Indigenous Healthcare and Access to Healthcare

This section is devoted to resources explaining the Indigenous experience in healthcare and emphasizing inequities within the population. In supporting the Indigenous population, resources emphasizing Indigenous healthcare needs and current accessibility to healthcare services are included.

Indigenous Health in Canada

This Webpage describes Indigenous Wellness Core, an Indigenous Health Program provided through AHS.

A fact sheet provided by the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health higlighting health disparities among Indigenous peoples.

A website providing Canadian statistics highlighting Indigenous health and well-being. Topics included are diseases, mental health, substance abuse, treatment, and risk factors.

This YouTube video highlights common Indigenous issues in healthcare and emphasizes the role of the social determinants of health in affecting health outcomes.

A fact sheet provided by the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health exploring the role of accessibility as a social determinant of Indigenous health.

This video published by PHAC higlights key health inequities among Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Healthcare Needs of Indigenous Peoples

This TED talk by Marica Anderson-DeCouteau highlights key factors for closing the gaps in Indigenous Healthcare.

This YouTube video by Interior Health looks at ways to promote Indigenous allyship among healthcare professionals.

This article published by Moira Wyton emphasizes acts toward change in the health care system.

This news video by APTN News highlights the negative impact of medical racism on Indigenous peoples.

Indigenous Experiences in Healthcare

Brian Sinclair

Brian Sinclair was subject to a continuous cycle of racism and prejudice throughout his healthcare experience, leading to a domino effect of catastropic outcomes. Sinclair died in a Winnipeg emergency waiting room on September 21, 2008 after waiting 34 hours to be assessed. Read his story below:

  1. "Ignored to death: Brian Sinclair's death caused by racism, inquest inadequate, group says": CBC News

  2. "I was Brian Sinclair's doctor. I understand how the healthcare system failed him": The Globe and Mail


This video presented by CBC news suggests racism against Indigenous peoples in the healthcare system is pervasive in Canada.

Joyce Echaquan

Joyce Echaquan was an Indigenous woman who died in the hands of the healthcare system on September 28, 2020 as an ultimate result of negligible attendance, malpractice, and racism displayed by healthcare workers. The links below share her story and insight into how we must do better to dismantle systemic racism in healthcare.

  1. "If Joyce Echaquan were white, she would still be alive, Quebec coroner says": CBC News

  2. "Indigenous Health professionals describe from the inside the systemic racism revealed in the Echaquan inquest": The Globe and Mail