Current Problems: Health (18-24)
Exploring Theme: "Health Care Reform"
Updates on this page: 30
March 20, 2024
Cross-sector approach needed to address health and wellness in First Nations
Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare. File photo. Windspeaker.com: Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare was visibly shaken when he addressed media March 19 near the end of the first day of a three-day inaugural conference on First Nations Community Wellness. He had just received “heavy heart news” that former National Hockey League player and Stanley Cup...
February 28, 2024
Environmentalists push the federal government on complete ban on ‘forever chemicals’
‘Our health is being compromised,’ says Inuk health research advisor. Lucy Grey at the news conference on Parliament Hill Wednesday. Photo: Kerry Slack/APTN. APTN News: Health officials and scientists are calling on the federal government to issue a complete ban on substances known as “forever chemicals.” These chemicals, officially called PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—are part...
January 11, 2024
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Calls for Comprehensive Healthcare Approach Following Addition of 36 Acute Beds
NationTalk: Treaty One Territory, Manitoba – The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) acknowledges the recent announcement by the Manitoba government to add 36 new acute care beds at St. Boniface Hospital as part of their broader healthcare system improvement plan. While the move to enhance healthcare capacity is welcomed, the AMC emphasizes the need for...
December 13, 2023
Desperate and near starvation, his wife drove him 1,000 kilometres for the care that saved him
Scott Russell waited 6 weeks to hear from a surgeon who says he didn’t get any calls CBC News: Labrador resident Scott Russell had been in such intense pain and near starvation — he had lost about 90 pounds, or nearly half of his weight — that his wife drove more than 1,000 kilometres to Corner...
November 17, 2023
Treaty 6 nations tell Alberta it needs to consult before changing health-care system
APTN News: Chiefs from Treaty 6 nations in Alberta say they weren’t consulted on the province’s plan to completely revamp the way health is delivered. The plan, announced on Nov. 8 by Premier Danielle Smith, will bring sweeping changes to dismantle Alberta Health Services. It will be broken up into four separate divisions: acute, primary...
November 7, 2023
Trip south for medical treatment takes young Inuk mother away from her Grise Fiord community for a month
The challenges faced by Leah Audlaluk outlines the difficulties of northern medical travel APTN News: Imagine leaving your house for a doctor’s appointment and not getting home for almost a month. According to Leah Audlaluk, this is a normal occurrence for herself and others in the remote communities of Grise Fiord who leave for medical...
September 13, 2023
‘Dangerously misguided:’ AFN condemns Sask., New Brunswick education policies
The Assembly of First Nations says the policies are “discriminatory,” “dangerously misguided” and “a clear violation of basic human rights.” NationTalk: Regina Leader-Post – The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) says education policies introduced by the Saskatchewan and New Brunswick governments are “discriminatory,” “dangerously misguided,” an act of “legislative overreach” and “a clear violation of...
September 13, 2023
Staggering mental health, addiction stats push northern First Nations to call for emergency declaration
Band members 6 times more likely to be hospitalized for mental health, addictions than rest of Ontario CBC Indigenous: Chiefs of First Nations in northern Ontario are calling for a public emergency and social crisis to be declared, emphasizing the disproportionate mental health and addictions issues facing their communities compared to the rest of the province....
August 27, 2023
Indigenous females face more hurdles in health care access, study finds
The Globe and Mail: New research confirms what many Indigenous women have known all along: First Nations, Inuit and Métis females face many disparities in accessing health care. A study, led by the Public Health Agency of Canada and published in the CMAJ on Monday, found that First Nations, Inuit and Métis females have less access...
June 26, 2023
Considerations for collecting data on race and Indigenous identity during health card renewal across Canadian jurisdictions
Andrew D. Pinto, Azza Eissa, Tara Kiran, Angela Mashford-Pringle, Allison Needham and Irfan DhallaCMAJ June 26, 2023 195 (25) E880-E882; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.221587 KEY POINTS Canada’s health care systems do not routinely collect self-reported race and Indigenous identity data and often lack a standardized and consistent approach to data collection that would permit comparisons between organizations or jurisdictions. Collecting racial and Indigenous identity data is necessary for...
June 1, 2023
They say Canada’s health system is broken. But can First Nations leaders create a new one in the shadow of colonialism?
“We’ve been very clear with Canada that any federal health legislation that moves forward must recognize the Treaty and Inherent Right to health,” says Vice Chief David Pratt Toronto Star: First Nations leaders are wrestling with what the future of Indigenous health care should look like as they piece together legislation meant to deal with...
May 23, 2023
The Treaty Right to Health and the Legacy of the Indian Health Policy (1979)
Contemporary Legislative and Policy Considerations EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This document provides a succinct overview of the health-related legal and policy frameworks that frame and limit the potential for self-determination and self-government of First Nations people. This review is informed by recent developments such as the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the associated Calls...
February 14, 2023
Northern, Indigenous communities need better access to organ transplants, say Sask. advocates
Advocates say northern Sask. residents also need access to procedures like dialysis while awaiting transplant CBC News: Celia Deschambeault is speaking out about the lack of access to transplant services in the province’s north after seeing what it took for her uncle to access dialysis procedures outside his community, and then donating a kidney to him in 2011....
February 7, 2023
First Nations leaders pan Trudeau letter ducking request for seat at health-care talks
PM pledged to advocate for Indigenous partners to be included in health-care talks but didn’t extend invite CBC News: First Nations leaders are denouncing the prime minister’s pledge to advocate for Indigenous people during health-care talks with premiers this week — offered in lieu of an actual seat at the table — as an insult. An exchange of letters...
February 4, 2023
Doug Cuthand: First Nations’ right to health care is being compromised
Health care is a right that has been steadily eroded and integrated into the mainstream health system. Saskatoon StarPhoenix: Our relationship with the federal and provincial governments is under threat even though our treaty rights are recognized in the Canadian constitution and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that has been...
January 25, 2023
First Nations groups upset with exclusion from health-care funding talks
‘There is no reconciliation for First Nations when we continue to be excluded from these crucial discussions’ CBC News: First Nations groups are criticizing their exclusion from an upcoming meeting between federal, provincial and territorial governments aiming to reach a funding deal to improve the country’s ailing health-care system. The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations...
January 9, 2023
Delay in counselling therapist regulation hindering access for Indigenous people in Alberta
Alberta’s UCP government reluctant to proclaim new professional college CBC News: Mental health professionals say the Alberta government’s delay in creating a new professional college for counselling therapists is creating financial and logistical barriers for Indigenous people seeking help. Indigenous people can’t receive coverage under the First Nations and Inuit Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) plan...
November 15, 2021
Denial of medicine for Inuit Babies
Nunatsiaq News – Dr. Anna Banerji, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, who works in public health, pediatrics and infectious diseases, said Nunavut’s Health Department is not doing enough to protect Inuit babies from RSV. She said all Inuit babies should be considered high risk since Inuit babies born at full term still...
April 19, 2021
Bill 56 “The Smoking Act”
CBC – The Canadian Cancer Society – which actively campaigns to discourage smoking — has written to the province to withdraw its support of Bill 56 until First Nations are properly consulted. “While we are committed to reducing rates of lung cancer, we cannot do so in the absence of a consultative process that honours...
April 14, 2021
Bill 56 “The Smoking Act”
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs – The Manitoba government scheduled a 30-minute meeting at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon “the weekend before Bill 56 is going to Standing Committee prior to third and final reading…we did not want Manitoba to use that meeting as ‘checking a box’ to say that they had consulted First Nations”....
March 5, 2021
Bill 56 “The Smoking Act”
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs – The AMC stands in condemnation of the Province’s unjustified intrusion on the jurisdiction of First Nations through the tabling of Bill 56. Bill 56 removes section 9.4 of The Smoking and Vapour Products Control Amendment Act (the “Smoking Act”), which “exempts lands reserved for Indians and federal lands” from the...
December 9, 2020
“Our Children, Our Future: Knowledge Keeper Recommendations”
“Our Children, Our Future: The Health and Well-being of First Nations Children in Manitoba” released by Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP) looks at the health and well-being of registered First Nations children living on-reserve and off-reserve in Manitoba. The purpose of this report is to provide a sound baseline measure of how First Nations...
November 2, 2020
Canada’s Constitution embeds discrimination
Policy Options – Canada’s history of colonization has laid the foundation for the implementation of racist health policy and the delivery of culturally unsafe health care, resulting in health disparities that are disproportionately experienced by Indigenous Peoples. Since the establishment of the Indian Act in 1867, Canada’s Constitution has continued to support and maintain discriminatory...
October 15, 2020
Canada Health Act fails Inuit
Pauktuutit Women of Canada – President Kudloo calls for additional funding to improve health determinants for Inuit women and girls and a focus on youth to increase Inuit health providers. She will also will highlight how the Canada Health Act is failing Inuit women and girls when she participates in a national meeting to address...
September 8, 2020
Unicef “Innocenti Report Card 16”
NationTalk – Release of Unicef “Innocenti Report Card 16: Worlds of Influence – Understanding What Shapes Child Well-being in Rich Countries” where Canada placed in the bottom 10 of 38 countries. In fact, all four countries with large Indigenous populations – who all initially opposed The United Nations Declaration the Rights of Indigenous People –...
June 5, 2020
Bill 61 and COVID
Bill 61, an omnibus bill (An Act to stimulate the economy of Quebec and mitigate the consequences of the state of health emergency), declared on March 13, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and tabled earlier this week by the CAQ government cannot be misused by the Quebec government to minimize its duty to consult...
October 23, 2019
Declaration of Public Health Emergency
Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Resolution 16/04 Call for Declaration of Public Health Emergency. NAN is a political territorial organization representing 49 First Nation communities within northern Ontario with the total population of membership (on and off reserve) around 45,000 people. The Sioux Lookout Chiefs Committee on Health and the NAN Executive declared a Health and...
September 17, 2019
Health Care Data: 2015-17 vs 2002
University of Manitoba Today – Joint study by the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba (FNHSSM) and the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP) in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, “The Health Status of and Access to Healthcare by Registered First Nation Peoples in Manitoba” compares health...
March 1, 2019
Bill-74 The People’s Health Care Act, 2019
Bill-74 “The People’s Health Care Act, 2019” does not contain recognition of First Nations jurisdiction in health area and specifically Articles 18 and 23, of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, have not been recognized, as there has been no consultation with First Nations in developing this legislation. (Chiefs of Ontario)...
September 21, 2017
Canada Health Act flaws
Healthy Debates – “Indigenous health services often hampered by legislative confusion“. The federal and provincial governments negotiate health transfers based on the Canada Health Act, which specifies the conditions and criteria required of provincial health insurance programs. It doesn’t mention First Nations and Inuit peoples, Métis and non-status or off-reserve Indigenous peoples who are covered...
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