Current Problems: Health (18-24)
Exploring Theme: "Systemic Racism"
Updates on this page: 52
(Filtered by Indigenous Group "Inuit")
April 18, 2024
Ontario Human Rights Commission announces development of policy to address Indigenous-specific discrimination in Ontario’s healthcare system
NationTalk: TORONTO — Today, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) announced its commitment to work with Indigenous partners to develop human rights policy guidance to address and combat long-standing and widespread Indigenous-specific discrimination in Ontario’s healthcare system. The OHRC’s policy guidance will: To inform this guidance, the OHRC will meet with Indigenous health professionals, organizations,...
April 3, 2024
Nunavut family speaks out after 8-year-old given tuberculosis medication meant for another child
Child was given five doses of tuberculosis medication in three months without parents knowing CBC Indigenous: When Jaffar Gebara found out that his eight-year-old daughter was being given medication for sleeping tuberculosis at her school, he was shocked. Even more shocking was that his daughter didn’t have tuberculosis. “I’m sad that I let my daughter...
October 2, 2023
Breaking the Cycle: Confronting Healthcare Disparities for Indigenous Peoples in Canada
It’s time to bridge the inequalities Olivia Shan NationTalk: McGill Daily – The government of Canada has worked over the years to achieve reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through a restored engagement between nations, governments, the Inuit, and the Crown, stemming from an underlying basic acknowledgment of rights, respect, cooperation, and partnership as the cornerstone for...
September 28, 2023
3 years after Joyce Echaquan’s death, loved ones reflect on what’s changed — and what hasn’t
Health board appealing ruling to reinstate orderly fired after Echaquan’s death CBC News: Three paintings of women wearing braids and purple headbands in their hair with the words “Justice for Joyce” adorn the windows outside the Centre d’amitié autochtone de Lanaudièrein Joliette. Sitting on the porch at the friendship centre Thursday morning, Lorraine Echaquan and Regine Dubé...
September 13, 2023
Dissatisfaction grows among First Nations groups over Quebec Indigenous health-care bill
2nd day of committee hearings for Bill 32 sees walkout of Joyce’s Principle Office CBC Indigenous: The Joyce’s Principle Office walked out of a public hearing Wednesday morning held by a legislature committee reviewing a new bill that seeks to improve the treatment of Indigenous patients within Quebec’s health-care system. The office joined a growing chorus...
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...
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...
August 25, 2023
Decision Of The Tribunal Administratif Du Travail: Insecurity Resurges Among First Nations
NationTalk: WENDAKE, QC, Aug. 25, 2023 – At a time when the Committee on Institutions of the National Assembly of Québec is preparing to begin its specific consultations on Bill 32, an Act to establish the cultural safety approach within the health and social services network, the decision rendered on Wednesday by the Tribunal administratif...
July 31, 2023
Québec’s cultural awareness training makes flawed assumptions that do not prioritize the safety of Indigenous people
NationTalk: The Conversation – Québec’s Minister Responsible for Relations with the First Nations and the Inuit, Ian Lafrenière, recently introduced Bill 32, which aims to “establish the cultural safety approach within the health and social services network.” The intent of the bill is for health and social service networks in Québec to adopt a cultural safety approach...
June 13, 2023
Ontario land tribunal dismisses appeal against Inuit development in Ottawa
APTN News: Things appear to be back on track for the Larga Baffin development after Ontario’s land tribunal dismissed an appeal against the facility last week. “At the end of the day the objective is to build the facility to serve the people of Baffin Island and we’re really pleased for the community that this...
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...
June 3, 2023
Juliette Tapaquon’s tragic story exposes health-care inequality
NationTalk: Canada’s National Observer: Juliette Tapaquon spent her final months in unimaginable pain. It’s the thought that still keeps her mother, Joyce Tapaquon, up at night. A cervical cancer patient at Pasqua Hospital’s palliative care unit and a member of Carry the Kettle First Nation, Juliette was escorted out of the southern Saskatchewan hospital by...
May 9, 2023
Misprescribed and ‘Dumped’ at the Hospital’s Doors
Marilyn Johnson says she faced health-care discrimination because she is Indigenous and lives in the Downtown Eastside. Here’s what needs to change. The Tyee: Marilyn Johnson, a Gitxsan woman, is full of energy. The ends of her hair are dyed blue. She sips her Tim Hortons coffee and smiles from ear to ear when talking...
April 16, 2023
The painful legacy of tuberculosis in Canada’s North
Historical trauma and distrust in health-care system persist among many Inuit people today A History of Colonial Human Rights Violations Toronto Star: Joshua Idlout has never had tuberculosis, but the disease has cast a long shadow over much of his life. As a six or seven-year-old Inuk boy passing through Resolute Bay, the second northernmost...
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 4, 2023
Anti-racism policies in health care should be led by Indigenous staff: report
Federal report blasts anti-Indigenous racism in health care CBC News: More Indigenous practitioners are needed to address systemic racism, but that can’t happen without a supportive education system that also envisions them in leadership roles, says a report commissioned by Health Canada and touted as the first comprehensive review of the health-care workforce. The report, released...
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 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
Provinces lag behind Ottawa in offering crucial supports to those who’ve been switched at birth
The Globe and Mail: A man who was the first known switched-at-birth case in Manitoba says if it weren’t for the independent review and mental-health support ordered by the federal government, his life would’ve fallen apart. Luke Monias of Garden Hill First Nation said he would likely be unemployed and struggling with addiction. “I wouldn’t be...
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...
February 2, 2023
Manitoba medical group apologizes to Indigenous people for racism
NationTalk: CHVN – 95.1FM – The organization that regulates medical care in Manitoba has apologized for racism directed toward Indigenous people when accessing health care. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba says it recognizes its failure to effectively regulate the medical profession to prevent racist and substandard medical care to Indigenous peoples. Grand...
December 20, 2022
Province releases “Health Status of Manitobans Report”…the gap in health between Indigenous communities and other people is widening”
The life expectancy for First Nations people is 11 years lower than average and this gap is growing As of March 31, 2021 there were 9,8501 children in welfare service: 91 per cent of these children are Indigenous Premature Mortality Rate (PMR) for all First Nations in Manitoba is three times higher than for other Manitobans....
December 9, 2022
Panel to assess Indigenous patient care after the death of a young woman in St. Catharines
Heather Winterstein was only 24 years old when she felt ill and went to the emergency department at St. Catharines General Hospital for help, only to die from a treatable illness. One year later, Niagara Health announced it is beginning an external assessment of the emergency department (ED) to improve patient care and experiences for...
December 2, 2022
Bill on cultural safety in health coming, Quebec says, following forced sterilizations study
Report is latest to scrutinize treatment of Indigenous people in Quebec health-care services Verity Stevenson · CBC News · Posted: Dec 02, 2022 7:30 PM ET | Last Updated: December 7 Update: This story has been updated following a ministry spokesperson’s assertion the bill would be introduced in early 2023, not during the current session as Indigenous Affairs Minister...
November 24, 2022
Publication of a research report on free and informed consent and imposed sterilizations among First Nations and Inuit women in Quebec
RECOMMENDATIONS Includes 9 from the participants in the study and 11 by the research team including the following: Professional bodies in the medical professions: Review the training offered to the medical profession on free and informed consent, particularly in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology. Ask the Collège des médecins du Québec to take note...
November 17, 2022
Medical advice shouldn’t be different for Indigenous kids
The Globe and Mail: Tony Talaga – When the COVID-19 pandemic first struck, remote and northern Indigenous communities – which already lacked doctors, properly stocked and supplied health clinics and clean running water – had to scramble. First Nations leaders had to create public-health systems out of thin air. And in Northern Ontario, it seemed...
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...
October 13, 2022
How stereotypes led to the deaths of two Indigenous men in Thunder Bay police custody: expert
CTV News: A physician with expertise in Indigenous health care told a coroner’s inquest Wednesday that she heard stereotypes kick in from the first 9-1-1 call that led to a man being arrested for public intoxication before he died from medical conditions in Thunder Bay police custody hours later. Dr. Suzanne Shoush testified as an...
September 29, 2022
Death of Joyce Echaquan: Family files $2.7 million lawsuit against Quebec public health agency
APTN: The family of Joyce Echaquan, the Atikamekw mother of seven who was mocked by staff as she lay dying in a Quebec hospital in September 2020 has filed a lawsuit seeking nearly $2.7 million. Echaquan, 37, filmed herself on Facebook Live as a nurse and an orderly were heard making derogatory comments toward her at...
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 26, 2022
‘We are truly sorry’: Leaders, health officials acknowledge Indigenous-specific racism in northern Manitoba’s health-care system
CTV News: Indigenous leaders and northern health officials in Manitoba say Indigenous people continue to face racism in the health-care system, and have signed a declaration committing to eliminate it. On Monday morning leaders from Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin (KIM), and the Northern Regional Health Authority (NRHA), met in Thompson to sign...
September 26, 2022
Quebec’s Indigenous sensitivity training falls short, say health-care workers
Training sparked by Joyce Echaquan’s death called ‘superficial’ and ‘cringe-worthy’ CBC: As the second anniversary of Joyce Echaquan’s death approaches this week, Indigenous health professionals say the measures taken by the Quebec government to address racism and discrimination in medical facilities have been inadequate. Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw mother of seven, died in a Joliette,...
September 22, 2022
Human Rights Tribunal Rejects Attempt to Derail UBCIC’s Challenge to Liver Transplant Discrimination
NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) has rejected an attempt by BC health authorities to dismiss UBCIC’s representative complaint against discriminatory access to liver transplants for Indigenous patients. The Provincial Health Services Authority, the BC Transplant Society and Vancouver Coastal Health Authority are...
September 13, 2022
Niagara Health: Signs part of commitment to Indigenous community
Toronto Star: Visitors to Niagara Health sites across the region will notice signage on the health system’s properties in St. Catharines, Welland and Niagara Falls meant to show support for the Indigenous community. The signs include a variety of messaging that are geared to mark Niagara Health’s second Indigenous Inclusion Month. The first was marked...
July 22, 2022
CMA condemns forced and coerced sterilization
In response to the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights’ report The Scars that We Carry: Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Persons in Canada – Part II Opens in a new window, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) unequivocally denounces the practices of forced and coerced sterilization. As the report details, forced and coerced sterilization have...
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 27, 2022
Manitoba First Nations leaders declare State of Emergency in Health Services in the north
NationTalk: (Brokenhead Ojibway Nation) – Late afternoon May 24, 2022, the Keewatinohk Inniniw Okimowin Council (KIOC) of elected leaders unanimously declared a state of emergency on health services. The elected leaders are Chiefs and Councilors who collectively represent 23 First Nations in Manitoba’s north. The motion calling for the declaration came about during a two-day...
May 25, 2022
Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health and Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition report finds systemic racism in Ontario Health Care
“The conclusions in this report are horrific but unfortunately, not surprising. Indigenous-specific racism is embedded in Canada’s colonial history, and only by taking responsibility can we achieve better health outcomes for Indigenous peoples in this country,” says Wabano’s Executive Director Allison Fisher. “And the time to take responsibility and swift action is now.” The findings...
February 3, 2022
“Remembering Keegan – a BC First Nations Case Study Reflection”
Feb. 23, 2022: First Nations Health Authority – FNHA today announced the public release of its report titled “Remembering Keegan – a BC First Nations Case Study Reflection”. Keegan Combes was a 29-year old First Nations man who died in hospital in 2015 following delayed diagnosis and clinical management of a treatable accidental poisoning. “Remembering Keegan” is part...
May 17, 2021
Forced sterilization in Québec
The Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) – in collaboration with several partners gathered within a regional committee, call on everyone to participate in research on free and informed consent and imposed sterilization, including obstetric violence, among First Nations and Inuit women...
February 26, 2021
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Montreal Gazette – Québec Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafrenière, Health Minister Christian Dubé and interim Lanaudière health authority director Caroline Barbir announced along with Atikamekw chief Paul-Émile Ottawa announced the following changes: * the creation of a reconciliation committee * the addition to the health authority’s management of a liaison officer responsible for relations with...
February 11, 2021
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Indigenous Services Canada – Minister of Indigenous Services, the Honourable Marc Miller, highlighted funding of $2 million to the Conseil de la Nation Atikamekw and the Conseil des Atikamekw de Manawan, Joyce’s community, to advance their work and advocacy for the implementation of Joyce’s Principle. With this funding, the Atikamekw, including the community members of...
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...
December 15, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Release of “Racism in Québec: ZERO TOLERANCE. Report of the Groupe d’action contre le racism” by the Québec government that had no Indigenous representation. The Atikamekw nation says the 25 recommendations to counter racism raises more questions than answers. “Concrete proposals were offered in the brief for Joyce’s Principle to achieve changes with an impact...
November 16, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan – Joyce’s Principle
The Council of the Atikamekw of Manawan (CDAM) and the Council of the Atikamekw Nation (CAN) – have submitted a brief for “Joyce’s Principle” to Francis Legault, the Premier of Québec and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Québec Government has rejected adopting Joyce’s Principle “a call to action and commitment to governments to facilitate the transition...
November 10, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Québec Government – is investing $3.1M in Joliette “to enable the relocation and enlargement of the Centre d’amitié autochtone de Lanaudière (CAAL), an Indigenous community organization founded in 2001. Its mission is to improve the living conditions of Indigenous people living in or passing through the Joliette region by providing a number of support services, assistance...
November 6, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan
The Québec government will invest $15 million to implement targeted actions to enhance cultural safety for members of First Nations and Inuit in the health and social services sector. This announcement follows several calls to action by the Public Inquiry Commission on relations between Indigenous Peoples and certain public services in Québec....
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...
October 16, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan
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...
October 2, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Québec government announced the launch of a public inquiry under the coroner’s office....
September 30, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Montreal Gazette – “In her last moments, while tied to a hospital bed, Joyce Echaquan, a 37 year-old Atikamekw woman, pleaded for someone to help her. Instead, a video she recorded shows she received disparaging and condescending remarks — at a time when Québec continues to grapple with the larger question of systemic racism.” The...
September 17, 2017
Ignored to death: Brian Sinclair’s death caused by racism, inquest inadequate, group says
Brian Sinclair, 45, was found dead in Health Sciences Centre ER 34 hours after arriving without being treated CBC: A group of doctors and academics from across Canada say an Indigenous man who died while waiting for care in a Winnipeg emergency room in 2008 was killed by racism, and say the subsequent inquest into his...
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