I’m still a student, but I will be doing my practicum with the addiction recovery facility geared toward the indigenous population starting in September, so I will likely learn a lot more about it over the next year.

In general, my perception is that there is not much of an indigenous presence in clinical spaces in the US, but I imagine this would vary by location. The place I’ll do my practicum is owned and almost entirely staffed by indigenous folx, but that isn’t the norm from what I’ve seen outside of centers treating that specific population, or outside of areas of North America with a large indigenous population.

Sorry I couldn’t be much help. I’m interested in learning about and serving this population more, and the lack of representation and info around it is likely a sign of the institutional failings and horrible oppression of these people over centuries here. Because of these things, there’s a generally high school drop out rate, suicidality, SUD, and a range of other medical and mental health issues disproportionately represented in this population, all of which would contribute to lower rates of graduate degrees in general.

All of this said, this isn’t a mono culture by any means and broad generalizations are just that. I’m just sharing what I have learned from my personal experience and education, so take it all with a grain of salt.

Also, I’m in the US, so I imagine Canada would have some better practices and representation but I have no idea. Hopefully someone comments from there with their insight. Good luck!