Palliative Care
In 2023-2024, LFMO engaged Métis women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ kin members to explore culturally relevant and inclusive palliative care from a Métis perspective. Using storytelling and relational approaches, this initiative identified gaps in palliative care and proposed actionable changes to improve care experiences for Métis people.
Through funding from Health Canada in 2023-2024, Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak (LFMO) conducted a project to explore the perspectives of Métis women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ kin on palliative care.
The initiative sought to define what culturally relevant and safe, gender-inclusive palliative care looks like from a Métis perspective while identifying current gaps and opportunities for improvement. Grounded in Métis principles of storytelling, reciprocity, and relationality, LFMO hosted an in-person engagement with 83 participants as part of a health forum, fostering collective learning and knowledge sharing around palliative care within Métis people.
Métis communities have a unique understanding of illness and death, viewing dying as a natural part of the life journey.
For health forum participants, Métis-specific palliative care is holistic, person-centred, culturally relevant, culturally safe, community-centred and land-based, supportive of carers, accessible, equitable, and includes Métis-specific resources.
Many participants emphasized that culturally relevant care means having equal access to our medicines and teachings alongside Western medicines.
Many expressed a desire for health providers to better understand who Métis people are and approach them with cultural humility to learn how they individually practice their Métis cultural identity.
Related Resources
The following resources are associated with this project. Click ‘View All’ to explore our Resource Library.
