Confronting White Performative Benevolence and Institutional Hegemony in Health Systems Transformation: Epistemic Justice and Accountable Allyship in Advancing Indigenous Health Nursing

Racism continues to harm Indigenous Peoples in B.C. health care, even when organizations say they support reconciliation and require cultural safety training. Sometimes “helping” can look supportive while power and control stay in the same place (often called white benevolence). A key gap is the lack of practical guidance on what accountable allyship looks like in everyday decisions, who decides what counts as evidence, who approves messaging, and what happens when concerns are raised. This research will study several Indigenous nurse-led initiatives connected to the BC Indigenous Health Nursing Research Chair and the CIHR I-Chair network. Under Indigenous governance, we will review existing materials and, where appropriate, hold a small number of partner-directed conversations about specific decision moments. Partners will review drafts before anything is shared publicly, and we will co-develop practical tools (decision checkpoints, a Recognize–Interrupt–Repair guide, and short learning scenarios). Expected outcomes include partner-validated guidance to support real accountability, strengthen policies and practices that protect Indigenous authority over knowledge, and inform future research on system-level anti-racism.