Exploring Theme: "Ongoing Health Crisis"

NationTalk: TORONTO – Through a first-of-its-kind report, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is providing an in-depth look at the mental health system in Canada—with all its cracks and failings—and how people are faring, in every province and territory. What it reveals is troubling. Among the findings of The State of Mental Health in Canada...

Several provinces are discussing introducing or expanding compulsory treatment Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks listens to questions at a news conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa, on Friday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang  APTN News: The Canadian Press – Provinces and territories need to do more to expand and improve their treatment...

Gladys Alexie, a teacher in Fort McPherson, bakes a pie. “The fact that other people came in and shared our grief was such a big, big help,” she said. Simona Rosenfield/Cabin Radio NationTalk: Cabin Radio – In Fort McPherson, residents say a drug addiction crisis is driven by housing issues, decades-long lifestyle changes rooted in...

TB rate among Inuit 676 times higher than among non-Indigenous, Canadian-born people CBC Indigenous: With the federal budget approaching, Inuit leaders and New Democrat MPs are urging the Trudeau government to tackle tuberculosis in Indigenous communities. Inuit in particular face a “staggering and unacceptable reality” of tuberculosis rates more than 300 times higher than Canadian-born non-Indigenous people,...

‘All of the deaths we’ve experienced have touched every person in Fort McPherson,’ says chief CBC Indigenous: Prayer circles were held across the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and northern B.C. over the weekend to mourn a series of recent deaths in the hamlet of Fort McPherson, N.W.T.  Three young women, a young man and an...

CBC News: Dr. Sheri McKinstry says Indigenous communities struggling to access dental care is common across the country.  “It’s kind of not surprising that we’re having issues with dental providers coming into the clinics when we’re isolated,” she told The Trailbreaker.  McKinstry is a dentist, member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, and one of the...

The territory received proposals from two facilities, but neither met its criteria for Indigenous-led services CBC News: The N.W.T. government’s search for an addiction treatment facility with Indigenous-led programing isn’t going well.  The territory’s Health and Social Services Department was taking proposals from facilities it could work with early in the year, but the contract...

Timing of elimination of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Canada’s provinces indicates 70% of provinces could reach the World Health Organization’s (WHO) HCV elimination target of 2030, however three of Canada’sprovinces — two of them the most populous in the country — are off track to achieve this hepatitis C elimination goal.1 Timely elimination would save 170...

Globe & Mail: Tanya Talaga – Over the past week, a Thunder Bay hotel’s conference room has become home to a land-based healing and recovery program. There, 17 women from one northern First Nation about two hours down the highway – women who are addicted to opioids, alcohol, crystal methamphetamine (jib) and/or methadone, which is...

The Narwhal – Human Rights Watch released “My fear is Losing Everything: Climate Crisis and First Nations’ Right to Food” in Canada. The report details how longer and more intense forest fire seasons, permafrost degradation, volatile weather patterns and increased levels of precipitation are all affecting wildlife habitat and, in turn, harvesting efforts. The report...

Community Food Centres (CFC) – Release of “Beyond Hunger – The Hidden Impacts of Food Insecurity in Canada”. Even before COVID-19, food insecurity affected nearly 4.5 million Canadians. In the first two months of the pandemic, that number grew by 39 per cent. Food insecurity now affects one in seven people, disproportionately impacting low-income and...

NationTalk – There is no national fire protection code that mandates fire safety standards or enforcement on reserves. All other jurisdictions in Canada including provinces, territories, and other federal jurisdictions (such as military bases, airports, and seaports) have established building and fire codes. The Aboriginal Firefighters Association of Canada (AFAC), NIFSC’s parent organization, supports the...