason through excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship. Trinity Western University, located in Langley and Richmond, BC is chartered by the province of British Columbia to grant baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral degrees.
The School of Nursing is led by our faith, Nursing, for us, is more. It’s more than a classroom of compassionate and eager students; more than a faculty of respected, engaged and caring faculty; and more than a school recognized internationally for our research and thought leadership. Nursing is a vocation, in which one is dedicated to assisting another, caring for society’s deepest needs. Caring for the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities is both motivating and rewarding. We give you the knowledge and skills necessary for a nursing career in hospitals and community-based settings and the practical experience required to be highly sought after when you graduate.
TWU Nursing is recognized as a leader in faith-integrated education and is accredited by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing. As a student in the TWU School of Nursing, you will experience transformative education that develops your intellectual, sociocultural, emotional, physical, and spiritual self. Our nursing classes are small, clinical experiences in hospital, community, and simulation lab settings are varied, and graduates score highly on the professional certification exam (NCLEX). You will study with professors who have received multiple teaching and research awards at university, provincial, and national levels. Your professors are also the authors of textbooks, chapters, and articles you will be reading.
Our Liberal Arts Foundations courses support holistic student development, while core courses in science, art, philosophy, language, religion, and society and culture encourage you to think biblically, critically, and ethically about the world. Nursing courses equip you to work collaboratively for the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health. Throughout the program, we focus on concepts of covenantal caring, equity, person-centredness and quality of life, and global engagement.”
School of Nursing Commitment to Truth and Reconciliation
TWU School of Nursing Statement on Decolonization, Indigenization, and Reconciliation states:
Trinity Western University School of Nursing acknowledges the Stol:o, Kwantlen, Katzie and Musqueam peoples on whose traditional and unceded territories the Langley and Richmond campuses are situated.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 2015 drew attention to the imperative of all Canadian institutions and citizens to recognize, acknowledge, and reconcile the profound harms that the residential schools system and its legacy have inflicted on Indigenous Peoples. Call to Action 24 calls on nursing and medical programs to require all students to take a course dealing with Aboriginal health issues, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, and Indigenous teachings and practices. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism (TRC, 2015, p.3).
As a Christian university, this imperative takes on additional urgency in light of the harm perpetrated by religious organizations. The TRC contains Calls to Faith Communities (Articles 48, 49 and 60) to adopt the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for reconciliation. For the TWU School of Nursing, our integration of spirituality into our teaching, research, and service includes honouring Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, including Indigenous spiritualities.
The School of Nursing commits to decolonization, Indigenization, and reconciliation. To do so means the TWU School of Nursing promotes and engages in activities and dialogue that result in deepened understanding of our shared colonial history; critical self-reflexive unlearning and relearning; integration of Indigenous perspectives into undergraduate and graduate curricula; enhanced educational experiences for Indigenous nursing students; and the address of systemic and structural racism.
Decolonization means dismantling colonial beliefs of the superiority and privilege of Western thought and approaches. It involves removing systemic barriers that perpetuate the status quo and actively acknowledging the disproportionate power imbalance between Indigenous peoples and the health care system.
Indigenization is a process of naturalizing Indigenous knowledge systems and making them evident to transform spaces, places, and hearts. In the context of post-secondary education, this involves bringing Indigenous knowledge and approaches together with Western knowledge systems. This benefits not only Indigenous students but all students, teachers, and community members involved or impacted by Indigenization.
Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people is concerned with repairing the effects of damaging relationships between a society of settlers and many cultural groups of Indigenous peoples over many generations and hundreds of years. It is about establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in this country. According to the TRC, “in order for this to happen, there has to be awareness of the past, an acknowledgement of the harm that has been inflicted, atonement for the causes, and action to change behavior” (p.1).”
Trinity Western University
The Trinity Western University community continues to come together, to learn together, and to walk together in a good way—learning of our shared history, living in truth and reconciliation by understanding contemporary injustices, and committing to work towards a future that honours God through respect and dignity for all peoples
TWU has responded to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to actions in several ways:
- Community Day of Learning
- Faith Communities
- Education
- Health
Call to Action # 24
We call upon medical and nursing schools in Canada to require all students to take a course dealing with Aboriginal health issues, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, and Indigenous teachings and practices. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.
Mandatory Course: Yes. Multiple courses.
NURS 137 Indigenous Health (3 sem. Hrs)
NURS 137 is a new course. It is a revision and re-imagining of NURS 127. This course is mandatory for all students. This course provides an overview of traditional views of Indigenous health, and the health inequities that followed from colonization. Decolonization and reconciliation are framed through a health promotion lens, with nursing responses to the determinants of Indigenous health through respectful partnerships with Indigenous communities. Through experiential learning, students are introduced to Indigenous ways of knowing, learning, and teaching to promote integration of cultural safety, cultural humility and anti-racism when working with Indigenous population groups.
While not explicitly visible on our website, this course includes Treaties 1—11 as well as the BC treaties. Our First Nation co-instructor uses this time to discuss what it means to be on reserve and how they were created.
NURS 227 Planetary and Global Health 3 Credits
This course focuses on global health, planetary health, health equity, humanitarianism and Christian missions, with implications for nursing and intersectoral care. Emphasis is on exploring past and current global health topics, such as global burden of disease, health systems strengthening, public and health policy, human rights, indigenous health, infectious diseases and global disasters.
Concepts of cultural safety and anti-racism are layered throughout the curriculum. In the first year, a course in Indigenous health provides students opportunity to learn about Canada’s history and the recent responses to key documents such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission(2015), the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Report (2019), and In Plain Sight (2020), a report on Indigenous-specific racism in British Columbia. Through experiential learning activities such as engaging with Indigenous elders and clinical placements in Indigenous communities, students develop self-knowledge, an appreciation for traditional Indigenous knowledge, and culturally safe nursing practice.
While not explicitly visible on our website, this course includes the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Course descriptions: found here. Pp. 315 – 320.
School of Nursing Commitment to Call to Action # 24: 5 out of 5 = 100%
| 1. Aboriginal health issues | |
| Yes. See mandatory course descriptions. | |
| 2. The history and legacy of residential schools | |
| Yes. See mandatory course descriptions. | |
| 3. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples | |
| Yes. See mandatory course descriptions. | |
| 4. Treaties and Aboriginal rights | |
| Yes. See mandatory course descriptions. | |
| 5. Indigenous teachings and practice | |
| Yes. See mandatory course descriptions. | |
Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing’s “Statement” of apology for colonial harms resulting from nursing education
Dec.11, 2023: CASN apologizes to Indigenous Peoples of Canada for Colonial harms resulting from nursing education…CASN is committed to a process of self-reflection, learning, and transformation. We will take the following steps to address the harms:
- Anti-Racism, Cultural Safety, and Humility: Promote education, resources, and practices that address anti-Indigenous racism, supporting decolonization, cultural humility, and cultural safety for nursing faculty, staff, and students. Promote institutional policies and processes that address systemic racism to foster an inclusive and equitable learning environment.
- Curriculum Revision: Promote a review of nursing education curricula to ensure a strengths-based focus and trauma-informed approach, the inclusion of content on the continued impact of colonialism and racism on Indigenous health, as well as Indigenous perspectives on health and well-being.
- Community Engagement: Establish meaningful partnerships with Indigenous organizations and communities to ensure their voices are heard in shaping nursing education policies and practices.
- Recruitment and Retention: Promote strategies that create culturally safe and supportive learning environments including pre-admission supports, in-program supports, and services that are developed in partnership with Indigenous communities.
- Ongoing Accountability: In collaboration with Indigenous partners, establish mechanisms to monitor progress and address concerns raised by partners, Indigenous nursing students, and faculty.
Land Acknowledgement:
Located on the School of Nursing Home Page and the Trinity Western University Home Page:
Trinity Western University’s Langley campus is located on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Stó:lō people.
| NOTE: All content has been submitted to the respective faculty for validation to ensure accuracy and currency as of the time of posting. The Trinity Western University School of Nursing reviewed and approved the document. Managing Editor: Douglas Sinclair: Publisher, Indigenous Watchdog Research Assistant: Timothy Maton |