QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Health
Support for Systemic Change in First Nations Health Care
February 9, 2022
Tansi, Minister Duclos, and welcome. During the peak of the Omicron wave, First Nations communities enacted states of emergency and protective measures that extended beyond provincial public health orders to keep their members safe. Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, or MKO, represents 30 Northern communities. MKO and other members of the Manitoba First Nations COVID-19 Pandemic Response Coordination Team have reprofiled human resources from each of their partner organizations to meet the challenges arising from the current pandemic, including the deployment of rapid response teams into First Nation communities facing rising positive case counts. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated ongoing First Nation collaboration between governments and service providers.
Will Health Canada provide ongoing funding to support First Nations in addressing systemic change in the health care system, and are you agreeable to meeting with MKO?
Just to answer the last question, I will always be pleased to meet with those important leaders in support of their communities. I’m also very glad and pleased to hear what you’ve mentioned about the leadership exerted by remote, Northern and Indigenous communities over the last 22 months. They have demonstrated the ability to be leaders and partners, and we knew they had the potential for it. We now know that they were able to exert that leadership over the last 22 months during a crisis that put enormous pressure on their communities — enormous stress, both mental and physical.
We can always do better, and we should always try and want to do better. But I think what we’ve seen over the last 22 months in terms of the collaboration, partnership and leadership of Indigenous, Northern and remote communities are signs of hope for the future.
