Indigenous Health at the CFPC

Dr. Mandy Buss is Métis from Red River Settlement in Manitoba and was born and raised in Manitoba. She works as a family physician at Northern Connections Medical Centre with the Northern Remote Family Medicine program, is a past President of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada and is a member of the Indigenous Health Committee at the CFPC.

She is also the Project Lead on the Team Optimization Project Responding to the Call: Centering Indigenous Knowledge Systems to Strengthen Comprehensive Primary Care. This project aims to provide culturally safe primary health care that is rooted in ‘structural competency’ and embraces trauma-informed, strength-based, non-judgement, and anti-racist pedagogy among an interprofessional team that operates from a place of knowing who they are and where they come from, to operationalize transformative care.

Dr. Buss was also recently featured in this episode of Primary Focus, where she talks about how to implement culturally safe care.

Dr. Janelle Syring is Métis with roots in the Red River Settlement now living in Mohkinstsis (Calgary) and is a member of the Indigenous Health Committee at the CFPC. Dr. Syring brings a trauma-informed and harm reduction lens to her medical practice, which includes full spectrum family medicine care, obstetrics, gender affirming care, and supporting people living with substance use.  A champion for reproductive justice, Dr. Syring advocates daily in the medical system for her patients—many of whom experience limited access to resources and supports. 

In addition to her practice, Dr. Syring is a passionate educator who is helping to create a vision of an Indigenous approach to educational leadership as a Clinical Educator Fellow at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Health Education Scholarship. She believes that the pathway to systemic change is rooted in having foundational knowledge of the factors and conditions that lead to health inequity and oppression, and in possessing critical reflexivity as a practitioner to understand their social location, address power imbalances, privilege, and bias.

Dr. Ojistoh Horn is a Mohawk/Haudenosaunee woman who practises family medicine in the Kahnawake and Akwesasne communities. She is the President of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, and a member of the Indigenous Health Committee at the CFPC.

Dr. Horn is a board member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) and actively uses her voice to advocate for environmental justice. In 2024 Dr. Horn provided powerful testimony for the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources where she recommended the passage and swift implementation of Bill C-226, National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act “…stressing the recognition that environmental justice, human health and ecological biodiversity are intertwined and all are impacted by environmental racism.” The Bill received Royal Assent in June 20, 2024.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action provide specific recommendations to address historical injustices and acknowledge the impact of residential schools. Calls 18 to 24 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, authored by residential school survivors, relate directly to the health care system.

Please note that the time to earn Mainpro+ credits for this session has passed.

In 2022 the CFPC made its commitment to cultural safety and humility in health services delivery for Indigenous peoples across Canada. In this first event, we come together to explore what this commitment means for the organization and why it is significant and offer an opportunity to discuss how we can all engage in the process of reconciliation.  

• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples UNDRIP (2007)
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action (2015)
• The 10 Principles respecting the Government of Canada's relationship with Indigenous peoples (2018)
• BC Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) (2018)
• Reclaiming Power and Place: Final Report of the National Inquiry into MMIWG (2019)
• In Plain Sight (2020)
• CanMEDS–FM Indigenous Health Supplement (2020)
• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan (2021)

Continuing professional development

FMF Loved: Unlearning and Undoing Systemic White Supremacy and Indigenous-Specific Racism in Settler Healthcare Teams (Dr. Danièle Behn Smith)
This content is certified for one Mainpro+^® credit
Identify intersecting systems of settler colonialism, white supremacy, and Indigenous-specific racism in Canada (learn). Identify foundational obligations to Indigenous peoples and specific instructions related to health and wellness, including substance use (understand). Be ready to apply two methodological frameworks for unlearning and undoing systemic white supremacy and Indigenous-specific racism (act).

More educational courses

Indigenous Health and Wellness, Advocacy, and Allyship – massive open online course (MOOC) (free) and certificate (paid)
The MOOC is intended for individuals looking to expand their understanding of Indigenous health issues and those committed to fostering allyship. This course offers valuable insights for everyone. If you wish to advance your knowledge and skills further, consider the Indigenous Health and Wellness Advocacy and Allyship Certificate. This paid program offers significantly more in-depth training, equipping you with advanced tools to champion Indigenous health and wellness in your community. Both are provided by PowerED™, Athabasca University.

Indigenous Canada; University of Alberta
Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson MOOC from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada.

Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education
This free course, from the Office of Professional Learning at the University of British Columbia (UBC), helps you see how Indigenous histories, perspectives, world views, and approaches to learning can be made part of the work done in classrooms, organizations, communities, and in everyday experiences that are thoughtful and respectful.

San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Program
San’yas offers an online training course for people working in any sector across Canada. The material focuses on uprooting anti-Indigenous racism and promoting cultural safety for Indigenous people.

Native Land Digital
Native Land Digital is an Indigenous-led non-profit organization that provides a global digital map of Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties. The goal of the site is to support education, awareness, and research while respecting Indigenous data sovereignty.

Whose Land
Whose Land is a web-based app that uses GIS technology to help users identify Indigenous Nations, territories, and communities across Canada. Use the app to learn about the territory your home or business is situated on, find information for a land acknowledgement, and learn about the treaties and agreements signed across Canada.

Being an Ally; Queen’s University, Office of Indigenous Initiatives
The website provides information to assist with the active, consistent, and arduous practice of unlearning and re-evaluating, in which a person in a position of privilege and power seeks to operate in solidarity with a marginalized group.

Generation 4 Equality: Allyship Fact Sheet; Native Women’s Association of Canada
The fact sheet provides information about and in support of Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit, transgender, and gender-diverse+ (WG2STGD+) people.

CFP Podcast: Meaningful steps toward improving Indigenous health
Listen as Dr. Nick Pimlott, Dr. Mandy Buss, and Dr. Veronica McKinney discuss the CFPC’s Declaration of Commitment to Cultural Safety and Humility in Health Services Delivery for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis People in Canada, key resources to support related learning in family medicine, and new tools being developed. Dr. Buss and Dr. McKinney are members of the CFPC’s Indigenous Health Committee.

CBCIndigenous  – Original voices. Original storytelling.
List of shows, first broadcast on the CBC, about Indigenous society, culture, and news.

Radio-Canada Ohdio – Peuples autochtones (available in French only)
List of podcasts, audiobooks, and radio broadcasts in French compiled by CBC Radio-Canada to highlight Indigenous stories and communities across Canada.

Residential Schools; Historica Canada
Residential Schools is a three-part podcast series created by Historica Canada and hosted by Shaneen Robinson-Desjarlais. It is intended to commemorate the history and legacy of residential schools, and honour the stories of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit survivors, their families, and communities.

Indigenous New Media
The website provides a list of featured Indigenous podcasts and access to a full index of podcasts available via the UBC library.

Indigenous Book Club & Discover Indigenous Authors; University of Toronto
The Indigenous Story Tellers: Podcasts is a resource for works created by Indigenous artists and authors.

The Unforgotten
Watch The Unforgotten, a short film about the health and well-being of Indigenous people in Canada. The website includes links for the film and an educational tool kit created by the Canadian Medical Association for film viewers.

Reflect using the Indigenous Health Committee resource list for the film.

Orange Shirt Society (YouTube channel)
This channel provides educational videos about the residential school system in Canada and the generational impacts on First Nations communities.

National Film Board
Access the National Film Board’s online collection of Indigenous-made films.

The Sixties Scoop in Canada
A video, posted by CBC News, provides a brief history of how thousands of Indigenous children in Canada were taken from their parents from the 1960s to the 1980s, and how the effects are still being felt today.

Calgary Public Library
The titles in the reading list are a guide for readers seeking more knowledge about reconciliation and Indigenous cultures. The video, graphic novels, and books consider the broader context, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, stories and memoirs, and local viewpoints.

CBC Books
Author Michelle Good (Five Little Indians) lists her “30 must-read books to learn about the Indigenous experience in North America.”

Royal Alberta Museum (RAM)
The RAM Blog shares the Indigenous Reading List for children, teens, and adults.

Faculty of Education, UBC
The Office of Indigenous Education makes their Top 10 Indigenous Books available.

Library, UBC
The website provides a list of Indigenous publishers, distributers, and news media.

University of Toronto Libraries, Research Guides
The Libraries’ Research Guides has a list of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis publishers and distributors.

Je lis autochtone ! (available in French only)
The Je lis autochtone initiative aims to build intercultural bridges through literature and to put a spotlight on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis literary talents who publish in French across Canada. They publish theme-based booklets featuring new releases, original work, and book and theatre recommendations from Indigenous artists.