Posted on: April 11, 2023
Island Health acknowledges with respect and humility the Coast Salish, Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwakwaka'wakw Peoples on whose unceded and traditional territories we offer health care services and programs.
Please join us on April 10, 2023, as we celebrate Indigenous Nurses Day for the second year!
April 10 coincides with the birth of Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture, known as Edith Monture, in 1890. 
Edith was a member of the Mohawk tribe of the Six Nations of Grand River in Ontario and was the first Indigenous person from Canada to become a Registered Nurse.
To realize her dream of becoming a Registered Nurse Edith had to leave her family, relocating to the United States to attend nursing school because of the racist and colonial policies that prevented her from attending a nursing school in Canada.
Edith exemplified courage and leadership throughout her life. She graduated from Rochelle Nursing School in New York in 1914 and served overseas in World War I caring for wounded soldiers. In 1917, Edith became the first Indigenous woman to vote as a result of the Military Voters Act which gave the right to vote to all Canadian Soldiers.
In 1960, when all Indigenous Peoples gained the right to vote, her home served as a polling station to enfranchise Indigenous voters. Edith passed away in 1996, the same year the last of the Indian Hospitals and Residential Schools closed in Canada.
Today, many Indigenous people in Canada have followed in Edith's resilient and powerful footsteps to become a registered nurse.
At Island Health, we gratefully acknowledge the ongoing legacy of Edith Monture as this important day of recognition provides the opportunity to highlight the unique achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Métis nurses. We recognize, with humility and respect, their invaluable work and dedication in improving the health and well-being of Island Health residents despite a complex and difficult health care landscape that often includes Indigenous-specific racism.
As a health organization, we acknowledge that it is our shared responsibility to create health and care services and programs that are experienced as culturally safe. To meet this goal, Island Health continues to commit to identifying and addressing the historical and ongoing health impacts of colonization and Indigenous-specific racism.
To Indigenous nurses, thank you for your exceptional skills, longstanding dedication, and unwavering ability to provide exemplary nursing care across our diverse and complex service region. We acknowledge and raise our hands with gratitude and humility to you, an essential part of the Island Health team!
Huy ch q'u Kleco Kleco G̱ilakas'la
Mahsi' Cho Miigwech Hiy Hiy