Thank you. Good afternoon, bonjour, boozhoo, tansi, sekoh, aaniin.
We thank you for the opportunity to address the Standing Committee on Health. We would like to acknowledge that we are visitors here today on the traditional unceded territories of the Algonquin people.
We are here today to address the Standing Committee on Health to advocate on behalf of the National Aboriginal Diabetes Association, also known as NADA, and all those working with, or who are affected by, diabetes to ensure that this pandemic affecting indigenous peoples in Canada is recognized as a top national health priority.
Type 2, type 1, and gestational diabetes are on the rise, and the complications, such as amputation, blindness, and heart disease, are devastating our communities. According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission call to action 19, aboriginal health is a direct result of government policies, including residential schools, and it is only through change that the health gap between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples can be closed.