Current Reality
Oct. 22: RECOMMENDATION 5 from the CMHA report “Over Promised, Under Delivered” identifies specific problems with the collection of health data from multiple jurisdictions:
Work collaboratively with provinces and territories, to strengthen the collection of nationally comparable, consistent data to measure health outcomes.
https://cmha.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/CMHA-Analysis-of-bilateral-agreements-report.pdf
Sept. 4, 2024: Canadian Medical Association (CMA) to livestream apology to Indigenous Peoples on Sept. 18. More details are available at cma.ca/apology, including a link to the livestream and a schedule of events.
Aug. 21, 2024: Report from the First Nations Health Authority says Indigenous life expectancy in BC fell from 73.3 in 2017 to 67.2 in 2021 (6%) due to COVID-19 and opioid overdose crisis
April 16, 2024: Budget 2024 commits $1,058 to First Nations and Inuit health but does not add any new money to meet their pledge of eliminating TB among the Inuit by 2030. Inuit experience TB 300x more than non-Indigenous people.
Dec. 13, 2023: Sherry McKinstry, the co-founder of the Indigenous Dental Association of Canada says along with expanding coverage, the federal government needs to be improving access to dental care for those who live in remote communities to keep oral health gaps from widening. First Nations and Inuit populations in Canada had nearly twice as much dental disease and more unmet oral health needs compared to non-Indigenous people, according to a 2017 report from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.
Nov. 3, 2023: Indigenous Services Canada announced that “together with Indigenous partners and the provinces and territories, we are co-developing new distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation to improve access to high-quality, culturally relevant health services”- originally announced on Jan. 28, 2021
Jan. 25, 2023: Despite the commitments made by all levels of government in each of the Three National Dialogues on Indigenous Health convened after the death of Joyce Echaquan, the governments have refused to invite any of the leaders of the national Indigenous advocacy groups to participate in the national health funding meetings being held in Ottawa beginning Feb. 7. As usual, decisions will be made on their behalf without any consideration for their opinions or input on how those decisions will impact Indigenous people.
Health Summit: National Dialogue to end Systemic Racism (after the death of Joyce Echaquan)
Oct. 16, 2020: First National Dialogue
After the death of Joyce Echaquan at a hospital in Québec, the Government of Canada convened an urgent meeting with the following objectives:
- to listen to lived experiences of Indigenous people and health care professionals regarding systemic racism in federal, provincial and territorial health systems
- to reflect upon the information shared to inform concrete measures that governments, educational institutions, health professional associations, regulatory colleges, and accreditation organizations can take
- to commit to a second gathering in January 2021 where these proposed or implemented measures would be presented by governments and health care organizations
Jan. 27, 2021: Second National Dialogue
Focusing on engaging federal, provincial and territorial governments, health systems and Indigenous partners the objective of this meeting was to discuss concrete measures to eliminate anti-Indigenous racism in Canadian healthcare.
June 28, 2021: Third National Dialogue
Federal Government announced specific funding allocations of $126.7 million over three years, first announced in Budget 2021, to support efforts to address racism in Canada’s health systems.