The Canadian Medical Association’s (CMA) apology to Indigenous Peoples begins with a trigger warning: “This apology can reopen wounds and retraumatize First Nations, Inuit, and Métis People.” But a wound must be closed before it can be reopened; trauma must be resolved before it can retraumatize.
The apology itself comes across as performative and the trigger warning misses the mark. Despite pledging to “act against anti-Indigenous racism,” the apology implies the CMA has little understanding of what anti-Indigenous racism is, how it is shaped and which social determinants of health uniquely affect the lives of Indigenous people in this country.
To this day, the Indian Act – the precursor to apartheid in South Africa – continues to be the biggest detriment to health, wealth and wellness for Indigenous people in Canada. This set of laws, still standing albeit with amendments, has been the blueprint for legalizing racial oppression within a democracy, criminalizing the existence of Indigenous people while simultaneously excluding them from the dominant colonial systems of education, health care, governance, economy and law.
One of the most profound outcomes of the Indian Act is the irreparable relationship between Indigenous people and systems of policing and criminal justice – and yet, the CMA apology does not include the words “police,” “incarceration,” “colonialism” or “violence.” Indigenous people are over-policed and under-protected in the face of astonishing ongoing violence. This apology comes on the heels of a period that made world headlines as six Indigenous people were killed at the hands of the police within a week and a half – including a 15-year-old child who had called 911 for help, scared for his life.
In Canada, Indigenous women make up 2 per cent of the population and 25 per cent of murdered women. In the face of this crisis, police in Winnipeg refused to search a landfill strongly believed to be where bodies of several murdered Indigenous women are located – effectively creating a playbook on how to get away with murder.
When Wet’suwet’en land protectors staged peaceful protests on their own land, the RCMP actively sought “lethal oversight” — a literal license to kill Indigenous activists. RCMP were encouraged to use “as much force as you want” as the police established a “media exclusion” zone.
In Toronto, a “highly disturbing” Ontario Human Rights Commission report detailed the reality of systemic racism in policing. According to Ivan Zinger, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, the over-representation of Black and Indigenous people in federal prisons is a “disturbing and entrenched imbalance.”
Furthermore, recent data highlight an absolutely unprecedented drop in life expectancy for Indigenous people. It decreased by six years for First Nations people in British Columbia and seven years in Alberta – largely due to COVID and the toxic drug supply. Despite the the precision with which overdoses devastate Indigenous communities, the CMA has been silent on the disastrous new policies to defund safe consumption sites and limit harm reduction services.
While we are unable to provide Indigenous communities with the basics, we somehow can find the budget to provide more policing.
To make matters even worse, several hospitals across Toronto have recently launched an “Integrated Officer” pilot project, permanently placing police in our emergency departments. This pilot was undertaken without adequate community consultation, with even the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), among others, stating police officers have no place in our emergency rooms.
Make no mistake, this pilot will have a detrimental impact on access to health services for Indigenous people who already experience significant barriers. Inserting police as fixtures into our health-care teams is a slippery slope. They will act as eyes and ears to gather information on who uses emergency departments and why and see people in crisis as criminals rather than patients who need help.
While we still lack resources for primary care, housing, food, education and transportation, we continue to increase the budget for policing. While we are unable to provide Indigenous communities with the basics, we somehow can find the budget to provide more policing.
Our leaders, through budget allocation decisions that allow police services to relentlessly siphon resources away from all other community services, have manufactured the myth of ongoing and inevitable crisis that requires police involvement. In Indigenous communities, the crises are the culmination of years of exclusion, trauma, racism, neglect and harm – crises that can be prevented through properly resourcing services that strengthen our communities and improve the lives of people.
To date, the CMA has been radio silent on the violent and harmful relationship between policing and Indigenous people that is literally killing our relatives on a regular basis.
There is no illusion that the CMA is a moral authority. For nearly a year, we have watched Israel drop 2,000 pound bombs on civilians, obliterate entire health-care infrastructures, kill hundreds of our fellow health-care workers and tens of thousands more civilians. All the while, the CMA has remained silent.
Sept. 30 marks our National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It’s unfortunate the CMA’s apology so close to that date lacks the depth to call out the policing, militarism, racism and violence that “hinder Indigenous healing, health and well-being.” The CMA can only play a role in healing wounds if it openly reflects on what continuously harms Indigenous people so specifically and systemically in this country.
The CMA has an immense influential power being the largest physician organization in the country. In the interest of Indigenous wellbeing and life, the CMA must advocate to defund the police and resource our communities.
—
Previously Published on healthydebate.ca with Creative Commons License
***
You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project
 |
 |
 |
 |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community. A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities. A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: iStock
