Indigenous peoples in Canada represent the fastest growing population in Canada and endure some of the biggest health inequities in Canada.
To understand some of these inequities, we must first under the Social Determinants of health:
The effects of colonization, the “Sixties Scoop” and residential schools have led to high rates of intergenerational trauma, high unemployment rates, extreme poverty and lack of housing and clean water. The World Health Organization (WHO) has even acknowledged the impacts of colonization on Indigenous peoples in Canada;
In April 2007, an international delegation of Indigenous representatives met as part of ongoing consultations linked to the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health. The proceedings from this meeting included the statement: “Everyone agrees that there is one critical social determinant of health, the effect of colonization” (Mowbray, 2007). In Canada, Indigenous conceptualizations of the social determinants of health have emphasized the fundamental role of colonization, racism, social exclusion and a lack of self-determination in the alarming disparities in Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples’ health.” [4]
Nursing stations in First Nations communities are the first point of contact for health issues. They provide assessment’s of a patient’s condition while determining if it is urgent or non-urgent and seeing if immediate action needs to be taken. For some communities a doctor usually comes once a month as a family doctor, but if a person wants to see a specialist they must travel far from their communiites (for example James Bay communities travel to Kingston for specialists like orthopedic surgeons, dialysis etc.).
Today there are many gaps where Indigenous peoples must travel to southern “hubs” due to a lack of: