What happened with residential schools was an absolute tragedy. There was and continues to be horrible consequences to peoples’ lives because of residential schools. I know too many people in our community who have suffered. Every member of that committee, regardless of their party, is interested in one thing – how can we work together to help people. At that committee meeting we were talking to the health authority about how we can help people. I’m surprised and disappointed that Mr. Horgan would try and use my comments for partisan purposes.” – MLA Linda Larson

First Nations Health Authority – the BC Standing Committee on Health – last week

Jason Calla (Board of directors as the treasurer of the First Nations Health Authority) and Richard Jock (chief operating officer for the First Nations Health Authority) present to the Health committee (Jul 07/16)

[…]

R. Jock: […] Very quickly, we have a whole addiction system. Ours is more culturally based, but I would say there is really a gap in our systems. We still need access to the highly complex opioid types of treatment. I think there’s much more room for collaboration between our two systems, but there are also some gaps. I think the legacy of residential schools is one that we really need to carefully address and do so throughout our system. In fact, trauma-informed care is a really important ingredient to improving care. But I would say that our systems need to complement each other better and that, really, developing these team approaches will lead to improvement.

I would say that there is really a lack of child- and youth-specific programming. We have one program, but it provides for 12 youth — 12 spaces for a three-month program. Obviously, it will take us a long time to really make a serious dent in terms of addiction issues for young people. I think looking at how to expand that model is absolutely vital. As I say, looking at addressing the gaps…. At this point, we have to pay for people to go to these non-NNADAP centres. To me, that’s a barrier to care, and I think it should be addressed in a timely way.

I’ve probably used up all the time, but at that point, I’ll just stop and leave that to you. […]

L. Larson (Chair): Thank you. That gives us a chance to ask some questions. You made a referral to the residential schools. How long do you think before the legacy of those residential schools finally burns itself out of the First Nations people?

R. Jock: Well, I think there are a couple of aspects to that. One is that as long as our people feel uncomfortable with the system, as long as they feel that institutions are not friendly to them, then I think the legacy will not find its way out of the system.

L. Larson (Chair): What institutions now are not friendly? I mean, the residential schools were horrific. There’s no doubt about that. I have many friends, and some have died too young as a result of the connection through their parents. I’m talking generationally. How many generations is it going to take before the words “residential school” no longer play a part in how people feel?

R. Jock: Well, that one’s a tough question. I guess what I would say is that as long as people are feeling that they are being discriminated against when they present at a hospital or in any kind of a mainstream institution, then we’ll not see the end of that.

L. Larson (Chair): Kind of transferred.

R. Jock: It’s sort of that negative institutional approach that really has created that issue. I think we have to take care that our institutions are friendly, that they are culturally responsive and that I say are welcoming. So incidences like making sure that people are able to use their traditional practices when people are in their stages of life or dying — I think enabling and supporting those are important ways to start dealing with that legacy.

I think there are very concrete ways to do it. The others issues, I would say, are somewhat generational, and I really don’t want to speculate on.

J. Darcy (Deputy Chair): Thank you very much for your presentation.

I think the very first day of our hearings, in Victoria, we heard a really awesome presentation by Dr. Daniele Behn Smith at the Cowichan Tribes Health Centre. She talked about combining traditional medicine with western medicine — whatever term we want to use — as well as…. This was a term we hadn’t heard anywhere else until you mentioned it again today. She used the term “teamlet,” which we hadn’t heard — not just health care team, but teamlets.

She talked about the role of health care coaches — which could be LPNs or medical office assistants — and just affirming their role in helping to guide people through their clinic or their health centre, as well as dietitians, registered nurses, group visits — that kind of stuff.

I wonder if you can…. It appears to be very much what you’re talking about. Can you give us some sense of how wide…? I know she said some of the thinking came from health care coaches in Alaska. Can you talk about how widely? Is that the model you want to develop? Is it already in use in British Columbia, and do you see that as the way to go?