Author: Gerson Camus

Miranda Mamakwa, 31, of Fort Severn First Nation, who died on Sept. 8, 2026, from a brain hemorrhage several months after undergoing open heart surgery, is shown in this undated handout photo provided by her mother Eva Mamakwa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout – Eva Mamakwa. THE CANADIAN PRESS

If only. It’s a phrase that plays over and over again in Eva Mamakwa’s mind.

If only her daughter, Miranda Mamakwa, had made it to at least one follow-up appointment after open-heart surgery, she may be alive.

If only Indigenous Services Canada’s non-insured health benefits program had arranged travel for just one of her four missed appointments, Miranda may be alive.

The 31-year-old mother of three from Fort Severn First Nation died on Sept. 8, weeks after asking people on social media to seek action in case of her death.

“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Eva Mamakwa said in an interview with The Canadian Press from her home before falling quiet, overcome with emotion. She is speaking out about her daughter’s death for the first time.

Since Miranda Mamakwa’s death, more than a dozen First Nations and tribal councils have filed a human rights complaint that alleges widespread neglect of their communities’ health needs, while chiefs have demanded reform from the federal agency in charge of arranging medical travel for remote First Nation people.

Indigenous Services Canada said it’s working to improve delivery of the service, while the minister in charge has said she requested a fact-finding mission on the circumstances that led to Miranda Mamakwa’s death.

Months ago, Mamakwa’s family was filled with hope as she underwent surgery at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in April to replace a valve in her heart. She recovered over two weeks at the hospital in Ottawa, then two more weeks at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.

On May 24, she arrived home in Fort Severn First Nation, the most northerly community in Ontario that sits near the mouth of the Severn River on Hudson Bay.

Her doctors wanted to see her for several followups. She had blood clots and had been put on blood thinners, which required testing on an ongoing basis, Eva Mamakwa said. Doctors booked her daughter for an echocardiogram and an appointment with a vascular surgeon in Thunder Bay.

Miranda Mamakwa was thrilled to be back home; her children were excited and her mother was caring for her.

That excitement would soon abate.

Eva Mamakwa said she went to the First Nation’s nursing station to begin the administrative process to arrange travel back to Thunder Bay for her daughter’s first followup appointment. Nurses soon faxed Miranda’s documentation to the non-insured health benefits program — faxes are protocol — and the family waited to hear back on travel plans.

She said the agency never responded and her daughter missed her first appointment on May 28. Eva Mamakwa then called NIHB’s office in Sioux Lookout, Ont., and got someone on the line.

“I told her that it was extremely important that Miranda go to her followup appointments,” she said. “I talked to her and she listened to me and she said they would send her travel, but travel never came.”

She said the NIHB told her the request never arrived despite more than one tranche of faxes being sent.

The same thing occurred for followup appointments on June 11, July 2 and Aug. 6, Eva Mamakwa said, despite multiple faxes and phone calls.

“They didn’t care at all,” she said.

As the summer progressed, Miranda Mamakwa became more tired, slept more and started losing feeling in her fingers.

On Aug. 19, she wrote a Facebook post about the problems with NIHB and the missed appointments.

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“If I die, pls go after (them),” she wrote.

On Sept. 6, she started to feel sick. Her stomach hurt and she began vomiting. “We just thought she might have caught the flu from her kids,” her mother said.

But Eva Mamakwa soon realized that “something was terribly wrong.”

Her daughter needed immediate help. Later that day, Skycare, which operates on behalf of provincial air and land ambulance Ornge, arrived, and airlifted her to the intensive care unit of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, some 850 kilometres away.

The next day, Eva Mamakwa and Mike Bluecoat, Miranda’s father, got a call from the ICU doctor.

“He told me that Miranda had a lot of bleeding in her brain, she was hemorrhaging,” she said. “Even if they send her down south (to Toronto), to try and help her, that she wouldn’t have survived it.”

The doctor told them to fly to Thunder Bay so they did, with Miranda’s children in tow. Eva Mamakwa’s oldest daughter was already at the hospital to support her sister.

They arrived to crushing news.

“There was no brain activity at all and we had to make a very difficult decision to take her off life support or not,” Eva Mamakwa said through tears.

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“As much as I wanted to keep her, it wouldn’t have been a good idea because it was the machine that was helping her breathe,” she said.

“It was very, very heartbreaking seeing my daughter being disconnected. But up until the end, when her heart stopped, and everything shut down, her children were beside her. All of us were beside her. And then we watched her go.”

Eva Mamakwa’s words failed, briefly, as tears rolled down her cheeks while she relived the nightmare.

“Today my daughter would be here if her travel was made to attend her appointments, but sadly it didn’t happen,” she said. “I am holding NIHB accountable for my daughter’s passing.”

Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty has said her department would review the circumstances of the case, and that Mamakwa’s community and family deserved answers.

Widespread issues

The woman’s death became a clarion call to First Nation leadership across Canada. It came after hundreds of people staged a sit-in at the NIHB office in Sioux Lookout over missed medical appointments, calling for urgent reform.

Chief Archie Wabasse of Wunnumin Lake First Nation, a remote fly-in community some 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay and 330 kilometres south of Fort Severn, broke into tears as he discussed the issue in a recent interview.

He said that in his community of 800 people, about 80 residents had a total of 147 missed medical appointments between March 2025 and March 2026 due to lack of transport.

There is no full-time doctor in the First Nation, but one rotates in for a week or two every month, for 12 to 14 visits a year. Demand for the doctor’s time far exceeds availability, and those visits lead to referrals to specialists in southern parts of the province.

“The problem is getting worse for my people,” an emotional Wabasse said.

He lists a number of community members who need help. One, with a pacemaker, who has already missed a few appointments. Another who needs dialysis in a few days, but has not heard back from NIHB about his travel. In one case, the band paid about $3,000 to send an elder to a specialist in Winnipeg after NIHB did not return calls, he said.

Wabasse said he met with the Indigenous Services minister to talk about the issue, months before Miranda Mamakwa’s death.

He said Gull-Masty told the chiefs in attendance about improvements being made to NIHB, but she declined their request to sit down with them and resolve on the spot what he sees as a relatively straightforward administrative issue.

“It is a solvable problem, but what we’re trying to do here is advocating, telling the minister, the decision makers, the prime minister, this could be solved in one day,” Wabasse said.

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When asked about Wabasse’s description of that meeting with the minister, Indigenous Services Canada said regular dialogue with First Nations leaders about NIHB “has been an important part of our work to improve service levels.”

Human rights complaint 

More than 12 First Nations and tribal councils filed a complaint on Oct. 1 with the Canadian Human Rights Commission against Indigenous Services Canada over what they say is effectively a denial of health care in their communities.

The joint complaint from Wunnumin Lake First Nation, Matawa Chiefs Council and Windigo First Nations Council alleges the federal department’s non-insured health benefits program is failing to meet the needs of community members for medical transportation.

The NIHB program for First Nations and Inuit people covers medical, dental and mental health care not available through private insurance or provincial health plans. First Nations leaders and physicians have long said the program is not working for communities, and that its employees are notorious for being slow in responding to queries, requests and filing reimbursements.

The complainants say NIHB fails to consistently arrange medical transportation, or it informs patients so late about the transport that they are forced to miss their appointments.

They say Eabametoong First Nation community members miss about 50 appointments per month, while North Caribou First Nation members missed almost 100 appointments in the past year.

The complaint said First Nations have attempted to raise the issue with Indigenous Services Canada from as early as 2014, to no avail.

“Due to ISC’s actions, First Nations are suffering and dying. This is known to ISC, and yet nothing has been done to change it,” the complaint said. “Years of NIHB failing to approve requests on a timely basis, considered in the context of costs associated with First Nation service-provision and remoteness, represents a choice to deny First Nations health care.”

The complainants are requesting a formal review and reform of the benefits program, along with $20,000 in compensation for each individual who missed an appointment due to NIHB’s failures, and an additional $20,000 for pain and suffering.

“The continued failure regarding medical transportation is the newest chapter in a long history of Canada’s colonial practices devaluing the health and safety of Indigenous people,” the complaint said.

Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson Carolane Gratton said the department recognizes the serious impacts any gaps in service can have on people who rely on NIHB for medical transportation, and that it’s working to strengthen the delivery of the service.

The department implemented a simplified travel submission process in early October, meant to provide clients with more direct support from local medical transportation co-ordinators and create a “more consistent and streamlined experience,” Gratton wrote in an emailed statement. She said the department is looking into other actions that could improve call centre performance.

Indigenous Services Canada did not provide details when asked if there is a service standard for arranging medical transportation, nor how often that standard is met.

Gratton said the department takes seriously any complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and that it would respond “through the appropriate process.”

Julian Falconer, a longtime human rights lawyer who is representing the First Nations and tribal councils in the case, said their complaint is not about “simple negligence.”

“We are talking recklessness when it comes to the sanctity of life,” he said. “It’s an outrage.”

The government’s response is a “perfect parallel” to what happened to Miranda Mamakwa after her surgery, he said.

“The ignoring continues to this day,” Falconer said. “The minister promised an urgent review. We’re six weeks out and it’s crickets.”

Doctor says system is a ‘black hole’

Pediatrician and infectious disease specialist Anna Banerji, who travels to see patients in northern communities, said administration of the NIHB is discriminatory.

She said First Nations children, some of whom have serious health issues, are often no-shows for their appointments.

“Their flights were not booked,” she said.

Lack of transport has also led to missed mammogram appointments, allowing cancers to spread, and high-risk pregnancy symptoms that aren’t caught early and lead to complications for mothers and babies, she said.

Banerji said when concerns have been raised to NIHB, it’s like a “black hole.”

“(Patients) don’t know if the flight is booked, or when it’s booked, and if you try to communicate with (NIHB) again, no one ever picks up the phone. They can send faxes, and no one responds to the faxes,” she said.

“At the last minute they’ll say, ‘You have a flight in an hour.’ Well, (patients) have other responsibilities. They have other children, they have elderly people at home, they have jobs and suddenly they have to drop everything they’re doing last minute to go on a flight. It’s just disrespectful.”

Banerji said if the NIHB was any other system in Canada, it would be dismantled.

“My conclusion is, after 30 years of observing it, this is all racism. It’s a double standard. It’s discriminatory,” she said.

“I would go so far as to say when you give one group of people certain rights and you deny that to another group based on race … it’s called apartheid.”

Banerji said Miranda Mamakwa’s death was preventable, but not unpredictable, and called for a national inquiry into the system.

For Mamakwa’s family, the past month has been difficult.

Her children, aged 7, 9 and 11, are struggling. Eva Mamakwa said her youngest grandson often says, “I want my mom back.”

They trek to her grave to visit. They’re just trying to get through the days.

“My grandson, he wakes up early in the morning and he cries and in the evenings, that’s when it gets really hard for all of us,” Eva Mamakwa said, choking up.

“I cry every day. There are times I get extremely angry. What happened with our daughter? I miss her. I miss talking to her.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2026.

Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/12109676/mother-of-first-nation-woman-who-couldnt-get-medical-transport-and-died-seeks-reform/

First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples have long called for health systems to move beyond one-off cultural safety training and address the systems and structures that shape care.

That means looking at how organizations are governed, how care is designed, how staff are supported, and how Indigenous Peoples are involved in decisions that affect them.

That is why the release of CAN/HSO 75001:2026 Cultural Safety and Humility, a new National Standard of Canada from Health Standards Organization – HSO, matters.

The standard gives health and social service organizations a national framework for building culturally safe services with and for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples and communities, including shared governance and self-determination, leadership, culturally safe services, workforce support, continuous quality improvement and addressing Indigenous-specific racism.

The work was led by the TC036 Cultural Safety and Humility Technical Committee, co-chaired by Dr. Margo Greenwood and Marilee Nowgesic, with guidance from Elder Darlene McIntosh, and builds on the BC Cultural Safety and Humility Standard developed with the First Nations Health Authority.

We’re grateful to everyone whose knowledge, advocacy and leadership helped bring this work forward nationally.

The standard is available at no cost.

Read the standard here: https://healthstandards.org/standard/cultural-safety-and-humility/

The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) welcomes the release of Health Standards Organization (HSO)’s new national Cultural Safety and Humility standard (CAN/HSO 75001:2026).

Developed through an Indigenous-led process, the standard sets expectations for the collaborative design, delivery and evaluation of culturally safe health and social services with and for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples and communities.

For more details: https://www.cna-aiic.ca/en/blogs/cn-content/2026/10/09/cna-welcomes-new-national-standard-on-cultural-safety-and-humility

Gary Gould, a member of the Wolastoqiyik Nation, has been advocating for the rights of non-status Indigenous people who live outside of First Nation communities since the 1970s. “Hopefully, as a result of this data-based study, it’ll convince the policymakers that there needs to be special attention given to this community of Indigenous people,” Gould said.

The study is called Our Health Counts, and it’s being conducted by the University of New Brunswick, Under One Sky Friendship Centre in Fredericton and Menahqesk Wellness Circle in Saint John.

Neil Forbes, a PhD student at the University of New Brunswick and member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, is co-leading the study.

“Just trying to show the real numbers of how many urban Indigenous people are in New Brunswick, and what needs are not being met by us having a poor understanding of those numbers,” he said.

Forbes, who is also an assistant professor at the University of Prince Edward Island, hopes it will help to define the urban Indigenous community in Fredericton and eventually Saint John. “Basically, the more data we have the more helpful it will be for the community.”

The study, which was designed by Métis family physician Dr. Janet Smylie, has already been conducted in seven cities in Ontario and in Winnipeg.

In 2021, the results of the Our Health Counts study in Thunder Bay showed that the Indigenous population was two to four times higher than estimated by Statistics Canada.

Forbes expects the results will be similar in Fredericton and Saint John.

“The Indian Act is structured so that resources for Indigenous people are based on whether or not you live on-reserve,” he said.
“If all of these people are not getting the supports they need just because they’re off-reserve instead of on-reserve, it causes a real issue. And so, the more information we have, the better.”

Forbes said this is “a huge public health issue.”

Gould said participants are asked about what health conditions they have, whether they have experienced discrimination accessing health services and how services could be improved.

“We have to have clear proof,” he said. “Data that shows that, first of all, there’s a need and that there’s systemic problems for people accessing programs and services.”
Forbes said it is difficult for many urban Indigenous people to feel “culturally safe” accessing health services.

“The questions are all very much geared towards, ‘What is your experience as an urban Indigenous person in New Brunswick?’” he said, including questions about whether they speak an Indigenous language and their connection to traditional ceremonies and medicines.

The Thunder Bay study in 2021 showed that two out of five Indigenous adults feel that they didn’t receive the help they needed when it came to mental health and substance use. Less than 50 per cent of participants reported having good oral health.

Gould, who is also president of the board at Under One Sky, said the five-year study is in its second year and they are still looking for participants. Next year, researchers plan to expand to Saint John, where they will work with the Menahqesk Wellness Circle.

He hopes that the study will eventually lead to Indigenous people accessing health services “in a spirit of trust, respect and friendship.”

Logan Turner | CBC News | Posted: September 27, 2022 10:00 AM | Last Updated: September 27, 2022

Data fills gaps in urban Indigenous health information, offers recommendations on a way forward

A new study has revealed that racism and other forms of discrimination are having significant, adverse effects on the health of Indigenous
people living in or near Kenora, Ont., a city of about 15,000 people located almost 500 kilometres west of Thunder Bay.

Three in five study participants reported they’d been treated poorly or unfairly because of their Indigenous identity, with 75 per cent of those respondents saying they’d experienced racism in the past year.

More broadly, 72 per cent of the participants reported they see racism to be a problem in the northwestern Ontario city.
“It validated what we already knew from our lived experience, such as the high rates of racism and discrimination people face, which can lead to misdiagnosis or delays in seeking treatment, the high numbers of mental health and trauma experienced,” said Serena Joseph, the executive director of Waasegiizhig Nanaandawe’iyewigamig (WNHAC), an Anishinaabe health agency serving the Kenora area and the community lead organization for the study.

The “Our Health Counts” community-based study — developed by Well Living House, a research centre focused on Indigenous health and well-being based in Toronto, and completed jointly with WNHAC — collected the life stories from 320 First Nations and Métis people aged 15 or older that were living or accessing services in Kenora. Participants were invited to take part in the survey using respondent-driven sampling methods.

“It also uncovered some things we didn’t know, [such as] the degree to which we were undercounted,” Joseph said, adding that one of the other significant findings is that the urban Indigenous population in or around Kenora is 2.6 to four times larger than what the 2016 census indicated.

While the 2016 census said there were 3,155 Indigenous people living in Kenora, the study estimates that the total Indigenous population living in the city is actually between 8,448 to 12,892.

Three in five Indigenous adults that participated in the Our Health Counts study reported they’d been treated poorly or unfairly because of their Indigenous identity.
(Logan Turner/CBC)

This is the sixth community to have participated in the “Our Health Counts” study with Well Living House, all of which have demonstrated that Statistics Canada’s national census is systemically undercounting Indigenous people, said Dr. Janet Smylie, a Métis family physician, director of the Well Living House and the Canada Research Chair in advancing generative health services for Indigenous populations.
“It’s time to actually just acknowledge that First Nations, Inuit and Métis living in urban and related homelands actually are getting second rate information gathering. So the census is not working for them, and we need to look at other options,” she said.

Study reveals health inequities in Kenora

• The information shared by the participants of the study will help organizations in the area better understand the health needs of the urban
  Indigenous population, and develop strategies to address the health inequities.

Other findings of the study include:

• Poverty rates were almost five times higher among Indigenous adults than the general Kenora population, with 63 per cent living at
  or below the before-tax low-income cut-off.
• Almost seven in 10 Indigenous adults have not completed high school.
• Two in five participants reported speaking an Indigenous language, with 92 per cent reporting that speaking or learning a language
  was important.
• One-third of Indigenous adults do not have a regular place to go for health advice or when they are sick.
• About 40 per cent of Indigenous adults reported they had been treated unfairly by a health care professional because of their Indigenous identity, and 14 per cent reported avoiding health or social services due to discrimination.
• Almost one in three Indigenous adults reporting racism said it affected their overall health and well-being.
• Half of the study participants think there are inadequate mental health services, and nearly 40 per cent believe there are inadequate suicide prevention resources serving Indigenous people in Kenora.

While looking at the data, Smylie said she’s amazed by the resiliency and close family relationships of Indigenous people in the region, adding that 55 per cent of respondents feel happy and are interested in life every day or almost every day.
“I’m just constantly inspired and astounded by the way that First Nations, Inuit and Métis people are able to find meaning in life, are able to keep up good spirits, even though there’s these huge challenges that are happening, which include day-to-day experiences of racism and gaps in access to mental healthcare,” she said.

Data must be used to inform policy
While this information is important, Joseph added, it must now be acted upon with new funding and services designed to address the social and health inequities that exist in the region. Those programs need to be created and led by Indigenous people, and funded by all levels of government, she said.

“Although we face a lot of challenges in terms of racism, discrimination and mental health as a result of the long-standing impact of colonialism, there is that great desire and connection to culture as well as healing and treatment,” Joseph said.

But Smylie said non-Indigenous people — especially healthcare providers — also have to put in the work.
“People are dying because of this culturally unsafe care. It’s not acceptable. So please sign up and take Indigenous cultural safety
training,” she urged healthcare workers.

“We need to have zero per cent Indigenous people experiencing culturally unsafe care.”

Logan Turner | CBC News | Posted: September 27, 2022 6:00 AM | Last Updated: September 27, 2022
Data fills gaps in urban Indigenous health information, offers recommendations on a way forward

Indigenous leaders call for change in Sask. health care after woman’s death during childbirth

Chelsea Bear’s family says she was sent home from hospital without proper care

Source: Hannah Spray · CBC News · Posted: Sep 22, 2026 7:28 PM EDT | Last Updated: September 22

WARNING: This story contains details about death in childbirth.

First Nations leaders say a declining health-care system and systemic racism within that system both contributed to a mother’s death from complications during the birth of her twins.

“No matter where you are in life, you should have fair and equitable treatment. Everybody should be treated the same,” Meadow Lake Tribal Council vice-chief Richard Derocher said on Tuesday, speaking alongside the family of Chelsea Bear at a news conference in Saskatoon.

Bear, a member of Flying Dust First Nation, went to hospital on Aug. 10 in Meadow Lake, in pain and bleeding, but was sent home without receiving proper care, her family said. She was 36 weeks pregnant and her pregnancy was considered high-risk.

The next day, the pain and bleeding increased severely, and Bear returned to the hospital. She was ultimately taken to Saskatoon, where the first twin was delivered stillborn and the second baby was born very weak, her family said.

Bear died after their deliveries, in the early hours of Aug. 12. She was 36 years old and left behind four other children, in addition to the surviving twin, Gracie, who is still in the neonatal intensive care unit in Saskatoon.

Her family said she died from hemorrhaging blood due to placental abruption — which is when the placenta separates too early from the uterus.

They said that if Bear would have received proper care when she first went to hospital, she and both her babies would still be alive.

“She must have been so scared, I was thinking, just losing all the blood.… It must have hurt her,” Chelsea’s mother Deb Bear said at a news conference Tuesday in Saskatoon.

“I just don’t want this ever to happen to anybody else.”

Bear’s family is the second Indigenous family to speak out and call for change after the death of a mother during childbirth in Saskatchewan this year.

Jaali Sutherland-Weenie, from Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation, died on April 26 after first going to the hospital in Rosthern with severe back pain and vomiting, then being sent to Saskatoon. Her family said she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a blood pressure condition. Her baby girl survived.

Sutherland-Weenie’s family said they believed she would have been treated differently if she were not Indigenous.

Systemic racism alleged

On Tuesday, near the end of a lengthy news conference, Derocher said that speaking about Bear’s death is complicated “because of all the things that are not being said” when people are “trying to be as nice as possible.”

He and Meadow Lake Tribal Council Tribal Chief Jeremy Norman both said they were on a conference call with representatives of the Saskatchewan Health Authority that took place after MLTC reached out to them about Bear’s death.

They said they expressed frustration that they weren’t getting answers and told the SHA they were considering holding a news conference.

Norman said an SHA representative “basically told us, keep quiet, because it’s so hard to get doctors in our region, it’s so hard to get people to come and work in the north.”

Derocher said those words “burnt me hard,” and are another example of the systemic racism that happens every day, when First Nations people are asked “to keep silent, do not speak of this issue, do not bring it forth.”

He and the other chiefs also spoke about how they have seen the quality of health care declining for everyone in Saskatchewan over the past two decades — in everything from hospital care to long-term care — and how they want to work with the province to make positive changes.

SHA to conduct patient safety review

The SHA declined an interview request, but issued a statement extending their condolences to the family and community for the “profound and tragic loss.”

The statement didn’t directly answer a question about Norman and Derocher’s account of the conference call where they said they were asked to keep quiet. The statement said the SHA met with the MLTC to hear their concerns, but at the time of the meeting, “the SHA had not received consent from the family to discuss the specifics of their case with MLTC.”

“We have since received the family’s consent and will continue our discussions with MLTC in the coming days,” the SHA’s statement said.

The health authority said it would be conducting a thorough patient safety review.

“The SHA acknowledges the complex and dynamic conditions that our maternal health and obstetrical clinical teams operate within, and appreciate their commitment, clinical expertise and professionalism.”

Independent investigation called for

The MLTC chiefs and Flying Dust First Nation Chief Tyson Bear are calling for more than a patient safety review.

“We are calling for a thorough, independent, transparent investigation, so Chelsea’s family can get the answers they deserve,” Chief Bear said.

Chelsea Bear’s death was not an isolated incident in the health-care system, the chiefs said.

In a news release, they highlighted that it is the sixth quality-of-care incident that the Meadow Lake Tribal Council has tried to raise with the SHA this year.

“We’re here for a better health system. We’re here to make change,” Tribal Chief Norman said.

“It’s unfortunate things like this have to happen before we look at making change, before we really dig in to say, ‘What’s the problem?'”

Miranda Mamakwa missed four appointments following open-heart surgery, and claimed prior to her death that the Non-Insured Health Benefits program failed to provide for her transport.

The Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA) and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) are demanding “immediate, public accountability” and an independent investigation into the death of Fort Severn First Nation member Miranda Mamakwa.

Mamakwa died on Sept. 8. According to a press release by the SLFNHA and NAN, she had open-heart surgery on April 23 and was supposed to have had follow-up appointments “mandatory for her recovery and survival” on May 28, June 11, July 2 and Aug. 6.

SLFNHA and NAN say in their statement the federal Non-Insured Health Benefits program (NIHB), for First Nations and Inuit to access medical care not available in their communities, failed to arrange travel and accommodations, making it impossible for Mamakwa to reach her appointments and receive treatment.

Fort Severn is located in the extreme north of Ontario on Hudson Bay, near the Manitoba border.

Last weekend, Mamakwa was taken to the Fort Severn First Nation nursing station and transported to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, where on Tuesday her family removed her from life support.

Nearly a month earlier, on Aug. 19, Mamakwa made a Facebook post listing the four appointments she said she had missed because NIHB had failed to arrange travel.

She closed by saying, “If I die, please go after them.”

“Those words,” the statement from SLFNHA and NAN reads, “are now a demand SLFNHA and NAN intend to see answered.”

In their statement, SLFNHA and NAN say they’ve warned for years that delays and bureaucratic failures in the NIHB program were risking the lives of people in Kiiwetinoong and across NAN territory.

“From cancelled medical travel to appointments booked, and missed, with little or no notice,” the statement reads. “Miranda Mamakwa’s death is the clearest and most devastating proof yet that these were not exaggerated warnings.”

NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said, “It is outrageous that Miranda’s travel was denied on four separate occasions. There is no doubt in my mind that her life may have been saved if she had been allowed to travel to her appointments. The circumstances around her passing are extremely troubling and the denial of travel by NIHB demands accountability.”

Fiddler argued those in charge of NIHB must understand medical transportation as a matter of life and death, rather than a simple issue of paperwork.

“The officials responsible should be asking themselves why our members are still subject to such a horrific bureaucracy that denies them access to life-saving care,” Fiddler said. “Days before she began her Spirit Journey, Miranda posted to social media that ‘If I die, please go after them.’ We will honour her dying wish by demanding full accountability.”

SLFNHA and NAN are insisting upon an immediate, independent investigation into Mamakwa’s death, including identifying which staff members and decisions prevented Mamakwa’s medical travel.

They’re also demanding a public accounting from Indigenous Services Canada of what went wrong and who was responsible for those circumstances, as well as a direct meeting between NAN/SFLNHA leadership and Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty.

Finally, SLFNHA and NAN say they want to see “concrete, funded fixes to the NIHB medical travel and appointment system for the 33 First Nations SLFNHA serves and the 49 First Nations of NAN before another family loses someone they love.”

“Miranda Mamakwa should still be here today, raising her three children,” said SFLNHA president and CEO Sonia Isaac-Mann. “Her death is not something that simply happened to her, it is the result of a system that failed her, appointment after appointment, for months. SLFNHA and NAN have raised these gaps for years, and we are done accepting apologies with no accountability behind them.”

APTN News reached out to Indigenous Services Canada for a comment regarding the allegations NIHB failed to provide travel for Mamakwa’s four appointments, or that its handling of Mamakwa’s case was responsible for her death. We have not received a statement.

APTN also reached out to the minister’s office. In a statement forwarded by her press secretary, Gull-Masty said she has “instructed Indigenous Services Canada officials to urgently establish the facts surrounding Miranda’s death and the circumstances that led to it.”

She also said she would be meeting with SLFNHA and NAN “at the earliest opportunity.”

“Miranda Mamakwa was a member of Fort Severn First Nation, part of a family, a community and a Nation that knew her, loved her and are now mourning her loss,” said Gull-Masty. “I want to acknowledge Miranda, the life she lived and the place she held in her community.

“My deepest condolences go to Miranda’s family, loved ones and the entire Fort Severn First Nation during this incredibly difficult time. They deserve answers about what happened.”

Mamakwa’s family reached out to APTN but were not available for an interview prior to this article being published.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, the Hope for Wellness Help Line offers immediate help to all Indigenous peoples across Canada at 1-855-242-3310 or connect to the online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca.

Source: https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/nan-blames-ottawa-for-death-of-fort-severn-first-nations-woman-mamakwa/

OTTAWA — The Canadian Medical Association has updated its code of ethics to clarify how doctors are expected to address racism and discrimination in health care.

The CMA says the updates give physicians clearer guidance on providing culturally safe, trauma-informed and equitable care, respecting Indigenous knowledge and working with colleagues.

The reforms are part of the CMA’s reconciliation action plan and the code is now available online in four Indigenous languages: Anishinaabemowin, Michif, Northern Michif-Cree and Inuktitut.

Members of the Karihwáhstha team wishes to express our deep sorrow over the tragic event yesterday at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, Tumbler Ridge, BC.

All life is a gift from the Creator, and when that gift is lost we all suffer a loss.

We offer our heartfelt condolences to the families of those lost and wish a speedy recovery to the injured in this terrible event.

A Tribute to Dr. Barry Lavallee from the Karihwáhstha Team

Those of us collaborating on the Karihwáhstha initiative are deeply saddened by the passing of renowned Indigenous physician and advocate Dr. Barry Lavallee, Chief Executive Officer of Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin Inc.

Dr. Lavallee was a respected physician, visionary leader, and titan of patient advocacy whose tireless fight to decolonize Manitoba’s healthcare system leaves a legacy that well serves the next seven generations—and beyond.

Guided by principle, Dr. Lavallee confronted the uncomfortable realities of healthcare disparity. He challenged the systems that created inequity, truly speaking truth to power.

His bold questions and observations inspired us to enhance our own response to health system and community needs.

Dr. Lavallee received a Medal of Excellence from Doctors Manitoba in 2022—a recognition deeply reflective of his lifelong dedication to his patients and community. During the Covid crisis, Dr. Lavallee fearlessly advocated for the northern First Nations to have priority to vaccinations, ensuring those most vulnerable were protected.

A trusted voice and visionary leader, his absence will be profoundly felt across the healthcare system.

We extend our condolences to his colleagues and loved ones.

Elders tell us Dr. Lavallee is on a good journey.

We dedicate this work to him.

Karihwáhstha Team