Cultural competence and cultural safety are essential knowledge in contemporary nursing care. Using a three-phase, mixed methods sequential triangulation design, this study examines the extent to which Anglophone Schools of Nursing in Canada have integrated cultural competence and/or cultural safety into the undergraduate nursing curricula. Factors that influence successful integration are identified through the lens of Donabedian's structure, process, and outcome model. Results suggest that several facilitating factors are present, such as leadership, partnerships and linkages, and educational supports for students. Of particular concern is the lack of policies to recruit and retain Aboriginal faculty, financial resources, and outcome evaluation indicators. A conceptual model of integration is offered to explain how Schools of Nursing function to support the implementation of these concepts into their curriculum. This study provides theoretical and practical implications for initiation and improvement of cultural competence and/or cultural safety integration strategies in Schools of Nursing.

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This is a story of crafting a culturally safe learning space in the context of First Nations communities. It is told by two nurse educators working together, one who is Indigenous and one who is not. The word “crafting” is used to describe the collaborative and aesthetic process of co-constructing learning with students, community members and the environment. The relationship between the educational institution and the First Nations communities was guided by the concept of cultural safety. Cultural safety politicizes the notion of culture and disrupts the power imbalance between nurses and the people they work with. A process of collaborative conscientization was used to decolonize our institution and ourselves. This led to new possibilities of crafting an ethical learning space where Eurocentric ideologies could be dislodged from the center in order for Indigenous ways of knowing and learning to emerge. Students experienced a form of relational accountability for their learning through participation in community ceremonies and protocols. What resulted was a unique and transformative learning experience for fourth year Bachelor of Science in Nursing students offered in collaboration between an educational institution and two remote First Nations communities.

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The story of land-based immersion learning for nursing students in remote First Nations communities is told through the stories of ten authors. We represent a collaboration between First Nations Knowledge Keepers, nursing students, and nursing faculty. Our inquiry draws on Indigenous knowledge paradigms and research methodologies. Currently in the preliminary stages of gathering our findings, we are learning how transformation happens through culturally safe relationships and ethical learning spaces. We are learning that inquiry requires commitment, authenticity, and a respect for differences. Most importantly, we are learning that nurses need to uncover ingrained and colonized assumptions in order to imagine new possibilities for learning and inquiring with Indigenous people and communities.