NWT duo address Senate on healthcare, second-generation cut-off

Two young people from the NWT travelled to the Senate of Canada to advocate for improving Indigenous healthcare and abolishing the second-generation cut-off.

“The time is now to fix the lack of Indigenous representation in the Canadian healthcare system,” Makayla Mantla told the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples on Wednesday. 

“I have a dream for Canada to have a publicly funded First Nations hospital run by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis healthcare providers, the first of its kind.”

Mantla is Tłı̨chǫ, hailing from Behchokǫ̀, but currently lives in Edmonton and has experience working as a nurse in rural Alberta.

She recently graduated from the University of Alberta – making her the first in her family to get a university degree – with a bachelor of science and nursing, where she researched Indigenous-specific racism in Canadian healthcare and examined how colonial systems continue to affect Indigenous patients. 

“It’s hard entering the nursing profession if you never see other Indigenous nursing students,” Mantla said, adding that only three percent of Canadian registered nurses are Indigenous. 

She hopes sharing her story will help youth and mature students who want to pursue this career, while raising awareness of the challenges of retaining these workers.

Mantla and Jaylene Neisa Delorme are two of eight youth from First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities across the country selected for this year’s Voices of Youth Indigenous Leaders at the Senate. The Senate pays for these young leaders to travel to Ottawa to share their experiences and ideas with senators and attend networking events.

Delorme, a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation from Hay River, founded an initiative called Dënegóth Nají where she volunteers her time to help people navigate complicated government programs.

“I am proud of this work, but I believe young people should not have to depend on finding someone like me to access the support that they deserve,” Delorme told the senators. 

Accompanied by her husband and two of her four children, Delorme gave an impassioned speech on the need to abolish the second-generation cut-off, which prevents many First Nations people with status under the Indian Act from passing entitlement on to their children and grandchildren.

“As a First Nations mother, I have experienced the second-generation cut-off in the Indian Act, which has prevented my children from being registered with Indian status,” Delorme said. 

“Although I found another pathway to register them as Métis, my children have First Nations ancestry, family and connections. Their identity does not disappear because they do not meet a legislative requirement.”

The Senate is trying to advance legislation that would abolish the cut-off, but Bill S-2 is stalled out in the House of Commons, waiting for a committee to study it.

“My dreams for my children’s future is that they’re never scared to be who they are … that they can walk in a world where they walk into healthcare and they see Indigenous nurses, doctors, where they can walk into a room like this and they see people like them and they feel welcome,” Delorme said.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 23rd call to action calls upon all levels of government to increase the number of Indigenous healthcare professionals and support their retention. In her testimony, Mantla underscored that the retention piece is important because Indigenous nurses experience racism and discrimination on the job, which contributes to burnout and wanting to leave the profession. 

“Indigenous people face discrimination in every single system in Canada, but healthcare is where they face life or death, and it’s often death,” Mantla said.

It took her seven years to get here, Mantla said, and at times she wanted to give up – she still needs to reattempt her NCLEX-RN test to become a registered nurse – but now she can come before the Senate and urge other Indigenous people to pursue their dreams.

“I want all of my children to know who they are, where they come from, and that they belong,” Delorme said.

“I want them to grow up in a country where Indigenous youth are not simply expected to be resilient, but are given the support, the opportunities, and the power to lead.”