HealthCare Discrimination to the Indigenous People in Canada

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Introduction

Indigenous peoples in Canada experience lower health outcomes than non-Indigenous

peoples due to widespread and frequently ignored racial discrimination in the healthcare

system and even in wider Canadian society. Racial discrimination has clear negative effects

on mental health, which in turn has a negative impact on an individual's overall health.

According to research, physical and mental health are intertwined. (Mental Health, 2020)For

instance, poor physical health might increase the likelihood that one will experience mental

health problems, and vice versa. Additionally, Indigenous peoples who have experienced

discrimination from medical professionals may refrain from using healthcare services since

the stress of discriminatory treatment might make people avoid using medical services. The

lack of access to healthcare services, particularly in remote communities, the language and

cultural barriers are some of the challenges Indigenous peoples face. Finally stereotypes and

stigma that result in discrimination against Indigenous peoples are the three main causes of

Indigenous peoples' poorer health outcomes and treatment.

HealthCare Discrimination to the Indigenous People in Canada

The universal healthcare system in Canada is among the best in the world, and many

Canadians are proud of it. Additionally, the Canada Health Act states that the primary goal of

the Canadian healthcare system is to "protect, promote, and restore the physical and mental

wellbeing of residents of Canada and to facilitate reasonable access to health services without

financial or other barriers." Despite these facts, however, healthcare is not universal in

Canada. There are several reasons why Indigenous peoples do not have appropriate access to

health services, including the fact that they continue to face inadequate access to healthcare,

which has a major and ongoing impact on health inequalities between Indigenous and non-
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(Lavallee & Poole, 2009) Indigenous Canadians. Specifically, remoteness and a lack of

medical resources are the main reasons.

Inaccessibility

Native Canadians are present in both urban and rural, remote, and northern locations.

According to Statistics Canada, 80% of Metis live in cities, 44.2% of First Nations people

who are registered live on reservations, and 72.8% of Inuit live in Nunangat (Land, 2022).

While Indigenous people in Canada generally have difficulty accessing health services, there

are more serious issues in rural, remote, and northern communities. These communities'

locations can make it difficult to attract and retain medical professionals, which leaves many

of them in limited supply.

Nearly 300,000 northern British Columbians, the majority of whom are Indigenous,

are served by Northern Health, and nurses play a critical role in ensuring that these

communities' access to health care is maintained. The majority of direct patient care is

provided by registered nurses, who are sometimes occasionally the sole local healthcare

providers. The auditor general of British Columbia, Carol Bellringer, published a report in

2018 that claimed Northern Health was "not effectively recruiting and retaining enough RNs

to fill the rural and remote positions identified in its HHR plan," and that in 2017 the health

authority was short 121 RNs, or 15% of the workforce in rural and remote areas. All

Canadians should have adequate and equitable access to health services, but sadly, studies

have revealed that this is not the case for many indigenous people in Canada.

Language Barriers

The inability of some Indigenous people, particularly the Inuit, to use accessible

healthcare facilities is hampered by language and cultural barriers. For instance, some

Indigenous people in some places, particularly the Inuit, do not understand French or English.
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Although the use of interpreters or liaison workers can help close the communication gap,

important information may be lost in the process(Valeggia & Snodgrass, 2015). In addition to

the language barrier, health-related information may be culturally inappropriate and disregard

Indigenous traditions, making it even less likely that the individual will understand it.

Language is the primary element of a doctor-patient relationship, and language

barriers can severely affect an individual's ability to access health services. Due to a lack of

funding and training, many health facilities lack Indigenous staff and only provide services

that are catered to non-Indigenous people. The language and cultural barriers are also related

to another barrier, which is the low number of Indigenous health practitioners who can help

close this gap and provide effective services that help meet the needs of Indigenous people.

Cultural Barriers

Culture has an impact on how people view illness, including how they will manage

their symptoms, cope with their condition, and whether or not to seek treatment. For instance,

in Inuit culture, mental health is viewed as a person's "state" at any given time; as a result,

someone who exhibits unusual behavior one day but is fine the next may not be classified as

mentally ill and in need of treatment. (Valeggia & Snodgrass, 2015) Cultural barriers

between patients and healthcare professionals may cause the former to overlook symptoms

that are significant to the latter, who may then fail to adhere to recommended therapies and so

not receive the medical care they require.

Solutions to Healthcare Discrimination to the Indigenous

Health providers should learn to communicate in the local language and incorporate

Indigenous conceptions of health and wellness into healthcare policy and practice in order to

improve healthcare services and ensure better treatment outcomes for Indigenous peoples.

Indigenous people may experience emotions of alienation when interacting with the
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healthcare system due to language and cultural difficulties, which can make it difficult for

them to receive adequate treatment. Access to healthcare is still significantly hampered by

Indigenous peoples' experiences of prejudice by healthcare professionals in Canada.

According to research, there is still discrimination in Canada's healthcare system. The

media frequently reports on the bad experiences of Indigenous patients, and the failure to

address the issues presented by Indigenous people has had serious, if not fatal, repercussions.

Numerous accounts from Indigenous peoples of misdiagnosed illnesses and assumptions of

intoxication in individuals with true health episodes demonstrate how the healthcare industry

frequently ignores the health needs of this population.

To understand and develop healthcare practices that are meaningful to Indigenous

peoples, Canadian healthcare professionals must engage with them. There also needs to be

discussions within the Canadian government to bring forward the concerns that Indigenous

peoples have regarding health services. To raise awareness of the obstacles that Indigenous

peoples encounter when seeking health services and come up with solutions to these

obstacles, there is a critical need for medical professionals to undergo cultural safety training.

If negative interactions, discrimination, and stereotyping are still pervasive in health services,

addressing geographic isolation and language/cultural hurdles won't enhance Indigenous

people's access to treatment since they won't seek medical attention out of fear of being

treated unfairly.

Conclusion

The belief that the Canadian healthcare system is universal and every citizen has

access to health services is simply untrue, as shown by the numerous barriers that Indigenous

peoples encounter when attempting to access healthcare services, and Canadians must

understand that Indigenous peoples have lower health outcomes because of discrimination.
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References

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Land, H. (2022). Climate change and Indigenous Peoples' Health in Canada.

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Lavallee, L. F., & Poole, J. M. (2009). Beyond recovery: Colonization, health and healing for

indigenous people in Canada. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction,

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Mental health. (2020). An Introduction to Indigenous Health and Healthcare in Canada.

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Valeggia, C. R., & Snodgrass, J. J. (2015). Health of Indigenous Peoples. Annual Review of

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