Call to Action: Health Care Begins with Authentic Reconciliation

June is National Indigenous History Month — a time to honour the stories, resilience, and leadership of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples. It is also a time to reflect on the systems that continue to shape Indigenous lives, and to ask what it truly means to walk the path of reconciliation. In health care, this reflection is urgent. Indigenous communities have long been excluded from the decisions that impact their well-being. If we are serious about reconciliation, then we must begin not with assumptions or token gestures, but with the wisdom, presence, and priorities of Indigenous people themselves.

Begin with Reconciliation: A Call to Health Care Providers from Grandmother’s Voice

It’s easy to start with what you know. In health care, plans are written, frameworks built, and programs launched based on data, expertise, and best practices. But what if the foundation of that knowledge is incomplete? What if the very systems we rely on to deliver care were never designed to include — let alone be led by — the first peoples of this land?

At Grandmother’s Voice, we are calling on health care providers, administrators, and planners to pause.

Pause before the next strategy session.
Pause before the next funding application.
Pause before the next community consultation.

And begin instead with reconciliation.

This is not about checking a box or hosting another Orange Shirt Day. Authentic reconciliation in health care must go deeper — into the roots of systems that were built without Indigenous voices, perspectives, or presence. To transform these systems, Indigenous knowledge must not be an add-on. It must be embedded from the very beginning.

Why Reconciliation Must Come First

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action are clear: reconciliation is everyone’s responsibility, and that includes health care. Yet too often, non-Indigenous organizations are disproportionately funded and tasked with carrying out reconciliation work — without Indigenous leadership, partnership, or even presence.

This imbalance produces initiatives that may be well-intentioned but fail to resonate with or meet the needs of Indigenous communities. When Indigenous perspectives are left out of the planning process, projects struggle to build trust, participation, or sustainability. At worst, they reinforce the very colonial systems they claim to be dismantling.

Canada’s First Peoples do not want to be told what they need. They want to articulate what they need — and be part of shaping it.

Urban Indigenous Voices Matter

In the Halton region and many other urban centres, Indigenous Peoples are not a monolith. They are diverse, dynamic, and demographically varied. They are parents and elders, professionals and students, knowledge keepers and innovators. They seek the same quality care as everyone else — but with the confidence that their traditions, experiences, and worldviews are part of that care, not simply layered on after the fact.

For many, accessing health services isn’t just about convenience or availability. It’s about safety, respect, and belonging. It’s about knowing that when they walk through the door, they are not being asked to leave their identity outside. True cultural safety in health care begins not with signage or ceremonies, but with structural transformation — a shift that recognizes the value of Indigenous worldviews in shaping how care is defined, delivered, and measured.

Grandmother’s Voice: A Trusted Partner

Grandmother’s Voice has spent years building trust and walking with the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities of this region. We are deeply connected to traditional teachings, health care practitioners, urban Indigenous families, and service providers. We have developed accredited programs and healing initiatives that blend land-based wellness, trauma recovery, and cultural knowledge. Our network includes First Nations communities and care teams from across Ontario, Northern Quebec, and Manitoba.

We know what is working. We see what is missing. And we are ready to support health care partners who want to move forward in truth and reconciliation — not alone, but in community.

From Tokenism to Transformation

Land acknowledgements are a start. Orange shirts are a reminder. But neither is enough.

Reconciliation in health care requires intentional, consistent, and systemic engagement with Indigenous knowledge — not only as a form of inclusion but as a foundation for innovation. Holistic Indigenous practices do not compete with Western medicine; they enhance it. They invite practitioners to understand healing as more than symptom relief — as connection, meaning, and cultural affirmation.

This means:

• Indigenous knowledge holders and health leaders at the planning table from the beginning.
• Funding equity that empowers Indigenous-led organizations to lead their own healing initiatives.
• Culturally rooted services that are co-designed, not retrofitted.
• Health indicators that reflect community wellness, not just individual outcomes.

A Better Future is Possible — If We Build it Together

If the goal of health care is wellness, then Indigenous Peoples must be able to define what wellness means to them — and have access to services that reflect that vision. This isn’t just reconciliation. It’s good care.

We invite health care providers across Ontario and beyond to begin with humility. Ask: Who are we designing this for? Who is missing? Who should be leading this work?

Grandmother’s Voice stands ready to walk with you — not behind, not as a token partner, but as a guide rooted in generations of knowledge, care, and community.

This is not about adding one more line to your strategic plan. It’s about changing how the plan is written.

Reconciliation in health care is not a project. It is a practice. And it begins with listening.

ABOUT THE PHOTO: We honour trailblazers like Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture, the first Indigenous woman to become a registered nurse in Canada and the first to serve in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War I. Denied entry to Canadian nursing schools because of her Indigeneity, she trained in the United States and returned to serve her community with skill and determination. Her story is a reminder that Indigenous excellence in health care is not new — it has always been present, even when excluded from formal systems. Today, reconciliation calls us to make space for that knowledge, not just in memory, but in practice.