N.W.T. health minister pressed on response to Indigenous health-care report
Report released in May makes 13 recommendations to improve outcomes for Indigenous patients
N.W.T.’s health minister had few details on Monday about the government’s response to a report last spring on how the territory could improve health-care outcomes for Indigenous patients.
Great Slave MLA Kate Reid asked about it in the legislative assembly.
“It is the first government report I have ever read that not only calls the lack of adequate educational and training support for Indigenous patient liaison staff ‘preposterous,’ it is also brave and unflinching in how it describes racism and white supremacy baked into the health system,” Reid said on Monday.
The 99-page report, titled Honouring the Voices of Indigenous Peoples, was done by a team composed of advocates and health service representatives from across the territory and backed by the non-profit Healthcare Excellence Canada with federal funding.
It was released in May and describes the experiences of many Indigenous residents with the system, including instances of “outright racism” from some health staff.
The report also included 13 detailed recommendations on how the N.W.T. government could improve things. Some of the recommendations include providing Indigenous patients with better language support when speaking with health-care providers, and offering Indigenous patients more support when traveling for care.
Reid said there’s still no public information on what the government has done in response to the report. She said it’s imperative that the government acts on the recommendations.
Asked by Reid if she’d read the report, Health Minister Lesa Semmler said she had.
Semmler also said the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority has drafted a plan on what recommendations it will implement but she could not say when those changes will happen.
“I haven’t seen the implementation, I haven’t seen what they’re accepting and not accepting or what they’re going to continue to work on,” said Semmler. “When I do have the information, I’ll be more than willing to have a conversation with or share that with the member.”
The report also says both health staff and patients want to see more Indigenous leadership in the health-care system.
In 2022-2023, the territorial government identified two Indigenous senior management employees out of 29 in the health authority. Within the Department of Health and Social Services, there were two out of 17.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Head of new Yukon health authority says Shäw Kwä’ą can help improve care, The Canadian Press
United States: Senators, including Alaska’s, sound alarm on cuts impacting Indigenous health care agency, Eye on the Arctic
