June 21, 2026 – June is National Indigenous History Month and National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21) in Canada. This presents an opportune moment to reflect on the state of Indigenous health care in Canada and how innovation is necessary to make fundamental changes to Canadian health care as a whole.
A systematic review published earlier this year in BMJ Open asked what First Nations, Inuit, and Métis patients actually experience when they navigate Canada’s mainstream health system, and what they believe must change. This review is a first of its kind to connect with Canada’s Indigenous communities.
For decades, the system has measured access to health care through a Western lens: distance to a provider, availability of services, and cost. What has been consistently overlooked is the missing layer of trust, how patients are treated, and the fundamental question of what Indigenous communities need to feel safe.
This discrepancy has consequences. According to the Canadian Public Health Association, Indigenous peoples are consistently among those with the worst health outcomes. Not only because the system lacks resources, but because discrimination, cultural insensitivity, and the long shadow of colonial history continue to shape what happens at the point of care.
In March 2026 alone, the Canadian federal government committed nearly $1.4 billion to support urban Indigenous populations including mental health programming and assisted living services. That same month, another $738.9 million was announced to strengthen health services and digital health tools in rural and remote First Nations communities. In May, CIHR followed with a $5.4 million investment specifically for community-led health research in the Territories prioritizing Indigenous knowledge and local health priorities over one-size-fits-all models.
These investments are positive steps toward a system that centers indigenous knowledge and safety, but persistent care gaps necessitate further vital restructuring.
The path forward lies in ensuring a sustainable path for culturally adapted care for every community. This is where innovation comes in. For example, a 2026 scoping review in Frontiers in Digital Health found that virtual care tools only work in Indigenous and rural communities when they are co-designed with those communities from the start with cultural adaptation, local coordinators, and Indigenous languages built in, not brought in as an afterthought.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Health Care Calls to Action
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has made 94 calls to action. Seven are under health (18-24) and are summarized as follows:
- 18: Acknowledge the harm. Governments must recognize that the current state of Indigenous health stems directly from past policies, including residential schools, and uphold the health-care rights of Indigenous peoples under international, constitutional, and Treaty law.
- 19: Measure and close the gaps. The federal government, working with Indigenous peoples, must set measurable goals to close health-outcome gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and report on progress annually across indicators such as infant mortality, mental health, chronic disease, and life expectancy.
- 20: Address jurisdictional gaps. Recognize and meet the distinct health needs of Métis, Inuit, and off-reserve Indigenous peoples, who too often fall through the cracks of disputes over who is responsible for their care.
- 21: Fund healing centres. Provide sustainable funding for new and existing Indigenous healing centres to address the harms caused by residential schools, prioritizing centres in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
- 22: Value Indigenous healing practices. Those with the power to shape the health system should recognize Indigenous healing practices and incorporate them, in collaboration with Indigenous healers and Elders, when requested by patients.
- 23: Grow and support the Indigenous health workforce. Increase the number of Indigenous professionals in health care, retain providers in Indigenous communities, and provide cultural competency training for all health-care professionals.
- 24: Train future practitioners. Require medical and nursing students to take a course on Indigenous health issues – covering the history and legacy of residential schools, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and rights, and Indigenous teachings – alongside skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.
- A full list of the 94 Calls to Action can be found at: https://nctr.ca/about/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-of-canada/
This is not new information, nor a new cause. Indigenous communities know what they need, and change is created when support isn’t provided from a place of colonial perspective, but acknowledgment.
The Future
Indigenous leaders are asking for partners. They are asking for organizations to fund the right work and for their voices, which have historically been excluded, to be amplified and included in the rooms where decisions get made.
Recent developments serve as a roadmap for what is possible when that shift occurs.
In April, a new Indigenous-led primary care clinic opened in St. John‘s, the result of a direct partnership between the First Light Friendship Centre and the Newfoundland provincial government. First Light estimates that serving the roughly 1,300 urban Indigenous residents who lack access to a primary care provider could ultimately save the health system millions.
In May, UNBC and the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health renewed their partnership with an explicit commitment to Indigenous-led approaches and national collaboration.
This June, the Canadian Medical Association applauded the passage in Parliament of Bill S-228, an Act to amend the Criminal Code (sterilization procedures). This is following the CMA’s apology in 2024 explicitly acknowledging harm to Indigenous peoples caused by the medical profession, including forced and coerced sterilization.
These are not isolated wins; they are indicators of how health care innovation must evolve. Providing Indigenous communities the resources and autonomy to procure and deliver health care as they need is an integral part of the required continuous innovation of health care in Canadian rural communities, and this momentum needs to continue.
Better outcomes means better health, for all of us.