The federal government and Indigenious leaders have announced they will work together to co-develop legislation to transform health care in First Nations communities.
The legislation would give First Nations, Métis and Inuit people control over the delivery of health care to their communities.
The aim: to eliminate racism in health-care systems across the country, something that–as the CBC’s Olivia Stefanovich reports–is a long-standing problem.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller announced the launch of the project following a two-day virtual meeting on anti-Indigenous racism in Canada’s health care systems, which are administered by the provinces and territories.
WATCH | Ottawa and Indigenous leaders set to address racism in health care:
About 500 health experts, Indigenous leaders and representatives from the federal and provincial governments took part in the conference.
“What we’re doing is not working for Indigenous people,” said Health Minister Patty Hajdu said Thursday following the meeting.
“There has to be a transformation of power.”
Chief Medical Officer of Public Health at Indigenous Services Canada Dr. Tom Wong, left, and Minister of Indigenous Services Marc Miller leave a press conference on COVID-19 in West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 19, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
Formal consultations are expected to begin in the spring, but it is unclear how long negotiations will take because health care in Canada is decentralized.
Miller said Thursday all provincial and territorial representatives were at the virtual meeting and all–he said–seemed committed–to varying degrees–to tackling the problem.
“There is no vaccine against racism and the effects of systemic racism in the healthcare system,” Miller told the CBC’s Stefanovich in an interview.
“It’s something that we have to work relentlessly on, it needs to be done now and it has to be done at the point of care [front-line health care].”
Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services, take part in an event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on July 7, 2020, to sign a protocol agreement to advance First Nations’ exercise of jurisdiction over child and family services. Bellegarde is calling Thursday’s health-care announcement “a welcome step toward addressing the inequities and discrimination Indigenous people face in Canada’s health care systems.” (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)
In last fall’s economic statement, Ottawa committed $15.6 million over the next two years to create health legislation tailored to the needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde called the initiative “a welcome step toward addressing the inequities and discrimination Indigenous people face in Canada’s health care systems.”
With files from CBC News (Olivia Stefanovich), The Canadian Press, APTN ·
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.