Métis doctor honoured for serving remote Indigenous communities

Dr. Catherine Cook has been fighting for equal access to health care for Indigenous people for 30 years. 

On Thursday, The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada formally announced that Cook's work has been honoured with the 2018 Dr. Thomas Dignan Indigenous Health Award.

"This award is a tremendous honour for me. I've met Dr. Tom Dignon when I was a medical student years ago," Cook told The Current's Friday host Piya Chattopadhyay.

"He was at that time a tremendous role model and he continues today to be a mentor and a continuous source of support."

Cook grew up in an isolated Métis community on Lake Winnipeg, surrounded by a commitment to social justice.

"My father never turned anyone away that needed help, and that was instilled in us very early as children: that we were to look out for each other," Cook said.

Cook took that advice to heart. She dedicated her career to help Indigenous people in under-resourced remote Northern communities, where there's a shortage of doctors.

First Nations communities in particular face a jurisdictional challenge around who provides services on-or-off-reserve, Cook explained.

"The federal government provides service on-reserve, provincial government provides service off-reserve. And in Manitoba, until recently, there hasn't been a real effort to link the two in an effective way," she said.

"Manitoba has the greatest number of isolated or semi-isolated communities in Canada, other than Nunavut of course. So challenges to health care in Manitoba are significant."

Listen to the full conversation near the top of this page.

This segment was produced by The Current's Richard Raycraft.