London-area Indigenous groups call for end to systemic inequities in health care

Local Indigenous groups held a march outside London Health Sciences Centre's (LHSC) University Hospital calling for better support and access for Indigenous people seeking health care. 

Those who attended Tuesday's protest shared their personal experiences with what they call unfair treatment in hospitals, including Chase Nethercott, 17, who is suffering from complications following surgery and said his concerns have been dismissed by professionals. 

Nethercott, who is from Oneida and Chippewa nations of the Thames, said he wanted more resources to get help and his experience is impacting his mental health. 

"He's got no quality of life," said his mother, Jolene Jamieson. "We keep pushing. I keep going to appointments with him, and I try to plead his case … it takes forever."

Both Nethercott and Jamieson believe the situation would be handled differently if they were not Indigenous, they said.

Protest organizer Kristi White, of Oneida Nation of the Thames, said systemic racism plays a role in negative stereotypes and biases that are deeply ingrained in our system, such as assumptions of addiction and mental health issues.

"We forget that for Indigenous people, our systems don't run exactly the same way, so a lot of people don't know how to navigate a hospital system," she said. "So there has to be a lot of bridge building between these non-Indigenous entities and ours."

White and other protesters are trying to raise awareness for Joyce's Principle — a set of recommendations for the Canadian health-care system following the 2020 death of Joyce Echaquan, a young Indigenous woman who died while waiting in an emergency room as staff mocked her and dismissed her concerns. 

Joyce's Principle aims "to guarantee to all Indigenous people the right of equitable access, without any discrimination, to all social and health services, as well as the right to enjoy the best possible physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health," according to the Council of the Atikamekw of Manawan.

"So Joyce's principle actually covers the Truth and Reconciliation Calls 18 to 24," said White, referring to the 94 calls to action laid out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to address the legacy of residential schools — which was officially accepted by the federal government in 2015.

The recommendations outline improvements relating to health and social services between Indigenous people and groups including federal and provincial governments, teaching institutions, health and social organizations and others.

Ottawa said it would work to advance Joyce's Principle back in 2021, but as of now, it's up to individual health organizations to implement it, which LHSC has pledged to do. 

LHSC's Indigenous liaison Chantel Antone, also from the Oneida Nation of the Thames, said the hospital network has trained almost 4,000 employees in cultural sensitivity to address anti-Indigenous racism and biases. They have also implemented a program made up of seven Indigenous elders who provide traditional ceremonies and medicines.

"They really are a complement of cultural practitioners, cultural educators, knowledge keepers and traditional knowledge holders," said Antone. "They bring the wisdom, they bring the education. They bring many, many years and decades of experience to help guide the program." 

White welcomed LHSC's groundwork, but said more hospitals need to follow suit, adding that provincial cuts to health care funding make it difficult to expand these programs.

"The hospital could only do so much. I understand there's lots of work they can still do, but it also is going to take politicians getting funding to them for our Indigenous families," White said. 

"That includes every Indigenous person to receive equity no matter how they're coming into the hospital, what their condition is and what situation. And remembering that we have lived experiences that we are bringing with us."

White said the next step is to take the issue to Queen's Park to put pressure on the province to increase funding.