Indigenous groups frustrated by exclusion

By Miranda Leybourne, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brandon Sun

February 8, 2023

Indigenous groups are frustrated after their calls to be invited to health-care talks between Ottawa, the provinces and territories this week went unanswered, saying their input on the matter is just as important.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hosted Canada’s premiers in a first ministers’ meeting in Ottawa yesterday ahead of the federal government’s plan to finalize a deal on health-care funding with the provinces and territories.

It was disappointing but far from surprising that First Nations leaders were excluded from the health-care meetings, said Kim Beaudin, vice-chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, which represents Indigenous people in Canada who live off-reserve, in either urban or rural areas.

“There’s been quite a few meetings we haven’t been a part of,” Beaudin told the Sun.

Beaudin said it’s important for Indigenous people, regardless of where they live in the country, to have a say in health-care planning.

“We definitely should claim those discussions, but we most likely won’t be able to.”

It’s not the first time the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has been omitted from significant discussions relating to health legislation, said the AMC in a news release Tuesday.

The assembly has seen firsthand how Manitoba and Canada’s current health-care system is failing Indigenous people, even though they have a treaty right to health care, Grand Chief Cathy Merrick stated in the release.

“First Nations in Manitoba rank among the lowest in health and wellness, according to Canada’s own community wellness indicators, and have the highest First Nations population in the country, so it only makes sense that we should be at the table to create transformative systems and funding changes,” Merrick said.

The Southern Chiefs’ Organization, which represents 34 Anishinaabe and Dakota nations in southern Manitoba, was also given the cold shoulder by Ottawa, according to Grand Chief Jerry Daniels. He said that despite lobbying the federal government to be included in Tuesday’s meeting, he never received a response.

In a provincial health report, it was found that infant mortality rates for First Nations people range from 2.1 to 2.9 times higher than the rate for other Manitobans. A study found that First Nations people here had double the premature mortality rate — death before age 75 — than other Manitobans.

The report also determined that in Manitoba, First Nations people live approximately eight years less than other Manitobans, and the rates of illness such as diabetes, circulatory and respiratory diseases and some cancers are increasing in First Nations.

When it comes to mental health, First Nations people in Manitoba were also significantly more likely to experience self-inflicted injuries and were 1.7 times as likely to die by suicide compared to other Manitobans.

In a statement to the Sun, the office of federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the government acknowledges there are “unique challenges” facing Indigenous people in regard to health care. No response was given to the question of whether Indigenous leaders would be invited to the meeting.

Last week, AMC hosted a special chiefs’ assembly on health legislation, where they found that overcrowding, lack of clean drinking water, deprivation of a traditional diet, unemployment and reliance on income assistance are continuing factors that perpetuate ill health in First Nations communities.

First Nations must be able to work closely with Ottawa to address health-care staffing shortages and other infrastructure affecting Indigenous communities, Merrick said.

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“The fact that First Nations leadership from Manitoba are not at the table [at the Ottawa meeting] demonstrates that both Canada and Manitoba are not serious about reconciliation.”