It’s an honour to be able to speak on this opposition motion on primary care.

Last month, I was at the NAN—Nishnawbe Aski Nation—chiefs’ assembly meeting. One of the things that they talked about was that the First Nations in NAN territory in northern Ontario—49 First Nations—continue to experience an ongoing and worsening state of access to quality health care, including emergency health services. There’s limited accountability within the health care system. First Nations are in a state of perpetual crisis, which is demonstrated by sudden deaths of children. We have child suicide pacts and other preventable deaths that are happening.

I know that primary care, in general, and family medicine, in particular, are definitely in crisis. It is on the lips of family doctors, and they desperately need high-level leadership and policy focus to prevent things from collapsing.

One of the physicians I spoke to earlier said that many of his contemporaries who have started family practices or have taken them over—either they have already gotten out in favour of other things or are desperately trying to get out. One of the things that he said about this motion is that providing more administrative support is definitely part of the solution and would definitely make it more appealing to go into family medicine, and he said that this motion is great in that regard.

Listening to the member across the way—thank you for those comments. Thank you for not even mentioning Kiiwetinoong. Thank you for letting us know that oppression still continues in Ontario.

Thank you to this government for letting me know, letting First Nations people know, that colonialism by way of health care still exists.

In the north, we have to change a sickness system into a primary care system—because currently, it is sickness care, because the only time the system responds is when our people are dying and when our people are sick. Meegwetch.