https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...alth-care-on-reserves-report/article33746065/
Published January 25, 2017 Updated April 14, 2017
An assessment of First Nations health care produced by the federal health department early last year shows the government is aware that it is failing in almost every respect to deliver adequate treatment and medical services to people living on reserves.
The review was conducted for Health Minister Jane Philpott after the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found the government is discriminating against vulnerable indigenous children on reserves by providing them with less money for welfare than is available elsewhere in Canada. It points to significant gaps for First Nations in primary care, health promotion and prevention, child development, infrastructure, non-insured health benefits and environmental health.
The federal Liberal government, which is responsible for indigenous health care, says it has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars in First Nations health since it came to office a year ago and is working to resolve the problems.
But doctors say little has improved since the Health Canada report was written in February, 2016, and one physician who has been treating indigenous people in Northern Ontario for more than a decade said it is a "very powerful indictment of a current state of affairs."
"Would these sort of things be tolerated in any provincial system?" asked Mike Kirlew, who practices in Sioux Lookout and on reserve. "This is about children dying. This is families lacking basic services."
The Health Canada assessment says at the greatest risk are programs such as those involving home and community care that do not automatically receive annual increases in funding, those that are not universal and those that face health human-resource challenges.
The document, which was obtained by NDP MP Charlie Angus under Access to Information legislation, says First Nations have limited access to health professionals and lack diagnostic equipment in many communities. They must cope with poor infrastructure in nursing stations and health centres, and there are inadequate health records.
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https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/more-...ting-poor-health-chronic-conditions-1.2859147
Published Thursday, April 14, 2016 1:08PM EDT
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Statistics Canada study has found that more First Nations people over the age of 15 living off reservations are reporting poor health and more chronic health conditions in comparison to the total population of Canada.
The study looked at the effects of chronic health conditions, inadequate housing, lack of education and employment and household food insecurity among First Nations people living off-reserve. It determined that experiencing just one of these social determinants had a significantly negative impact on how those in the study rated both their general and mental health.
The information comes from the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey that collected data from First Nations people living off reserve, Metis and Inuit people on their social and economic conditions, specifically issues of education, employment and health.
The study found that only 49 per cent of First Nations people in the study reported excellent or very good general health in comparison to 62 per cent of the total Canadian population. Regarding mental health, 60 per cent of First Nations people rated themselves as having excellent or very good mental health, still below the 72 per cent of Canadians who answered the same way.
Sixty-three per cent of off-reserve First Nations people also reported being diagnosed with at least one chronic health condition – a long-term condition diagnosed by a health professional that can last, or has lasted six months – as opposed to 49 per cent of the total Canadian population.
First Nations people living off-reserve still face many similar issues that First Nations people living on reservations face, according to Cyndy Baskin, an associate professor in the school of social work at Ryerson University and the chair of the school’s Aboriginal Education Council. This includes dealing with historical trauma, a lack of education due to the absence of funds and a lack of representation in education, said Baskin.
Women were also more likely to report three or more chronic conditions and significantly less likely to report only one chronic condition like their male counterparts. The most commonly reported conditions include high blood pressure, arthritis, asthma and Type 2 diabetes.
According to Baskin, many First Nations people are afraid to see doctors or go to the hospital because of intergenerational trauma. The experience of children who were sick in residential schools and went to the infirmary and died, has instilled a fear that persists among many First Nations people.
The study used a sample of 8,801 First Nations people over the age of 15 who were living off-reserve. According to Statistics Canada, this sample size represents an estimated population of 40,475 First Nations people living off-reserve throughout Canada.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/living-conditions-for-first-nations-unacceptable-fontaine-1.680540
CBC News · Posted: Feb 06, 2007 12:19 PM ET | Last Updated: February 6, 2007
First Nations people in Canada live in "Third World" conditions, with a lack of access to clean water and decent housing, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations said Tuesday.
"We rank no better than a Third World country, and that is simply unacceptable. There is no good reason why our people should be as poor as they are," Phil Fontaine said in Toronto.
In a keynote address at an assembly National Housing and Water Policy Forum, Fontaine said there is no question that the federal government must spend more money to address the serious problems in First Nations communities.
Fontaine said problems include unsafe drinking water, crowded homes, high unemployment, high suicide rates, limited access to quality health care, and thousands of children being looked after by provincial child-welfare authorities.
There are boil water advisories on more than 100 reserves, with about 35 communities in crisis over lack of access to clean drinking water. As well, on average, there are more than four people in every First Nations home, Fontaine said.
"When we start talking about the many crisis situations that exist in our communities, the response is usually: more money is not the answer," he said. "We all know more money is needed."
Fontaine said the government has made millions available to upgrade military equipment for the Armed Forces and to correct a perceived fiscal imbalance among some provinces.
If the federal government wants to make money the answer to problems, it clearly can, he said.
"The health of our people relies on clean water, clean air and healthy homes," he said.
Fontaine acknowledged, however,that First Nations people must help to find the solutions to existing problems by working with government officials and business leaders.
"It is all up to us. We must do it. We must create the solutions ourselves. Our community must decide on our future. We must work together to fix the system that has produced the results that we are living today," he said.
https://globalnews.ca/news/2640104/health-care-on-remote-first-nations-far-inferior-doctor-says/
OTTAWA – The system used to deliver medical services to First Nations introduces unnecessary barriers to care and often prevents doctors from doing their jobs, an Ontario physician bluntly told a parliamentary committee on Thursday.
Dr. Michael Kirlew, a doctor based in Sioux Lookout, Ont., urged the federal government to take “drastic change” to save lives.
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“The more time that we wait, the more children will die. I appeal to you today, not as politicians, not as members of political parties … let’s return the humanity to this process. This process needs that humanity.”
Kirlew, who travels to communities near Sioux Lookout to provide care, said First Nations people living on reserve receive a standard of health care that is far inferior to what other people get.
“Not just a little inferior – far inferior,” he said.
“Imagine a young person that breaks their leg – they come into the clinic and their leg is on a virtual right angle and you do not have adequate supplies of the pain medication that they need and it takes nine and half hours for that medevac to come in and that entire time, because that supply of morphine is not there in sufficient qualities, you hear that person screaming the entire time. That is the reality.”
Aboriginal leaders also painted a picture of dire and deadly conditions on reserves during their testimony and pleaded for the government to reform the medical benefit system.
WATCH: First Nations say ‘needless deaths’ occurring in communities due to lack of medical access
“It’s not based on the needs of our communities,” Fiddler said after the meeting.
“It is based on a formula that is almost 40 years old and this was confirmed by the auditor general of Canada last year.”
Yvonne Jones, the parliamentary secretary to Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett, said the Liberal government is looking to reform the program.
“We know that there are significant issues around the non-insured health benefit program,” she said in an interview. “We also know there are significant issues around how the system governs itself … we have been reviewing those issues.”
Change has to happen, she added.
“If we are actually going to have a nation-to-nation process that is going to work in this country, then we need to make changes from the systemic problems that we’ve seen over and over in the past,” she said.
The committee hearing follows an emergency debate in the Commons earlier this week about the suicide crisis in Attawapiskat First Nation.
The debate was called at the request of NDP indigenous affairs critic Charlie Angus.
Canada didn’t arrive at a crisis by accident, Angus said during question period on Thursday, noting the government routinely denies access to medical services.
Health Minister Jane Philpott said 18 mental health workers have been sent to Attawapiskat to help with the crisis.
The community’s leaders declared a state of emergency on Saturday, citing 11 suicide attempts so far in the month of April and 28 recorded attempts in March.
On Monday, officials thwarted what they called a suicide pact by 13 young aboriginal people on the reserve, including a nine-year-old.
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Pretty impressive torture chamber, anybody got the number for INTERPOL?
