Government, Indigenous leaders herald health agreement that will dismantle 'colonial' system

Canada's health minister, the province of Ontario and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation have signed a deal on health care, a "landmark" agreement they say will begin the process of decolonizing the provision of care in the province's north.

The three governments agreed to a series of principles that any First Nation-led health-care system must adhere to, while vowingto pool money to better address poor health outcomes in Ontario's northern and remote reserves.

It is the first step in a longer process of turning over health care in northern Ontario toFirst Nations themselves, and allowing them to decide how best to spend money, staff nursing stationsand provide care for people in need, the health ministers said Monday. Currently, the delivery of health care for status Indians is largely the responsibility of the federal government.

The agreement comes after a particularly brutal spate of youth suicides on reserves in the far reaches of the province.

Alvin Fiddler, the grand chief of NAN, an organization that represents 49 reserves in northern Ontario, said First Nations used to have their own systems of care, and it worked well for generations.

"Because of the last 150 years, because of the colonial history of this country, many of [our systems] have been broken," he said.

Fiddler on new Health charter

7 years ago

Duration 1:06

Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler signed the Health charter with Ontario and the Federal Government in Ottawa Monday

"Despite the many tragic events that you hearabout almost on a daily basis, there's still a lot of good things in our communities that we can build upon," he said, adding NAN already has control over some aspects of health care.

"The system as it's constructed, the colonial health-care system, is not providing the access, equity and positive outcomes we would expect for any of us who are not First Nations, who are not Indigenous," Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins said after the signing ceremony.

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Hoskins said there are a plethora of problems, from theabsence of oxygen tanks for pregnant women giving birth, to the endemicrate of bacterial skin infections among young children.

The Ontario minister said all levels of government are working now to address this "untenable situation."

'A complete transformation'

"For the first time in Ontario's history we're talking about a complete transformation of the systemto one that is under the guidance and leadership of NAN. It's First Nations planned, developed and implemented," he said. "It's a pretty profound change."

"The systems as they are functioning now were not designed in a way that is in the best interest of First Nations, and that's exactly what we've acknowledged by saying we need a new approach, the system needs a transformation,"federal Liberal Health Minister JanePhilpott said.

The agreement signed Monday did not include details on any new spending, or how a move towards a First Nation-led health system would now proceed, but further negotiations are expected.

Hoskins pointed to the system currently in place in British Columbia, where the federal government, the province, and local First Nations signed a tripartite agreementthat handed over control of health care toIndigenous people. The First Nations Health Authority assumed the programs, services, and responsibilities formerly handled by Health Canada's First Nations Inuit Health Branch.

20 emergency mental health workers

Philpottsaid this medium-term plan to change the delivery of careis not meant to serve as a distraction from the current and pressing problems that manynorthern Ontario reserves face. She said the three levels of government are working on aPikangikumaction plan, named after a remote community located near the Manitoba border that has long struggled with a suicide crisis

Hoskins said Ontario will immediately send 20 new full-time mental health workers to Pikangikum First Nation at a cost of about $1.6 million and will remain as long as needed.

The investment comes after the province heard from the community about a serious need for trauma and mental health supports, including from about 380 people seeking counselling.

The move comes after doctors working in Ontario's north sent a letter to the health ministers demanding a transformational approach to a broken system that often leads to mental health crises.

"While government bureaucracies maintain funding and health-system design, First Nations are left with the blame for health-system failure," said the letter signed by some 20 doctors.

"They are also left with the results of health-system failure more suicides, more disease morbidity and more broken families and communities."

Health ministers on overhauling Indigenous health care system in wake of suicide crisis

7 years ago

Duration 6:43

'We need to change from a colonial health system to one that is Indigenous-led' says Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins.