(Toronto, ON, January 7, 2022) Today, Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare issued the following statement calling for urgent action to curb the spread of COVID-19: “Confirmed cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in First Nations communities in Ontario are continuing to climb, due to overcrowding and unsustainable housing and lack of testing,” said Ontario Regional
(Toronto, ON - January 4, 2022) The Chiefs of Ontario have signed an Agreement-in-Principle to chart a path to address the chronic and discriminatory underfunding of First Nations Child and Family Services and Jordan’s Principle. The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, Assembly of First Nations, Chiefs of Ontario, and Nishnawbe Aski Nation have
A Message from the Health Director She:kon/Aaniin/Koolamalsi/Wachiyaa, My name is Tobi Mitchell and I am the new Director of Health for the Chiefs of Ontario as of July 2021. I come from my home community of Akwesasne finishing up a term as an elected Chief and bring forth years of technical experience in Health Policy
Key messages for this week on COVID-19: Vaccination The proportion of First Nations people 12 years or older who have received 2 or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of Nov 29, 2021 is 69%, up only 1% from last week. This rate has gone up by less than 1% each week for the last
Key messages for this week on COVID-19: Vaccination About 68% of First Nations people 12 years or older have received 2 or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of Nov 22, 2021. This is only slightly higher than the previous week. About 5% have one dose, a number that continues to decrease. Unless the number
The federal government has recognized for a number of years that most First Nations do not benefit from the same level of environmental protection as other communities in Canada. There are two components: Regulatory gap: there are limited environmental laws and regulations that apply to reserve lands compared to a typical provincial regime; and Capacity
Key messages for this week on COVID-19: The number of new positive results increased by 36% to 151. This is higher than the peak of the 4th wave and is the 5th increase (ie peak? wave?) since the pandemic began. Of note, the increase across Ontario is not as dramatic as that seen among First
(Toronto, ON – November 26, 2021) Today, Chiefs of Ontario, in collaboration with the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, released two reports entitled “Opioid Use, Related Harms, and Access to Treatment among First Nations in Ontario” and “Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on opioid-related poisoning among First Nations in Ontario”. These reports highlight the increase
(M'Chigeeng First Nation, ON - November 25, 2021) On behalf of the Chiefs of Ontario, we offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Getzit Gordon Waindubence, who made his journey to the spirit world on November 24, 2021. “It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we say baamaa pii
On Sunday, November 22, 2021, Minister of Health Christine Elliot announced that the province and the Ontario Association of Optometrists will resume negotiations on OHIP Optometrist fees. As a result of this agreement to resume negotiations, the Ontario Association of Optometrists advised the province that any OHIP eye care services that were impacted by the
