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 and inequitable practices and policies that negatively impact the health of Indigenous Peoples. The result is that Canada’s current health-care model is in and of itself a determinant of ill health for Indigenous Peoples. The authors recommend specific policy changes to address these issues:
- Lack of availability and accessibility to culturally safe health care for Indigenous people in Canada
- Canada’s long history of implementing racist and sexist policies oppress Indigenous Peoples and place them in inequitable spaces.
- Indigenous women routinely experience systemic racism, institutional racism, a lack of cultural safety and sexism
Recommendations to make substantial changes to its health policies and legislations:
- a collaborative approach that engages Indigenous Peoples and their communities in generating culturally safe and relevant health policies.
- adequate distinctions-based programming and reporting mechanisms,
- additional support of Indigenous-led research,
- recruitment of Indigenous health-care personnel and
- the integration of traditional healing practices in Canada’s health care model.
- the creation of an ombudsman specific to Indigenous health should be established at the national, regional and local levels to ensure Indigenous Peoples feel safe to report inequities and experiences of mistreatment.
The TRC has advocated for cultural safety training and an increase in Indigenous health professionals in Canada’s health-care system, further supporting our health policy recommendations.Many of the health disparities experienced by Indigenous Peoples correlate to social, economic and political factors, suggesting that the foundation of Canada’s systems and thus its health care are inherently discriminatory.