But the temptation to allow old-school First Nation politics into the system must be avoided
Manitobans should be cautiously optimistic about a deal that will transfer health care for Indigenous communities in the province to a regional Indigenous authority. If done properly and not politicized, a deal between the federal government, the Manitoba government and First Nations in southern Manitoba could really improve health care for Indigenous communities in the…
U of A students work with Indigenous Sport Council of Alberta to turn data into solutions
The COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of organizations to rethink how they were serving their communities – for some, those pivots took them exactly where they needed to go. That was certainly the case with a new partnership between the Indigenous Sport Council of Alberta (ISCA) and the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation.…
Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception meet with researchers to share stories
Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will gather with academic researchers at a summit in Edmonton this summer to share stories, heal through art and ceremony, and set an agenda for change. The full extent of reproductive control practices around the world is not known, but they have been…
The pandemic clearly taught us that Canada’s health-care system needs to reform
Indigenous communities across Canada should learn from an Alberta First Nation that’s establishing a private health clinic to provide services that will reduce the pressure on the public system. The Alberta government recently approved a plan by the Enoch Cree Nation, close to Edmonton, to build a private clinic specializing in hip and knee surgeries.…
Partnerships with First Nations needed to overcome systemic racism, researchers say
First Nations patients were less likely to be prioritized for the most urgent treatment than others with the same ultimate diagnosis at emergency departments in Alberta, according to a study published on Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. “We were surprised to see differences for things like long bone fractures, which seem pretty obvious. You would expect…
Indigenous resource management key to ending environmental degradation and loss of culture
When Danika Littlechild was growing up in Maskwacis, Alta., her uncle would pick her up after school and walk her home through the bush to her kôhkom’s (grandmother’s) house. He would show her different plants and fungi along the way, teaching her their names and telling stories about when to harvest and how to use them for…
Six northeastern Alberta First Nations partner with the U of A to improve health care for their members
Six northeastern Alberta First Nations have formed a new partnership with the University of Alberta to train more Indigenous physicians and improve health care for their members. The memorandum of relational understanding between the university and Tribal Chiefs Ventures Inc., which represents Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Cold Lake First Nation, Frog Lake First Nation, Heart Lake…
With an interest in public policy, Jesse Lafontaine aims to increase Indigenous representation in medicine
Beyond the shared surname, the parallels are striking between the U of A’s newest Rhodes Scholar, Jesse Lafontaine, and Alika Lafontaine, the first Indigenous president-elect of the Canadian Medical Association. No, they’re not related. But Alika founded the national Indigenous Health Alliance, a health transformation project involving 150 First Nations and several national health organizations. As a…
First Indigenous president of the Canadian Medical Association speaks about what it will take to overcome inequities
On Canada’s newly-declared National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we asked Dr. Alika Lafontaine to take stock of the state of reconciliation in health care. Lafontaine, an anesthesiologist at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Grande Prairie and associate clinical professor in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, was recently chosen as the…
The terrible COVID-19 experience of Native American communities clearly carries lessons for Canada’s First Nations
Canadians have seen the harm the COVID-19 pandemic is doing to Native American communities in the United States, knowing it could happen to Indigenous peoples here. The infection and death rates for many Native American communities is much higher than mainstream communities. The American Indian Studies Center at the University of California published a graphic…
Manitobans should be cautiously optimistic about a deal that will transfer health care for Indigenous communities in the province to a regional Indigenous authority. If done properly and not politicized, a deal between the federal government, the Manitoba government and First Nations in southern Manitoba could really improve health care for Indigenous communities in the…
