I aspire to become an Indigenous health policy maker/analyst. Within the scope of my work, I will be required to look into various determinants of health for Indigenous communities, understand their impact, find solutions, and implement change when necessary. In doing so, I will be working closely with the government of Canada, specifically with various provincial governing bodies. Some examples include Public Health Ontario, Ontario Health, Chiefs of Ontario, and Anishinabek Nation. These organizations strive to represent Indigenous peoples throughout the province by advocating for funding, policy change, and access to care and resources.
Funding for Indigenous health care services is largely allocated by the government of Canada. For recognized First Nations, the government funds non-insured health benefits (Government of Canada 2023). Funding is allocated to First Nations on an annual basis and is subject to change in accordance with the development of new legislations (Government of Canada 2023).
“People living in Northern Ontario experience poorer health and greater health inequities on many indicators compared with the rest of the province” (Health Equity Ontario 2018) which is why a certain level of self-governance is imperative to achieving better health outcomes for Indigenous peoples and people living in Northern Ontario. Indigenous governing bodies such as Chiefs of Ontario and Anishinabek Nation have been working incredibly hard to develop policies that allow Indigenous communities to have more jurisdiction over their health care funding. In June of 2019, Anishinabek Nation began the Health Transformation Act, which will see to a “comprehensive system change” (Health Transformation 2020). The Health Transformation Act allows for Indigenous peoples to advocate and make changes to the health care system in order to ensure self-governance in the realms of funding allocation and the creation of holistic health care programs (Health Transformation 2020).
The world of health care for Indigenous peoples in Ontario is only beginning to be developed by Indigenous peoples for Indigenous peoples. I am very eager to begin a journey working towards these goals.
References
Anishinabek Nation. (2023). Anishinabek Nation Lands [Image]. https://www.anishinabek.ca/documents/
Government of Canada. (2023). Indigenous health care in Canada. https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1626810177053/1626810219482 Anishinabek Nation. (2020). Health Transformation. https://health-transformation.ca/about-ht/ Health Equity Ontario. (2018). Northern Ontario Health Equity Strategy. https://www.hqontario.ca/Portals/0/documents/health-quality/health-equity-strategy-report-en.pdf Ontario Health. (2023). Indigenous Health Equity and Coordination. https://www.ontariohealth.ca/about-us/our-programs/provincial-equity-indigenous-health/indigenous-health-equity-coordination
Wix. (2023). Mountain View. [Image]. Wix. https://www.wix.com
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