By Canadian Press

Indigenous health legislation needed to end racism in health care: Miller

Feb 4, 2021 | 9:18 AM

OTTAWA — Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says the federal government has launched consultations on a law meant to ensure Indigenous Peoples’ control over the development and delivery of their health services and eventually eliminate anti-Indigenous racism in health care.

Speaking to a news conference in Ottawa, Miller says the federal government will work with Indigenous Peoples to increase knowledge of Indigenous practices and guarantee a greater representation of Indigenous people in the health field.

Miller says the high uptake rate of COVID-19 vaccines among Indigenous people shows that there is a level of trust in the government but he says that trust is “thin.”

Miller says the government is on track to immunize 75 per cent of people living in northern and remote communities by the end of March.

Indigenous Services Canada says more than 64,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to First Nations people on reserve, Inuit and in the northern territories.

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The department says the number of COVID-19 active cases in First Nations communities has declined to the lowest point since early December with 1,869 active cases reported as of yesterday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship

The Canadian Press