Perspectives

What the hell is happening with Reconciliation? Indigenous Watchdog was launched on Feb. 25, 2020 primarily to track progress on the 94 Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action. In the past six months, that progress was delivered roughly every two months via three updates documenting a total of 153 specific actions as follows: Sections April

Indigenous people currently manage or have tenure on 40% of the world’s protected areas and remaining intact ecosystems. The deep connection to land and water that characterizes Indigenous cultures around the world suggests a natural alliance with conservationists working to protect those places. Mongabay. James Dinneen. Jan. 23, 2020 First Nations, Métis and Inuit people

The June 15, 2020 Indigenous Watchdog update documents 49 actions across 10 Legacy and Reconciliation Themes and 15 Calls to Action since April 21, 2020 – seven weeks – that among other things should open Canadian’s eyes to the following: COVID-19 and the recent killings of Indigenous people by police confirm how pervasive systemic racism

What do the following Indigenous communities all have in common? Grassy Narrows Northwest Angle 33 First Nation Aamjiwnaang First Nation Muskrat Falls Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Mikisew Cree First Nation, Kashetchewan etc. etc. etc. Decades of fighting the federal and provincial governments to address ongoing health issues “plaguing” Indigenous people across the country, going back

The most recent census in 2016 counted 1.67 million Indigenous people in Canada, or 4.9% of the total population. Almost half (44%) of the Indigenous population—representing 731,480 First Nations, Métis and Inuit people —lived in one of 49 urban areas large enough to be divided into neighbourhoods (or census tracts): 51% identified as First Nations (373,055) 45% as Métis (329,166)  1% as

Indigenous Watchdog was officially launched on Feb. 25, 2020 with a blog post about the Wet’suwet’en vs Coastal GasLink protest. Since then, seven additional blogs have been posted addressing a number of distinct issues. What else has happened over the last two months? As of April 21, 2020, Indigenous Watchdog has updated the following: 7

What is the reality behind the statistics? We’ve all seen the numbers over the years that tell the unrelenting truth around the significant gaps in Indigenous health outcomes compared to the rest of Canada. Beyond the numbers, what are some of the current and ongoing problems and issues that sustain those negative results? The following

The most recent pandemic was H1N1 in 2009 where 27.8% of all hospital admissions were Indigenous people who at the time represented only 4.3% of the over-all population. (Maclean’s, July 16, 2009) Consider also: 17.6% of all deaths during the first wave were Indigenous 8.9% of all deaths during the second wave were Indigenous 20.9%

Coronavirus – or COVID-19 – has taken over our lives and has become rightfully the number one news story in the world. Nothing is more important than our health so included in this post are three items that are specific to COVID-19 and Indigenous people: A NationTalk video link to an Indigenous Services Canada update