People believed in 2000 that it was time that Aboriginal people here in Canada started to look at and study health issues relating to them. Thus the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO) was born. Today that belief has fallen by the roadside and they’ll be closing shop on June 30. Health Canada has seen fit to cut funding to NAHO and to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
Surprisingly there is no outcry among leaders and Aboriginal organizations. Northwest Territories’ Assembly of First Nations (AFN) representative Bill Erasmus said the AFN passed a resolution a few years ago asking for NAHO’s funding to go to communities. He added the AFN withdrew support for NAHO because of a disagreement how NAHO was run. Even so Erasmus admitted he had concerns with Health Canada’s decision to axe funding for NAHO. “I don’t think the Canadian government understands the legal relationship and the contribution they have to make to that, in other words, they talk about having difficulty with covering health care – well, it’s a right. . . it’s in the treaties, it’s very specific that we get free health,” he said.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq defended the decision saying NAHO had “repeated organizational problems”. She added, “Health Canada worked with NAHO in an attempt to resolve these issues but, unfortunately, they were not addressed.”
Even with these problems the move is surprising given facts put out by the current government. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada developed a Community Well Being (CWB) scale for First Nations. It measured education, labour force participation, income and housing and reveals Aboriginal communities make up 65 of the 100 unhealthiest Canadian communities.
Then we know Aboriginal citizens in Canada die an average of 10 years before the rest of the population. Our children have an infant mortality rate three times higher, serious injuries are experienced four times the national average and we haven’t even tackled the high rates of diabetes, heart problems and diseases. Every indication points to Canada’s Aboriginals facing a public health crisis.
NAHO assembled an amazing database of Aboriginal health research. It’s estimated NAHO has more than $60 million in information on First Nations, Métis and Inuit health. The research isn’t something that’s just sitting on the shelf either. Simon Brascoupé, NAHO’s chief executive officer, said NAHO’s website had 640,000 downloads of health information last year.
Though many are worried this information may be lost, Brascoupé said the organization hopes to negotiate an agreement with a university or health research institution to take over its holdings and make sure the information doesn’t get lost.
Some Aboriginal people are speaking out, like Alex McComber, who said, “This is sad news for Indigenous peoples and our children and future generations. Just another oppressive colonial move by this government who sees priority in being on its knees in front of the one percent, who prefer personal economic gain, war and oppression as the way to go.”
Others ask why research is on the chopping block when it is evident it is needed? Given the short amount of time remaining, the demise of NAHO is a forgone conclusion. One might ask why, but the answer is obvious. The federal government under Harper’s administration is traditionalist and given the damaging results of most studies it was time to kill the messenger.
