Current Problems:
Exploring Stakeholder: "Government of Alberta"
Updates on this page: 47
(Filtered by Theme "Systemic Racism")
April 24, 2024
Elderly dementia patient not handled appropriately says family
Family asks RCMP to review case at hospital in northern Alberta APTN News: A Dene family from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is unhappy with the treatment of their 80-year-old father, who has dementia, in a Fort McMurray hospital that resulted in an injury that required medical attention. The family complained to Alberta Health Services...
April 22, 2024
Racism, discrimination may lead to First Nations patients leaving emergency rooms: Alberta study
A Siksika Nation councillor says the study reflects community members’ experiences CBC Indigenous: Systemic racism and inequity in health care may be contributing to why First Nations patients in Alberta disproportionately leave emergency departments without being seen, or against medical advice, according to a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The peer-reviewed paper builds...
March 15, 2024
‘Our Children are not for sale’: Treaty 8 chiefs
Treaty 8 chiefs announce a new law that prevents adoption and private guardianship without parental or First Nation consent APTN News: First Nations leaders from Treaty 8 met today to announce a new law that supersedes previous legislation over First Nations children within that Treaty area. The law, called the Nehiyaw and Dene Nations of...
March 14, 2024
Edmonton police investigating death of Dene man in university hospital
APTN News: The Edmonton police have opened a probe into the death of Darryl Sabourin, a Dene man and father of four from Hay River, N.W.T., after he died in a local hospital. On March 4, Sabourin, 45, who was addicted to alcohol checked himself into the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton for detox...
February 27, 2024
Man convicted of manslaughter in the death of two Métis hunters granted unescorted absences from prison
RCMP says in parole documents that approving UTA will ‘display holes in the justice system.’ Sarah Sansom by family and supporters after the verdict on Anthony Bilodeau. Photo: APTN file. APTN News: The parole board of Canada has granted Roger Bilodeau, one of the men convicted of killing two Métis hunters in Alberta unescorted temporary...
February 7, 2024
Feds’ labour data shows wage gap for Indigenous workers
Canada’s National Observer: Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan launched labour data tool Equi’Vision on Friday. Photo from file by Carl Meyer. Listen to article A new tool created by Ottawa to reveal potential barriers in the workplace shows a significant gap in wages for Indigenous workers. On Friday, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan launched a tool called Equi’Vision that...
December 12, 2023
Open Access: Exploring paramedic care for First Nations in Alberta: a qualitative study
John G. Taplin, Lea Bill, Ian E. Blanchard, Cheryl M. Barnabe, Brian R. Holroyd, Bonnie Healy and Patrick McLane CMAJ Open: December 12, 2023 11 (6) E1135-E1147; DOI: https://doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20230039 Abstract Background: Prior work has shown that a greater proportion of First Nations patients than non–First Nations patients arrive by ambulance to emergency departments in Alberta. The objective of this study was to understand First Nations perspectives on...
December 5, 2023
AFN national chief candidates would back inquiry into Sixties Scoop
National inquiry into removal of Indigenous children could become a key task for next AFN leader CBC Indigenous: Some First Nations chiefs say the next national chief of the Assembly of First Nations should push for a national inquiry into the “Sixties Scoop” and the continued removal of Indigenous children from their families. About 22,000 Indigenous children were...
November 1, 2023
Advocates say Calgary shelter no longer run by Indigenous women
APTN News: In the early ‘90s, Elder Ruth Scalplock founded Awo Taan Healing Centre which means shield in the Blackfoot language. The centre was created to meet the needs of Indigenous women in a traditional and spiritual way. But Scalplock says only one Indigenous person is in a decision-making role at the centre. “Women need a place...
October 6, 2023
People accused of killing Indigenous women less likely to be charged with first-degree murder: study
Several factors from funding to distrust of colonial systems may contribute to the sentencing decisions APTN News: A report from Statistics Canada shows that there’s a disparity in the way homicide cases involving Indigenous women and girls are handled in the Canadian legal system. Data between 2009 and 2021 indicated that first-degree murder charges, the...
September 30, 2023
This should be a day when Canada rededicates itself to seeking justice
Toronto Star: “Hubert O’Connor: Child Molester.” That’s how the Victoria Times Colonist headlined the obituary for Catholic bishop Hubert O’Connor. He worked at the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, B.C., where he began a career as a serial rapist of young Indigenous girls. In 1996, he became the highest ranking Catholic official...
September 28, 2023
Siksika Nation Member Brings Human Rights Complaint in Response to Systemic Anti-Indigenous Discrimination in Alberta’s Healthcare Sector
NationTalk: Siksika Nation, AB – A Siksika Nation member has filed a human rights complaint against Alberta Health Services and Strathmore District Health Services in response to systemic, anti-Indigenous discrimination in the healthcare sector. On August 24, 2023, the Alberta Human Rights Commission accepted a complaint filed by Benedict Crow Chief, whose wife, Myra, passed away in...
September 28, 2023
Siksika man lodges human rights complaint against Alberta hospital after wife’s death
Myra Crow Child, in an undated photo, died in an Alberta hospital in 2022. APTN News: A member of Siksika Nation in southern Alberta has launched a human rights complaint against Alberta Health Services and Strathmore District Health Services. Ben Crow Chief claims “anti-Indigenous racism” played a role in the death of his wife, Myra...
September 25, 2023
Mounties investigate group attack on Métis boy at Cochrane school
The Reconciliation Action Group claimed the boy was targeted for being a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta and his mother’s outspoken advocacy on anti-racism matters Police and school officials are investigating after a teenage Métis boy was injured in what a local advocacy group is calling a “hate-fuelled” attack at a Cochrane school...
September 12, 2023
Racism partly to blame for unequal health care provided to Indigenous women: PHAC study
Indigenous communities are still deeply affected by the 2020 death of Atikamekw woman Joyce Echaquan in a Quebec hospital, where she filmed staff insulting her as she lay dying, Lee Clark said. The Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson NationTalk: Racism and the lack of primary care providers mean off-reserve First Nations, Metis and Inuit women and girls...
September 7, 2023
Man convicted in killing of Métis hunters begins appeal
Defence lawyer argues jury did not receive proper instructions APTN News: Roger Bilodeau, the Alberta man convicted of two counts of manslaughter for the slayings of two Métis hunters in March 2020, had a hearing for the appeal of his 10-year sentence Thursday. Bilodeau was convicted of two counts of manslaughter for the fatal shootings...
September 6, 2023
More than 500 Indigenous classes won’t have a teacher this week: here’s what we should do
Amid national teacher shortages, Indigenous communities are struggling enormously to recruit and retain teachers. The Toronto Star: Students start school this week in Eabametoong First Nation, a community 360 km northeast of Thunder Bay, where seven teaching positions remain unfilled; this includes two all-important kindergarten teachers for students who are starting school for the very...
August 28, 2023
Barriers like racism, distrust may be main cause of health-care disparities for Indigenous women, study says
National study quantifying health-care inequities is 1st of its kind, lead author says Brishti Basu · CBC News · Posted: Aug 28, 2023 4:27 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 29 CBC News: Just before Tina Campbell had a minor medical procedure recently, she remembered the discrimination she says she felt while trying to access health care nearly two decades...
July 20, 2023
Indigenous people 17.7% more likely to be incarcerated in Sask.
Non-Indigenous people charged with crimes are more likely to receive bail than Indigenous people Jeremy Appel / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter / Alberta Native News Jul 20, 2023 10:00 PM NationTalk: Saskatoon Today: ALBERTA NATIVE NEWS — Saskatchewan has Canada’s highest rate of Indigenous over-representation in provincial custody, with Alberta in second place, according to new data...
June 22, 2023
Dr. Deena Hinshaw was hired by the AHS Indigenous health team, then removed against their wishes
Dr. Esther Tailfeathers resigned as team lead after saying she felt ‘disposed of’ CBC News: On June 2, a screengrab of an announcement welcoming Dr. Deena Hinshaw to her new position began circulating on social media. Hinshaw was Alberta’s chief medical officer of health until she was fired last November by Danielle Smith, shortly after...
June 5, 2023
Indigenous coalition urges Canada’s healthcare system to ‘Rise Above Racism’
NationTalk: themessage. Who: A coalition of Indigenous health organizations (First Nations Health Managers Association, First Peoples Wellness Circle and Thunderbird Partnership Foundation); with NationTalk for strategy, creative and media (supported by Cleansheet Communications). What: “Rise Above Racism,” a new government-funded awareness campaign highlighting the issue of anti-Indigenous racism within the Canadian healthcare system. This is the second...
May 11, 2023
Opinion: To get Indigenous murder and suicide rates down, first face facts
Canadians need to agree on the hard fact of modern life that education is a prerequisite for economic success NationTalk: Financial Post – From 2017 through 2021, 1.45 non-Indigenous Canadians in 100,000 died from homicide. Among Indigenous Canadians the rate was six times that: 8.88 in 100,000. That average masks a stark regional difference, however....
April 14, 2023
Family of Cindy Gladue says province has ‘misplaced’ her remains
Gladue’s partial, preserved remains were brought into the courtroom by the crown prosecutor Cindy Gladue was a mother of three when she died in June 2011. Photo: APTN file APTN: The family of Cindy Gladue says that Alberta Justice has lost her remains. A part of Gladue’s preserved remains were brought into the court room...
April 11, 2023
Analysis of anti-Indigenous racism in hospitals reveals pattern of harm, no tracking mechanism
Canada’s National Observer: “Sakihitowin means love,” Pearl Gambler says, recalling the day she gave her daughter her name. It was the day Sakihitowin was born — and died. From Bigstone Cree Nation, Gambler entered Edmonton’s Misericordia Hospital on June 11, 2020, and experienced a series of events that she can only characterize as traumatic and...
April 2, 2023
74% of youth in care in Alberta are Indigenous. Here’s what 2 of them had to say
‘I strive to this day just to live a normal life,’ said Jesse Koenig, 28 CBC News:A new underground magazine circulating in Edmonton is sharing stories from youth in care — in their own words. Zine & Heard, edited by youth advocate Penny Frazier, shares stories, art, tattoos and more from former youth in care. ...
March 27, 2023
Alberta has 8 Métis settlements. None of them have full-time doctors
Health board pushing for more doctors, nurses and other health-care providers CBC News: Every Wednesday, a registered nurse travels 39 kilometres from the northeastern Alberta city of Cold Lake to see patients on the Elizabeth Métis Settlement. Alberta Health Services rents an office inside the settlement’s community hall for appointments. A counter near the door...
March 24, 2023
An Rx against racist behaviour in Alberta emergency departments
After years of studying systemic racism in hospital emergency care, a team of researchers and First Nations organizations will create ways to ensure all patients are treated equitably and with dignity. Nation Talk: University of Alberta: For the last six years, First Nations organizations have supported a team of researchers including Bonnie Healy and Patrick...
March 8, 2023
Alberta’s mandatory oath of allegiance is systemic discrimination
The government should amend the Legal Profession Act to remove it or to make it optional. First Peoples Law report: The Canadian Bar Association – In April 2022, the Law Society of Alberta acknowledged that systemic discrimination exists in the province’s justice system and legal profession. Two months later, a Sikh articling student launched a lawsuit, challenging...
March 5, 2023
‘Really worrisome’: Survey suggests some Alberta doctors have anti-Indigenous biases
Toronto Star: Two University of Calgary researchers weren’t surprised when their survey of Alberta doctors showed biases against Indigenous patients, but they were shocked by some of the comments. Pamela Roach and Shannon Ruzycki sent a survey in September 2020 to every licensed doctor in the province to determine their biases following high-profile deaths of...
February 22, 2023
Mother gives birth to still born child and given the wrong baby to bury
‘I’m sorry to tell you we gave you the wrong baby,’ hospital to Maskwascis mother. APTN: A mother from Maskwacis in Treaty 6 gave birth to a child who was still born and was given the wrong baby to bury a week later. “I just can’t wrap my head around it. It’s devastating. Especially to...
February 8, 2023
Indigenous man furious after mother put in ‘storage room’ after being discharged from Calgary hospital
NationTalk: Global News – An Indigenous man is furious after his mother was put in a “storage room” after she was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Bradford Mistakenchief’s mother was only given 18 months to live with the diagnosis. She was immediately put into palliative care at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre at Foothills Medical Centre in...
January 30, 2023
Mandatory Indigenous course at risk after group of lawyers aim to change Law Society rule
Vote to take place Monday and 11,100 Alberta lawyers eligible to register CBC News: The fate of a required Indigenous course for Alberta lawyers is at risk after a group petitioned the Law Society of Alberta (LSA) to remove a rule that allows the regulator to mandate legal education. Currently, all Alberta lawyers are required...
January 25, 2023
Fewer than half of Indigenous students graduate on time from Edmonton public high schools
83 per cent of Alberta students finish high school in 3 years, provincial reports show CBC News: Indigenous students in Edmonton continue to have lower high school graduation rates than their non-Indigenous peers. Annual education results reports, which include statistics from Alberta Education for 2021-22, show that more than 80 per cent of Edmonton public school and...
January 6, 2023
Sixties Scoop survivor reconnects with birth mom, discovers her culture, decades after separation
It took many years for the pair to develop a mother-daughter relationship WARNING: This story contains distressing details CBC News: Tauni Sheldon remembers the first time she saw her biological mom. Sheldon was 23 years old. It was 1993 and she was in the Winnipeg airport, having just flown in with her adoptive parents, Jim...
January 6, 2023
Alberta man who killed Métis hunters sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years
Maurice Cardinal and Jacob Sansom were killed on March 27, 2020, in rural Alberta An Alberta man was sentenced on Friday to life in prison without parole eligibility for 13 years in the second-degree murder of Métis hunter Maurice Cardinal. Anthony Bilodeau was also sentenced to eight years for the manslaughter death of Jacob Sansom. The sentences will be...
November 3, 2022
Cree woman suing Edmonton hospital for ‘failing to provide medical care’ in birth of her daughter
Said the hospital failed that racism and malpractice led to the death of her newborn baby APTN News: A member of Bigstone Cree First Nation in Alberta says she gave birth in an Edmonton hospital while a nurse watched and did nothing to help. In a statement of claim filed in the Court of King’s Bench in...
September 28, 2022
Ministers Honour Joyce Echaquan and Re-Affirm Commitment to Addressing Anti-Indigenous Racism in Canada’s Health Systems
Indigenous Services Canada: Ottawa, Ontario (September 28, 2022) – The Minister of Indigenous Services, Patty Hajdu, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Marc Miller, and the Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, issued the following statement today: “Health care is a human right, and should be free of racism and discrimination. But the systemic discrimination and racism that...
September 21, 2022
‘The bond is broken’: Data shows Indigenous kids overrepresented in foster care
Statistics Canada released data from the 2021 census showing Indigenous children accounted for 53.8 per cent of all children in foster care. Toronto Star: WINNIPEG – A Winnipeg mother says she was scarred for life when her first child was taken away at birth by social workers, who told her she was unfit to parent...
September 19, 2022
Experts warn ending birth alerts not the only solution to keep Indigenous children with their family
Globe and Mail: Canadian Press – The number of newborns taken into care dropped dramatically as birth alerts ended across Canada, but child welfare experts warn ceasing the practice cannot be the only step governments take to keep families together. “(Birth alerts) really risk being kind of a red herring in the real issue of...
June 27, 2022
Reproductive control of Indigenous women continues around the world, say survivors and researchers
Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will meet with researchers to share stories, heal and advocate for change. University of Alberta: The full extent of reproductive control practices around the world is not known, but they have been historically — and continue to be — targeted at Indigenous, poor...
May 3, 2021
Alberta: Human Rights Strategy
The Alberta Human Rights Commission has released a “draft” Indigenous Human Rights Strategy to reduce systemic racism that Indigenous individuals and communities face in health, education, child welfare, housing, and justice (including policing and corrections) systems. Research, data, and information collected from consultations with key stakeholders indicate that systemic racism—in the health, education, child welfare,...
January 28, 2021
Emergency Meeting on Indigenous Health
Assembly of First Nations – AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde reiterated recommendations and called for urgency in addressing systemic racism in Canada’s health care systems at a two-day virtual meeting with federal, provincial and territorial ministers and Metis and Inuit leaders that ended today. The meeting, convened by Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, Crown-Indigenous Relations...
January 28, 2021
Racism against Indigenous womern
Native Women’s Association of Canada – At a two-day meeting at which the issue of anti-Indigenous racism in Canada’s healthcare systems will be addressed by federal, provincial, and territorial governments as well as representatives of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit, NWAC is not being permitted to give more broadly based opening remarks Wednesday, along...
October 16, 2020
Emergency Meeting on Indigenous Health
Emergency meeting on racism in Canada’s healthcare system. AFN recommendations to all levels of government: Work directly with First Nations to ensure that Indigenous Peoples feel safe accessing health care services. Quebec needs to work with First Nations to fully implement the Viens Commission Report’s recommendations. Canada must conduct an immediate review of the Canada...
December 17, 2019
Environment and Health
Canada’s National Observer – Repeated failure by government authorities to conduct a comprehensive baseline health study as recommended by the Alberta Cancer Board (supported by the province’s governing health authority, Alberta Health Services) in 2009. In Fort Chipewyan a community of roughly 1,200 people, the study found, you would expect to see 39 cases of...
December 10, 2018
Forced Sterilizations
72 organizations endorse the joint statement from Amnesty International Canada, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, and Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, calling for government action to #DefendConsent and end #ForcedSterilization of Indigenous women in Canada Canadian Press – All the women interviewed felt that the health system had not served their needs,...
November 22, 2018
Call for national investigation into forced sterilizations
Senator Murray Sinclair, former Chair of the TRC, says Canada needs a national investigation to find out how common coerced sterilizations are among Indigenous women and how they’ve been allowed to continue for so long. http://nationtalk.ca/story/usw-joint-statement-calling-on-canada-to-end-sterilization-without-consent...