New MKO office will target anti-Indigenous racism in northern Manitoba health care
Sarah Petz | CBC News | Posted: March 30, 2021 7:47 PM | Last Updated: March 30, 2021
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, Northern Health also announce partnership to address racism in health care
The health and wellness agency for Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak is developing an office to address complaints of anti-Indigenous racism in the health-care system in the province's north.
MKO, the political advocacy group for northern Manitoba First Nations, is also partnering with the Northern Health Region to develop strategies to tackle that issue, officials announced Tuesday.
Dr. Barry Lavallee, chief executive officer of Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin — MKO's health and wellness agency — says he hopes to have the office open sometime this year.
"Once we start doing this and rolling this out, systems will change and expectations by First Nations people going to a health-care system will change completely," Lavallee said at a Tuesday news conference.
"It'll be unacceptable to dismiss a mother with a sick child and blame her for the sickness of her child. It'll be unacceptable to ignore elders who might not speak English well.… There's all kinds of benefits that we're going to see as we move forward."
At this point, Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin is working with academics, epidemiologists who study how racism impacts health outcomes, and social scientists across Canada to develop processes for dealing with such complaints.
Once open, Lavallee said the office will have advocates working with the province's health authorities to ensure complaints are properly addressed.
He said he hopes that will have a ripple effect in the province's whole health-care system and make sure anti-Indigenous racism is taken seriously.
Addressing anti-Indigenous racism in health care leads to better health outcomes for Indigenous people, and will ultimately create a better health-care system for all, Lavallee said.
"We're all going to learn together how to act differently, how to be accountable to our patients, as well as to the systems that support health care in northern Manitoba."
Partnership announced
Officials from MKO and Manitoba's Northern regional health authority also said they are formally partnering to address anti-Indigenous racism in health care.
Both MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee and Northern Health chief executive officer Helga Bryant said they have not yet decided exactly what this partnership will look like or what their goals are, but are committed to working together.
"We have an opportunity to create that quality health-care system for all northern Manitobans, and this is the first step," Settee said.
Charlene Lafreniere, chief Indigenous health officer for Northern Health, said she thinks announcing the partnership is a huge step.
Publicly stating that the two organizations are going to work on this issue creates some accountability, she said, noting "the value of coming together and working collaboratively."
"We're all filled with ideas and knowledge from our experiences, our partnerships, our conversations," she said.