Learning from First Nations and Métis nurses’ stories and experiences of graduate nursing education in BC

Indigenous nurses with graduate degrees are vital to revitalizing the health of Indigenous Peoples and transforming nursing education across what is now known as Canada; however, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis graduate nurses are underrepresented in nursing education and face barriers to attending and completing nursing programs due to colonial practices and settler-dominated environments within universities. As a Métis nurse and educator in British Columbia, I grounded this thesis in Indigenous research methodologies to collaborate with and learn from seven Indigenous nurses who attended graduate nursing in British Columbia. I share these nurses’ stories in a streams and rivers metaphor to visualize how their individual experiences flow together into streams and converge into powerful rivers that describe and shape the landscape of nursing education. The streams of knowledge gathered include the nurses’ motivations for pursuing graduate education, their experiences within their programs, and their recommendations for nursing education. These experiences encompass their insights into what was supportive and what was harmful in their interactions with nursing faculty and universities. The nurses’ motivations and experiences centered on commitments to family and supporting Indigenous Peoples in health care and education. The nurses highlighted the challenges they faced and the supports they used in navigating anti-Indigenous racism, finances, cultural conflicts, and loneliness, while balancing commitments to family and communities and maintaining their personal wellness. Connecting the nurses’ story streams to the existing literature, the thesis explores how universities can collaborate with Indigenous Peoples to advance nursing education, while respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis self-determination. This work provides insight into the aspirations of universities and Indigenous Peoples to work together to provide graduate nursing education in British Columbia and Canada and the tensions that occur as part of this process.