Bridging the Gaps Between Settler Social Worker Allyship and Indigenous Social Justice

Abstract

The topic of social justice has been heavily discussed as of late. For decades, Indigenous Peoples have been at the forefront, fighting for resurgence, human rights and self-sovereignty. They are the true voices of their cause. As such, there have been many non-Indigenous groups who have decided to show their solidarity by engaging in allyship work. Non-Indigenous allyship work has, however, often times been misguided and oppressive to Indigenous communities. One group in particular, settler social workers, have engaged in many misguided and often oppressive forms of allyship through their work with Indigenous communities. This study aims to discuss the gaps in allyship work within the social work field, and how social workers can become better, more useful allies to Indigenous social justice. Based on a literature review of allyship work, a thematic analysis was conducted, analyzing various Indigenous academic works and Indigenous news reports surrounding the gaps in social work allyship. This study focused on three main areas of social work: the child and family services sector, social work academia and frontline social work. Analysis of these works demonstrated that the key themes surrounding social work allyship revolve around pushing for self-sovereignty, funding, the Indigenization of academia, the centering of Indigenous voices and action, and family reunification. On this basis, social workers should strive to learn, and engage in critical thinking, push for self, organizational, and structural accountability, self-education, and power-sharing.

Keywords: Indigenous social work, allyship, self-sovereignty, accountability, code of ethics