How are we working together?
Elements of the In Plain Sight recommendations require different approaches for consultation and co-operation depending on what government ministry is leading the implementation and who the key partners are. Partnership with Indigenous organizations, leaders and communities across the province primarily includes the First Nations Health Authority, Métis Nation BC, the First Nations Health Council, and regional Nation executive tables.
Some recommendations are being pursued primarily through partnerships and actions with the regional health authorities, Provincial Health Services Authority, and Providence Health Care. The approach that each health authority is taking on implementation can be driven by their relationships with First Nations Health Authority, Métis Nation BC and regional Indigenous leaders and governing bodies. While there are significant alignments across the province, each region has a unique structure and processes due to regional context. There are regular working meetings with the Vice Presidents of Indigenous Health from across the health authorities, as well as regular meetings with Métis Nation BC and the First Nations Health Authority.
The Ministry of Health continues to observe and learn from the collaboration and co-operation that other projects and ministries are following, in addition to the guidance provided by the Declaration Act Secretariat, First Nations Health Council, and Métis Nation BC.
The ministry has identified a need to consider Modern Treaty Nations and their unique status as treaty rights holders, as well as urban Indigenous organizations, Elders, youth, and Indigenous Peoples with disabilities in the work ahead. Several First Nations have identified Action 3.07 as a priority in their Declaration Act Engagement Fund workplans, and the ministry is developing an engagement plan for 2025 to meet these needs.
Are there challenges?
The greatest risks to full implementation in a timely manner are:
- competing priorities and pressures across the health system and within Indigenous organizations and communities;
- resourcing across the Provincial government and Indigenous governing bodies for meaningful engagement and partnerships; and
- ongoing systemic silos and structural barriers.
Indigenous communities and First Nations governments have prioritized sustaining and improving the health and wellness of their members. Potential approaches have been considered by Nations and communities to dismantling the legacies of settler-colonial oppression, white supremacy, systemic Indigenous-specific racism, and intergenerational trauma, and more recently the impacts of losses to COVID-19, the toxic drug crisis, and the climate crisis.
These approaches include fostering and maintaining intrinsic connections to culture, language, and land, autonomy and self-determination, and collaboration with Indigenous organizations and partners to develop supportive systems that promote Indigenous Peoples’ ways of knowing and being. An engagement process model is needed that can address the inherent systemic challenges in engaging and collaborating with Indigenous communities and Nation governments.
Highlights
In June 2024, a new superintendent was announced to advance the new health legislation. The role of the superintendent will also serve to ensure the changes made to the Health Professions and Occupations Act advance the key recommendations of the 2020 In Plain Sight Report. For more information, read the “Superintendent chosen to advance new health legislation” news release.
Regulators have now completed their amalgamation work to reduce the number of health profession regulatory colleges from 15 to six. For more information, read the “Patient safety enhanced as more B.C. health colleges amalgamate” news release.
Health Standards Organization and Accreditation Canada continues its partnership with First Nations Health Authority to advance cultural safety and humility through the first assessment of the British Columbia Cultural Safety and Humility Standard. In 2025, Accreditation Canada, with the support of First Nations Health Authority, will lead the first-of-its-kind assessment together with Provincial Health Services Authority. All assessments of the BC Cultural Safety and Humility Standard will be led by First Nations, Inuit and Métis surveyors, including Indigenous patients. For more information, read the “HSO and FNHA to Launch First Assessment of the British Columbia Cultural Safety and Humility Standard” news release.