Unequal Access to Healthcare for Canadian Aboriginals: A Critical Analysis of its Presentation in the Media

Running head: ANTHROPOLOGY
Anthropology
-Canadian Aboriginals
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANTHROPOLOGY
Introduction
The indigenous people living in Canada are also loosely termed as Canadian
Aboriginals and include several groups such as the Eskimos, Intuits, Métis and First Nations.
These groups have migrated to Canada hundreds or thousands of years before being
colonized by European Settlers, making them the natives of the land. The indigenous
population can be divided into 13 Aboriginal language groups (Mason & Siminovitch, 2018).
According to the 2016 Census in Canada, Indigenous or Aboriginal groups makes up only
4.9% of the total population of Canada, numbering to 1.6 million individuals. Since the
1900’s there has been a steady increase in the Aboriginal population in Canada due to a
reduction in infant mortality rate. However, some authors have pointed out that the
Aboriginals still face several challenges and issues which impacts their wellbeing and health.
One significant challenge among them is an unequal access to healthcare, compared to the
non Indigenous Canadians that contributes to a health gap between the indigenous and non
indigenous populace in the country. The aim of this study is to analyze this particular
issue/challenge and how it is presented in the media (Statistics Canada, 2017; Cameron et al.,
2014).
Description of the issue
According to Harding (2005), the media has been involved in stereotyping of
Aboriginal Canadians since a long time which still exists in the news texts regarding the
Aboriginal issues. The author points out that the media have always represented the
Aboriginals as victims, warriors and environmentalists, constructing them as the ‘common
sense’ regarding the Aboriginals instead of basing the views on the cultural and linguistic
environment of Canada (Ames et al., 2015). The author also cited examples from issues
pertaining to Aboriginal and Non Aboriginal relations in Canada such as the ‘Oka Crisis’ of

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1990 in which the Aboriginals have been depicted in the media as Pathetic Victims, Angry
Warriors and Noble Environmentalists, often overlooking the realities faced by the people.
Such stereotypes can still be seen in various media reports and articles that discuss the issue
of unequal access to healthcare for the Aboriginal people in Canada (Ruffo, 2014; Currie et
al., 2015). Several reports have suggested that a deep sense of racial bias and discrimination
exists in healthcare organizations and among healthcare workers as they often attribute the
stereotypical views of the problems faced by the Aboriginals to be the only factor that
impacts their health and wellbeing instead of investigating the actual physical problems faced
by them (Currie et al., 2015; Spence et al., 2016). This problem is further accentuated by a
lack of understanding and cultural sensitivity possessed by the healthcare workers and a
cultural barrier that is created due to it ultimately reducing the access to healthcare and
creates a health inequality compared to the non indigenous Canadians (Ly & Crowshoe,
2015).
Critical analysis of the issue and its presentation in the media:
Cameron et al. (2014) conducted a participatory research in partnership with the
Aboriginal people and the study showed that the Aboriginal people are still subjected to
bullying, intimidation and fear by non indigenous people of Canada which was promoted by
a lack of understanding of the Aboriginal cultures (Currie et al., 2015). Such aspects were
also prevalent in healthcare, and the healthcare professionals lacked understanding of
culturally appropriate practices thereby creating a structural injustice towards the Aboriginals
and acted as a significant barrier to the access to healthcare (Siddiqi et al., 2017). Moreover,
stereotyping, stigmatization and discrimination of the Aboriginals people by the media and
the mainstream society have further resulted in an unequal access to healthcare. The authors
pointed out the results of the First Nations regional Longitudinal Health Survey 2002-2003 in
with 35% of the Indigenous respondents reported that they felt their access to healthcare

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services was less compared to the Non Indigenous Canadians (Pahwa et al., 2015). This have
also been supported by the findings from the 2003 National Aboriginal health organization
poll which showed that 18% of Indigenous Canadians never received the needed healthcare,
compared to 12% of Non Indigenous Canadians and 24% reported that the quality of care
they received were significantly poorer compared to others. One of the biggest reasons for the
restricted access to healthcare services has been due to the long waiting times as well as a
poor quality of care (Cameron et al., 2014). Additionally, 15% of the respondents from
National Aboriginal health Organization poll also reported inappropriate and unfair treatment
by healthcare providers, especially in the ‘off reserve’ localities. Several respondents claimed
that the unjust treatment was mainly because of their ‘aboriginality’ (Goodman et al., 2017;
Jacklin et al., 2017).
Kielburger and Kielburger (2013) in a news article posted in Huffington Post pointed
out that aboriginal people still face several problems whenever they try to seek healthcare.
The author stated that the healthcare professionals show biasness and discrimination against
the Aboriginal people, often talking about them ‘in derogatory terms’ and suggesting that
their health problems were mainly because of the Aboriginal origins (Goodman et al., 2017).
Such stereotypes have crept into the mainstream healthcare services, and have reduced the
propensity of the Aboriginal people to seek care (Cameron et al., 2014). The stereotypes have
also been justified by the higher rates of poverty, drug abuse and sexual abuse among the
Aboriginals compared to the Non Aboriginal Canadians and the healthcare professionals
often considers that every Aboriginal they treat are afflicted by the same problems (Li, 2017).
This clearly shows the biasness and stereotype that exists in healthcare organizations against
the Aboriginal Canadians.
This was also supported by Blake (2018) in a CBC News article stating that the racial
bias that exists against the aboriginals have resulted in several avoidable deaths in Northwest