Thank you very much, Mr. Powlowski. I will just say that this is a really exciting and brand new, innovative fund for first nations indigenous partners to be able to access.
The intent behind the indigenous health equity fund is, first of all, that the fund will be self-determined—that indigenous groups, whether they're health care providers at the community or regional level or other experts who are indigenous-led, will be able to access the health equity fund to pursue projects that look at increasing access to equity.
Some of the most exciting announcements I've made with indigenous partners are projects that work on system navigation—for example, within the non-indigenous or what I would call mainstream health system. For example, in Manitoba there is now an ombudsman for people who are not able to access service through a mainstream health care system. They now have an ombudsman that is indigenous-led and can provide indigenous people with access to health care or with the ability to make complaints about the refusal of health care.
I know that as a practising ER physician, you have seen a great many things in your practice, and one of the things you may have observed is the ongoing systemic racism that indigenous people face in provincial and territorial health care systems across the country. This health equity fund is about empowering indigenous people and practitioners to come up with innovative ways to close that gap and to work more closely with provinces and territories.
Finally, I'll say that some leaders may use the indigenous health equity fund to further their work on the creation of self-determination, of self-determined health care legislation. That is work that's exciting. It's happening across the country. It will empower first nations indigenous people to have broader control over how health is delivered within their territory and in partnership with provinces and territories.