“Looking after our own is what we do”: Urban Ontario Indigenous perspectives on juggling paid work and unpaid care work for adult family members

oleh: Eva Jewell, Andrea Doucet, Jessica Falk, Karen Hilston

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Elsevier 2022-01-01

Deskripsi

Approximately 7.8 million Canadians juggle paid work and unpaid adult/elder caregiving responsibilities. This balancing act can cause stress, financial burdens, strained relationships, and mental health issues for these employed caregivers. Employed caregivers who are Indigenous have unique challenges and perspectives when it comes to care and work, as our research demonstrates. Our project is part of a larger research project that informs the Canadian Caregiver Inclusive and Accommodating Workplace Organization's Standard (referred to as “The Standard” in this article) (Beckett, 2019). Ensuring that workplace standards are inclusive of Indigenous experiences is especially important because although Indigenous communities are the fastest-growing population in Canada, their experiences are often excluded or overlooked. Our research focuses specifically on Indigenous experiences of managing paid work and unpaid caregiving and takes place in the context of a local Indigenous Friendship Centre in an urban Ontario region. This research sought urban Indigenous perspectives on balancing employment and unpaid care work, yet much of what was shared by participants highlighted the differences that exist between Indigenous-led organizations/workplaces, and “mainstream” Canadian workplaces. What resulted was a robust discussion about (a) the inherently accommodating, inclusive, and culturally responsive nature of Indigenous led organizations, and the vital role Indigenous organizations play in the wellbeing of urban Indigenous communities, (b) the way Indigenous understandings of care can inform The Standard, and (c) the unique circumstances that Indigenous employed caregivers face. Our research is guided by a methodological process that combines the team's experience with Indigenous methodologies and onto-epistemologies, community-based research, narrative methodologies, and feminist ecological onto-epistemological approaches to knowledge making.