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- NWAC Calls For Provincial And Territorial Health Ministers To End Discrimination In Healthcare, Root Out Racism In Health Workforces
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OTTAWA – Lorraine Whitman, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has written to provincial and territorial ministers of health, asking that they the take the measures necessary to end discrimination faced by Indigenous people who seek medical treatment.
Ms. Whitman’s letter was sent in advance of an urgent meeting Friday, called by Ottawa, to address racism in healthcare.
Many Canadians are aware of the horrific facts of the final hours of Joyce Echaquan’s life in a hospital bed in Joliette, Que. But Joyce’s story was not exceptional. Indigenous patients regularly experience abusive treatment, negative stereotyping, substandard care, and an overall sense of feeling unwelcome within healthcare settings.
The federal government is responsible for funding Indigenous healthcare, but medical services provided to Indigenous people are often delivered in provincially run facilities.
In her letter, Ms. Whitman asked the provincial and territorial health ministers to demand that hospital administrators and others responsible for health services in their jurisdictions conduct the same sort of systemic reviews now being required of police forces across Canada. She asked that they take steps to end discriminatory health policies and procedures, and that they root out racist elements within their healthcare workforce.
“The racist treatment suffered by Joyce Echaquan and countless other First Nations, Métis and Inuit people is atrocious. But it can be stopped if we have the will to take collective and decisive action,” wrote Ms. Whitman. “I am asking you to stand with us and say ‘No More’.”
Ms. Whitman referred the health ministers to the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls that relate specifically to health. She offered the following measures that would greatly accelerate positive change:
Discriminatory practices in healthcare mean Indigenous people have significantly worse health outcomes that non-Indigenous people. Ms. Whitman says: “That is just plain wrong in a wealthy and progressive country like Canada.”
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For information, or to arrange an interview, contact:
Annette Goerner
annette@sparkadvocacy.ca
+1 (613) 818-6941
Pour obtenir plus d’information ou prendre des dispositions pour une interview, contacter:
Annette Goerner
annette@sparkadvocacy.ca
+1 (613) 818-6941
About The Native Women’s Association of Canada
The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is a National Indigenous Organization representing the political voice of Indigenous women, girls, transgender, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people in Canada, inclusive of First Nations on and off reserve, status and non-status, disenfranchised, Métis and Inuit. An aggregate of Indigenous women’s organizations from across the country, NWAC was founded on the collective goal to enhance, promote and foster the social, economic, cultural and political well-being of Indigenous women within their respective communities and Canada societies.
À propos de l'Association des femmes autochtones du Canada
L'Association des femmes autochtones du Canada (AFAC) est une organisation autochtone nationale qui représente la voix politique des femmes, des filles, des transgenres, des bispirituels et des personnes de sexe différent au Canada, y compris les membres des Premières nations vivant dans les réserves et hors réserve, les Indiens inscrits et non inscrits, les personnes privées de leurs droits, les Métis et les Inuits. Regroupant des organisations de femmes autochtones de tout le pays, l'AFAC a été fondée dans le but collectif d'améliorer, de promouvoir et de favoriser le bien-être social, économique, culturel et politique des femmes autochtones au sein de leurs communautés respectives et des sociétés canadiennes.
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