Thank you.
As mentioned, my name is Marion Crowe. I'm a Cree woman from the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan, and I'm here in the capacity of the founding executive director of the First Nations Health Managers Association.
With me, of course, is Mr. Calvin Morrisseau, board executive member and Ontario representative of the First Nations Health Managers Association. Mr. Morrisseau works as the executive director of the Fort Frances Tribal Area Health Services.
As you indicated, Chair, we are on Algonquin territory, and we would like to acknowledge that territory on which this hearing is being held today. We also want to send our condolences to the families who are impacted by and grieving due to the very reason we're here.
Our thanks to the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs for the invitation to speak and to provide our testimony related to life promotion strategies. It really is a responsibility we carry with humility and pride.
The First Nations Health Managers Association, which I will refer to as FNHMA, was founded in September 2010. We're a national professional organization providing certification and professional development opportunities to health managers and directors who work in and with first nation communities from across Canada.
We have over 300 members and a network of approximately 1,200 first nation health leaders, representing grassroots health professionals who administer, advocate, and in some instances are clinicians practising health services in our communities. There are over 100 certified first nation health managers across Canada designated by our organization. We are a certification program that is built on core competencies that were created and led by grassroots health leaders.
Right now we're the only organization in Canada that has a curriculum built around relevant health services and practices, and a governance that is actually reflected in our communities and incorporates and respects culture as part of our competencies. This makes us unique as we celebrate and share our inherent knowledge while balancing and maintaining management principles.
We have brought with us today evidence that speaks to our subject matter expertise in first nation health service delivery, and it will be distributed. It's the textbook written by FNHMA, largely authored by our certified members from across Canada.
We are uniquely positioned to share the experiences of grassroots health managers on the ground in our communities. The issue that has brought us here today is suicide prevention. We usually don't speak from a deficit position, so we'll refer to it as life celebration, please. We bring forward four recommendations for consideration as a really small part of the larger strategy required to make inroads into this issue.
Before we get into our proposed solutions, in reviewing previous witness testimony, we know you have had 42 witnesses prior to us, and we feel obligated to note that Thunderbird Partnership Foundation is absent from the witness testimony. Thunderbird Partnership Foundation is an FNHMA partner, and they are committed to working with first nations and Inuit to further the capacity in communities to address substance abuse and addictions. We would implore the committee to consider their participation in this very important work.
As regards the very first recommendation we bring to the committee, we already know from previous testimony, research, and academic studies that we are facing an issue that is pervasive in our communities. We are specifically speaking to the testimony that has already been provided on the first nations mental wellness continuum framework. It identifies a continuum of services needed to promote mental wellness and provides advice on policy and program changes that will enhance first nation mental wellness outcomes. This framework enables us to adapt, optimize, and realign mental health wellness programs and services based on our own priorities.
The framework includes a number of elements that support the health system, including governance, research, workforce development, change and risk management, self-determination, and performance measurement. Health services integration among federal, provincial, and territorial programs is critical to its success. Discussing how to implement the framework in our communities is really important to us as an organization and it will be a highlight at our national annual conference this year. Our delegates are at the forefront of life celebration, and suicide prevention will be a very valuable resource when discussing the implementation of this framework.
We also refer to previous testimony that cites the urgent need to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's 94 calls to action in order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation, but you have heard that already.
Our second recommendation that we bring increases the efforts in certification and accreditation in our communities. These are key elements to FNHMA. We see in health services accreditation recommendations all the time around governance and capital. Investments need to be made in our communities on capital assets to even be able to reach health services accreditation, investments such as the repairing of our existing facilities, and also the creation of new treatment and quality health centres. Having certified health managers in our communities will contribute to increasing accreditation goals made by this very government, Health Canada's first nations and Inuit health branch.
Our third recommendation is around strengthening the existing networks that are already in place, such as FNHMA and the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association, who are also here to testify today, and the other national indigenous organizations that are leading capacity building in our communities. We have to reinvest in them and redress the cuts that were made in 2011. This will increase the supports to our health professionals who are on the ground, who are leading, advocating, and creating partnerships to implement the health services integration in our communities that's required. Our existing national indigenous organizations require equitable support to continue the journey of capacity building.