SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — Canadian Medical Association

Honourable senators, yesterday the Canadian Medical Association, or CMA, delivered a historic apology at a public ceremony on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen peoples, including the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEC First Nations.

The CMA examined its 150-year history and the systemic failures of medical care that have profoundly impacted and continue to impact First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

In the words of Dr. Evan Adams, a First Nations physician:

The lives of Indigenous people in Canada have been powerfully shaped by racism. . . . Physicians are not exempt from self-examination of their role in harms against Indigenous Peoples historically in Canada — and must be, as health leaders, at the forefront of taking action to remedy past harms and ensuring equity going forward.

Some may ask, what is this systemic racism in health care? The Indian hospital system embedded systemic racism and discrimination in the Canadian health system by fostering racial segregation and conditions where Indigenous patients received substandard and unsafe care.

Medical experimentation was conducted on Indigenous children in residential schools, including studying the effects of malnourishment and withholding necessary care. Indigenous adults were subjected to medical experimentation without their consent, including the testing of experimental tuberculosis vaccines and treatments. Inuit were forced to relocate to tuberculosis sanatoriums far from their homes, without community support, without their informed consent and against their wishes. Many died, and their remains were never returned home.

The CMA apology recognizes that harm to First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples continues to this day through racism, negative stereotypes, intergenerational impacts, mistrust, lack of adequate access to health care services and under-representation of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in the medical profession. The apology acknowledges how they fell short of ethical norms and standards of the medical profession, pledged action to improve Indigenous health and committed to meaningful reconciliation.

To quote the CMA’s first Indigenous president, Dr. Alika Lafontaine, in these two-sided relationships, the weight of history needs to be shared:

There are parts of history that Indigenous Peoples must leave for settlers to carry, but there are many places where it’s appropriate and needed for us to share the weight of change.

I had the privilege of meeting Senator Yvonne Boyer for the first time during my time as president of the CMA, when she was starting her work on Bill S-250, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (sterilization procedures).

In closing, I, too, commit to sharing the weight of history and change.

Meegwetch, thank you.