SOCI 2100 Winter 2020: Report on Indigenous Healthcare Disparities

This report, prepared for a Sociology course, examines the barriers to healthcare access faced by Indigenous Canadians. It explores the disparities in healthcare accessibility between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, highlighting the impact of factors like non-communicable diseases, cardiovascular challenges, and mental health issues. The report delves into theoretical perspectives, including the social determinants of health and conflict theory, to explain the underlying causes of these disparities. It also discusses the role of social settings, governance, and law in shaping healthcare access. The analysis considers the historical and ongoing effects of colonialism and systemic inequalities, emphasizing the need for improved healthcare resources, infrastructure, and cultural sensitivity. The report further suggests resolving challenges related to the identified approaches and the implementation of human rights-based approach to improve the health status of Indigenous populations in Canada, providing insights into the complex interplay of social, economic, and political factors that contribute to health inequities. The report highlights the capitalist view of the Canadian society and the impact of discrimination on the Indigenous community's access to health care. It also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the conflict theory in explaining the health disparities. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for comprehensive healthcare services and the importance of addressing the social determinants of health to achieve health equity for all Canadians.

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY
Subject Topic - SOCIOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the University

SOCIOLOGY 1
Part I
Introduction
This section of the report will explore the insights regarding the problem solving
exercises. Being the industry analyst, this portrays a professional report explaining as well as
describing the social problem or the entire set of the inter related social challenge related to
barriers to health care services by indigenous Canadians. The thesis statement of the essay aims
to explore the topic related to the barriers and challenges faced by indigenous population of
Canada, specifically targeting the health care industry of the country (Denison, Varcoe &
Browne, 2014). This section of the essay will address the key factors that are involved within the
theoretical perspectives in relation to the topic with the use of lens for further investigation. The
essay will furthermore illustrate the approaches identified towards the explanation of the social
problem under consideration.
Discussion
This section descriptively addressed the questions regarding the investigation related to
the topic of the barriers related to health care access by the indigenous Canadians. The disparities
within the health care accessibility by the indigenous population and the non-indigenous people
residing in Canada has continued to be very much prevalent till the current date. According to
Boyer (2019), there lies a health gap among the indigenous and the non indigenous population
which can be explained or justified by their high rate of death rate which is caused majorly due
to the lack of proper access to health care facilities. Indigenous population residing in Canada are
majorly affected by non-communicable disease, cardiovascular challenges followed by mental
disorders and diabetes and chronic respiratory disease. The health risk nature tends to substantial
effect over several non-communicable disease while the indigenous people gets frequently

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engaged to detrimental risk behaviors of health like smoking of tobacco as well as the misuse
related to alcohol. Towards the light of the connection among the behaviors of health risk and the
outcomes of health, the theoretical perspectives that can be investigated includes the key factors
of social determinants of health, link among the status of health and socio economic status,
connection among chronic stress and perception of control. While considering the theoretical
models by Grol and Flottorp, the key factors which are involved in the theoretical perspective
towards the barriers to health care access involves patients, physical activity programs,
healthcare professionals, organization, social settings, governance and law (Arora, Kurji &
Tennant, 2013). The theoretical perspectives within this context majorly focused over
characteristics of the social settings, the characteristics of the governance and law in the context
of the indigenous health care facilities in Canada.
The most appropriate theoretical perspective that can be explained in the context of
barriers to health care access by the aboriginal Canadians, is the conflict theory. According to
Cameron et al., (2014), the key concepts and the factors involved within the major assumptions
of the conflict theory is that social inequality characterized the quality of the health care and
health. Population residing from the disadvantaged social backgrounds tends to become ill as
well as receive inadequate health care facilities. The theory defines that for increasing the
income status, the physicians tried to control the medicinal practices and also for the definition of
social problems as the medical challenges.
According to Barker et al., (2015), the conflict approach emphasizes over the inequality
regarding the health as well as the health care delivery. The quality related to health and health
care differs widely around the world and among the United States. Another theoretical approach
in this contexts is the social determinants theory that states that the inequality of the society

SOCIOLOGY 3
together with the race, social class, ethnicity and the lines of gender are reproduced in the health
as well as the health care. The theoretical approach of conflict furthermore critiques the efforts
over the decades for controlling the medicinal practice for the definition of several social
challenges. The evidence related to the inequality at the medicine and health are some of the
negative aspects related to the motivation of medical establishment for extension of compelling
research. As per Bobo & Fox (2003), the conflict theory highlights the concept of capitalism as
well as the pursuit of profit leading to health commodification.
The approaches identified in relation to the conflict approaches and the social
determinants theoretical approaches explains the social challenge under consideration. The social
problem that has been considered in this essay is the barriers to health care access by indigenous
Canadians. Towards understanding the capitalist view of the Canadian society in the current
decade, it can be stated that non indigenous people having power and money are the dominant
group making certain decision regarding the process of the health care system of Canada. It has
thus been noticed that non indigenous community people residing in Canada ensures that though
the health coverage for all the community people in the Canada will be there, there also be
factors that simultaneously ensure that the indigenous community of people stays subordinate
through their lack of proper health care access (Halseth, 2013). This context majorly contributes
to significant health as well as health disparities among the dominant and the subordinate groups.
Together with the health disparities among the indigenous community people residing in Canada,
which are majorly created by the class inequalities, there furthermore lies factors contributing to
the rising health disparities among the indigenous population residing in Canada. These are
sexism, racism, ageism and the heterosexism. According to Lambert et al., (2014) while health
being the commodity highlighted in the context of the Canadian context and the barriers to the

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health care access by the indigenous population, the indigenous community of people are more
likely to experience illness due to the poor diet and for living as well as working in unhealthy
environments which makes them less likely to challenge the entire system.
The theorist in this context present accurate details to point out the inequalities that still prevails
in the health care system. As per Kurtz (2013), while they do not provide enough credit to the
medical advances which requires economic structure for supporting as well as rewarding
researchers. In the context of Canada, there lies a very disproportionate number of racial
minorities which possess very less economic power which enables them to deal the burden of
poor health.

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Part II
The indigenous population residing in Canada have worse health status that the non
indigenous population and mostly over represented among the most disadvantaged and poor
community in the globe. They are considered to be the population with low life expectations and
high discrimination in the health care access in the Canadian public health institutions. This
research essay aims to explore the barriers to health care access by the indigenous population
residing in Canada. The thesis statement of the essay argues with the theoretical perspectives
and the barriers to health care services by the indigenous Canadians (Kolahdooz et al., 2015).
The current research articles explores the social determinants as well as the status of health of the
indigenous population in Canada, from a human rights based approach. The essay furthermore
highlights the factor that how the improvement of the health status of the indigenous people in
Canada has been a longstanding challenge for the government of the Canada, however this
human rights concern is followed by major obstacles and barriers among the indigenous
Canadians. This essay will suggest the resolving challenges of the identified approaches in the
above section in the light of the highlighted theoretical perspective.
Summary
This section will explain the social problem by arguing the context of the barriers to
health care as the major social problem.

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The above map arranges the factors contributing the challenges of democracy and human
right among the indigenous population in Canada. The problem that can be viewed within this
structure is the determinants of social structure contributing to discrimination among the
unprivileged group of people. The race, eco-social gap and the community issues that is
furthermore the result of the colonization and the gap among the discriminated class of
indigenous community people projects as the major reasons for the barriers of the social
challenge of discussion of this essay. According to Nelson & Wilson (2017), the social structure
of Canada has undergone some of the major changes. The concept of feudalism has been
replaced by capitalist perspective altogether where the non indigenous group of population are
being discriminated from their basic rights to proper health care access and facilities to live and
healthy wellbeing. In the year 2008, according to the research data more than 85 percentage of
the indigenous Canadians reported to experience racism while availing health care access. These
were followed by the race based attacks, exclusion, biases as well as social undermining which is
majorly associated to poor mental as well as physical health among the indigenous Canadians.
Democracy and
Human Rights
Race Economic and
social gap Community
Social problems Colonisation

SOCIOLOGY 7
The approaches identified in the previous section majorly focused over the conflict theory and
social determinants theory that recognized that health and inequality of a population is majorly
determined by the several interconnected social factors. According to Gibson et al., (2015), it is
the basic tenet within the human rights law that all the inalienable rights are adjustment which
impacts over the enjoyment of the targeted population. The theoretical perspectives and the
approaches highlighted in the previous section explained that the essential determinants of the
inequality of the health care access for the indigenous Canadians includes the lack of equity in
health care resources and facilities as well as the low standard of the health infrastructure among
the community like the sanitation, food, health and housing.
Towards assessing the conflict theoretical perspective which has been explained in the
previous section, it is to note that while the theories point out the inequalities at the health care
system ,it lacks in providing credit to the medical advances which requires the structure to
depend over the profitability (Place, 2013). The advantage of the theory is that it has strengths
over presenting the macro view of the society. It furthermore abstracts the several societal
positions in several groups that allows in easier analysis for interacting among these groups.
According to Bartos & Wehr (2002), the conflict theory fails to strengthen the predictions
viewed at the historical failure of the concept of Marxism. The theory assumes regarding the
level of subordination presented within the lower and the proletariat class which do not hold up
to the history. The conflict theoretical perspective nevertheless ignores the individual over which
the theory is applicable together with the interactions at the micro level.
Barriers to health care access is one of the major social challenge or problem. According
to (), social problem is referred to the social conditions which damages or disrupts the society.

SOCIOLOGY 8
Social challenges can be illustrates as the condition or the behavior which tends to have negative
consequences for major number of people which is generally being recognized with both
objective and subjective component. In relation to restoring social challenges, it is to note that
access to quality and comprehensive health care services is essential for maintaining the basic
human rights of an individual as enshrined in UDHR (Goodman et al., 2017). The access to
health care facilities is important for the promotion of health as well as management and
prevention of disease, together with the reduction of unnecessary disabilities. Health care
accessibility is majorly essential for the achievement of the health equity for all the Canadians
irrespective of the barriers of race, social and economic status, communalization and
colonization among the indigenous and the no indigenous population.
Towards closing the gap presented in the access to health care facilities among the
population of Canada, some of the major approaches that has been identified to suggest some of
the resolutions to the barriers or the social problem of health care accessibility includes the
provision of education as well as relevant knowledge and information for rising awareness
among the people of the indigenous community to seek their basic rights towards health care
facilities (Campbell et al., 2015). It is to note that the government of the country plays a major
role towards supporting the objective of the improvement of health and wellbeing of the
indigenous Canadians. Thus it is recommended for the council to contribute for the reduction of
the health gap by the development of strategic approaches for accessing the resources that is
required to be healthy. According to Heaman et al., (2014), development of the relationship with
the indigenous community is essential for addressing the indigenous health care challenges.
Furthermore, for addressing the issues related to security, cultural safety as well as health care
access, it is important for developing the reconciliation plan as well as enable provision for

SOCIOLOGY 9
cultural competence training for the indigenous community people. Towards resolving the issue
of inequality and the barriers related to the access to health care facilities by the indigenous
Canadians, it is to note that quality care needs to be provided by the government of the country
by recruiting indigenous capable health individuals as well as nurses who will be understanding
the challenges faced by the indigenous community people.
Conclusion
Ensuring accessibility as well as availability of health care access requires not only
efficient and strong geographical and financial health systems but also linguistic and cultural
support. Barriers towards availing and accessing health care services includes language
differentiation, medical procedures as well as the conceptions related to sexuality and gender.
These barriers often leads to serious level of miscommunications which are some of the major
cause towards unsatisfactory outcomes of the health care services towards indigenous Canadians.
It is to note that the health gap is the result of the unequal access to opportunities as well as
resources that are necessary for good health. The indigenous community people have their share
of right towards wellbeing and access to equity regarding health care services similar to the non-
indigenous population in Canada. This section of the essay highlighted the largest inequality
regarding access to health care among the indigenous Canadians due to the barriers of race, socio
economic status and colonization that leads to discrimination among the indigenous community
people residing in Canada.

SOCIOLOGY 10
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