[Witness speaks in Oji-Cree language]
I greet you all from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, that's about 600 km northwest of Thunder Bay. My name is John Cutfeet and I chair the board of the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak to the committee members. Meegwetch.
A number of years ago, an elder who was part of the group that lobbied for the inclusion of section 35 of the Canadian Constitution told me that after many hours, days, and weeks of negotiating for the inclusion of the recognition of aboriginal treaty rights in the highest law of the land, with a lot of resistance from the political leaders of the day, he couldn't understand why he felt exhausted, and why he would break down and cry for seemingly no reason at all. This elder was a strong man, a strong person, who stood up for indigenous rights when the Constitution was being repatriated back to Canada. If he was so strong, why then would he be breaking down and shedding tears for reasons he did not understand?
He told me that he sought and received professional counselling and the advice of elders for his situation. This gentleman was also a survivor of the residential school system. Through professional counselling and elder support, he found out that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, consistent with what is seen with with people who have been in war zones.
He said an elder told him that, “From the day we are born to the time we die, we're born into a war zone. The system fights with us to take away or control our daily existence.”
From the day we are born to the time we die, our lives are impacted by the Indian Act, another unilaterally imposed piece of legislation. We are born into a war zone with third world living conditions and widespread mental health issues from an unending cycle of intergenerational trauma. We see levels of PTSD in our people that are consistent with what is seen in war zones, and the war continues against our people to this very day.
I would like to acknowledge all those who have needlessly died at the hands of this health care system. Their deaths and suffering directly resulted from denials of care. There are many tragic stories. Here are a few.
Two children of four and five years old died in 2014 from the easily treatable disease of strep throat. They were turned away despite the efforts of their loving parents, and did not receive a simple dose of antibiotics. As one leader said, “We're tired of the Tylenol nurses and doctors, as this egregious system is killing our people needlessly.”
The health care system for indigenous people is atrocious and dysfunctional.
The late Laura Shewaybick's last experience with our health care system involved a nursing a station running out of oxygen, followed by racism and insensitivity in a hospital.
Over 25 years ago, a woman gave birth in an outhouse after being repeatedly turned away at the nursing station.
Most recently, in my home community of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug there was a young lady who called the nursing station saying that she needed a checkup and that something was happening to her; she was expecting a baby. She described her symptoms over the phone to the nurse and the nurse said, “You have a bladder infection.”
The young lady asked if she could come in and get a checkup. The nurse replied that there was “no need to. You have a bladder infection.” All this was over the phone.
She went in anyway and asked again if she could get a checkup. The answer was, “No need. You have a bladder infection.” She was sent home. Two hours later, she gave birth to the first of two babies in a toilet bowl. What's really sad about this is that, three weeks later, they found the remnants of a third baby they didn't even know about.
As Canadians, we should all feel the shame of not being able to tell her that anything has changed in health care in 25 years.
Every day we witness travesties in health care delivery, and every day lives are being adversely impacted by health care policy. The system fights us and denies us our basic human right to health care. Our treaty rights and aboriginal rights continue to be undermined by various government legislation and policies. Failure to change this legislative violence imposed upon our people will result in continued and regular denial of care. Unless something changes, these tragedies will continue. Why do I call it legislative violence? When you take away all opportunity for people to provide input into certain health care initiatives, that is violence because you take away the right of a person to be able to be meaningfully involved.
The discriminatory policies and practices are so deeply entrenched that they're often difficult for those who live this reality on a daily basis to recognize that this is not normal and is not acceptable. As for those in the general public who are outside the system, the reality is either unknown or unfathomable.
If these real-life stories are not enough for you, then listen to the multiple reports that have been issued over and over again. These include the Scott-McKay-Bain health panel report, the NAN youth forum on suicide, and the report Grand Chief Solomon just mentioned in which was stated, “nobody wants to die: they want the pain to stop”. Of course there were the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report, the Auditor General's report, and the UN Special Rapporteur's report on the rights of indigenous people.
It is painfully clear the system has failed our people, yet we continue to do things the same way over and over again. Einstein defined this as “insanity”, doing the same thing over and over and expecting new results. We need to do things very differently, and we need to see results. We need to change the way health care is delivered to the indigenous peoples at the community level. This requires a substantial transformation of the health care system. Redesigning the system is a large task, but ending the discriminatory and inequitable practices that cause suffering to our people is something that can and must be done immediately.
One of the first places to start would be to take a good hard look at the non-insured health benefits program. Every day this policy is in place is another day that people are being discriminated against and another day that it lives on in this nation's conscience. The needless deaths of children was nothing short of a travesty that Canada as a country and as individuals should be ashamed of. We call on you to drive the legislative and policy changes that will immediately end these discriminatory practices and that will build the foundation for a reformed health care system and a new relationship.
I hear talk about a new relationship, but that new relationship that we can all be proud of must be free from the shackles of colonialism.
Meegwetch.