Indigenous health care By Ashton Shynkaruk

By Ashton Shynkaruk | For Walling’s blogsite | Posted May 7^th, 2019

Photo taken to represent the health care center of America 

Indigenous healthcare has been problematic for more than 100 years. This has been an on-going issue for generations and it’s putting lives at risk which is not proper.
Non-Indigenous people have better health care which is not fair or equal because we are all people; we are all the same, so we should all get equal health care rights. This problem on Indigenous health care needs to be fixed because it’s not right to treat individuals this way. More than 50% of the Indigenous population is young and it’s growing. This problem needs to be resolved before it puts more people in danger of their health.

A huge reason why this is a problem is because of racism, isolation and stereotypes. Indigenous people are judged because of their health issues, but the reason some Indigenous people have health issues is because they are not allowed access to health care. Indigenous people have a higher rate of respiratory problems and other infectious diseases than non-Indigenous people because they don’t get as good of health care as they should. Since Indigenous people don’t get good health care they live shorter lives than non-Indigenous people. Indigenous health care is a problem because many Indigenous peoples live in poverty, isolation, addiction and have high suicide rates. They are in the most jeopardy for their health and it doesn’t help that their culture was taken, their language was taken, and they don’t make as much money as non-Indigenous people because of the way they are treated and viewed in the world. They mainly have health problems because of their low access to appropriate care.

To change the problem, all Canadians need to start helping; the problem, of healthcare inconsistencies, can be improved if everyone works towards change. There needs to be a transfer of obligations for health service delivery to provinces to end jurisdictional confusion and have better health outcomes. There should be educational programs in place that help teach indigenous youth about food safety and nutrition programs, as well as community care programs. There should be free programs in place to help indigenous people have access to addiction treatment information such as quitting smoking. Lastly, they can get facts on any other health issues and just reach out to people that are willing to help.

Basically, my call to action is to have all Canadians help Indigenous people and show their support by helping in any way we can. We are all equal in Canada, so lets stand together in unity with our Indigenous brothers and sisters!

Works cited

Dubinski, Kate. “Indigenous Health Care Not Fair, Equal, or Just: Moran | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 4 Oct. 2017, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-ontario-western-

Lendsay, Kelly J. “Home.” Express Scripts Canada, www.express-scripts.ca/.

Reiheld, Alison, et al. “Canada's Biggest Health Problem: Indigenous Health.” Impact Ethics, 2 Jan. 2018, impactethics.ca/2017/06/02/canadas-biggest-health-problem-indigenous-health/.