Opinion: Address barriers to health care for Indigenous Montrealers – Montreal Gazette
February 19, 2019
Montreal’s health services are ill-prepared to take care of the area’s fastest growing population, one that has grown 300 per cent over the past 20 years. The Montreal Gazette reported recently on instances of Indigenous patients being turned away from needed care. These were not isolated cases, but symptoms of a deeper problem. It’s time to rip off the Band-Aid and take action to heal the wound.
Discrimination and historical trauma remain barriers to health care for too many Indigenous people.
Traditional Indigenous visions of health are holistic, encompassing the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual spheres. Not only does their perception on healing differ from that of the average Quebecer, many Indigenous people also face more crippling obstacles to accessing provincial health care, including language barriers, cultural disconnect and, too often, systemic racism.
