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“First Nation leaders from Northern Ontario declared a public-health emergency on Wednesday and are calling on the federal and provincial governments to intervene quickly before the crisis escalates.
Leaders from the Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority, which together serve about 75,000 people, say unequal access to health care means treatable and preventable diseases are killing people in remote northern communities.
“It’s putting lives at risk, and in some cases it may be contributing to needless deaths,” NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said. “That’s why we’re here today: to issue that call.”
Diseases such as diabetes, hepatitis C, rheumatic fever and other bacterial infections can have dire consequences when doctors are few and far between, the leaders said. In 2014, a five-year-old boy named Brody Meekis from Sandy Lake First Nation died from strep throat; two four-year-olds – one from Sandy Lake, the other from Pikangikum – died from rheumatic fever.
Cramped housing and dirty water only aggravates the situation. The communities are also struggling to deal with a youth suicide crisis and intergenerational trauma caused by the residential school system.”
– The Globe and Mail, Northern Ontario First Nations declare public-health emergency.
“First Nations people in northern Ontario have greater health concerns but receive less health care than people in the rest of Canada, according to several groups declaring a public health emergency on Wednesday.
“It is atrocious, the treatment of our people,” said Sol Mamakwa, the health director for the Shibogama First Nations Council.
People in remote First Nations are routinely denied access to health care by Health Canada’s non-insured health benefits program, Mamakwa said.
Mamakwa said Health Canada denied 17 of 22 children under seven access to a pediatrician, even though they were referred by a doctor because of developmental issues.
“That’s just one example,” Mamakwa said. “We need an investment and an intervention plan for the treatment of our people” from both Health Canada and Ontario’s Ministry of Health”
– CBC News, Nishnawbe Aski Nation declares health emergency over ‘atrocious treatment’.
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Download the 18″x24″ poster (.pdf), Indian Country 52 #9 – First Nations Healthcare.
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
