Psychiatric Consumers and Survivors’ (Lackluster) Engagement with Indigeneity, Diversity, and Anti-racist Thought

The Canadian psychiatric consumer and survivor movement purports to advocate for justice and equity. However, the movement has a lacuna when it comes to Indigenous mental health, given the movement’s lack of engagement. Canadian literature is scarce regarding CSX engagement with Indigeneity, which my preliminary study seeks to address. My research question is: How do CSX organizations engage with cultural diversity and Indigeneity? This chapter is based on a constructivist grounded theory which involves interviewing CSX leaders and a secondary data analysis of the documents of thirteen (13) mental health organizations. I show that settler colonialism and whiteness historically overdetermine CSX organizational practices. My findings also reveal the movement has in limited cases chosen to build an anti-colonial praxis with Indigenous communities. New CSX initiatives are emerging that challenge historical practices, illustrated by Western Canadian examples.