CMA apology a first step toward healing medical harms against Indigenous people, advocates say [Video]

Advocates are optimistic about a historic apology for harms experienced by Indigenous people in health care — but they say those harms are not “remote parts of history.”

“Harms from racism in the medical profession continue today and they continue with ourselves, with our relatives, with our community members,” said Dr. Marcia Anderson, vice-dean of Indigenous health, social justice and anti-racism at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba.

Forced and coerced sterilization, medical experimentation and child apprehensions are documented parts of the health-care profession’s harmful effects on Indigenous communities, and recent cases like those of Brian Sinclair and Joyce Echaquan have kept the issue in sharp focus.

Dr. Alika Lafontaine was the first Indigenous president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), and served in the role from 2022 to 2023. He was born and raised in Treaty 4 territory in southern Saskatchewan and has Métis, Oji-Cree and Pacific Islander ancestry.

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