Deadly Assumptions

How do you bring together two philosophies of medicine: Indigenous and Western? And is that even the right question to ask? We talk to two doctors who are re-imaging ways for Canada’s healthcare system to work better for Indigenous patients. They talk about their hard won successes and the challenges they faced along the way. Voices in this episode: Dr. Danièle Behn Smith, British Columbia’s Deputy Provincial Health Officer for Indigenous Health Dr. Barry Lavallee, CEO of Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin

Filipino migrants make up a critical portion of Canada’s healthcare workforce, as nurses and care aides. They also have one of the lowest average employment incomes among groups designated as visible minorities. Conditions such as low wages and precarious migrant status were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine what that crisis revealed about labour in Canada’s healthcare system. Voices in this episode: Dolie Anne Bulalakaw, assisted living worker Valerie Damasco, assistant professor of sociology at Trent University. Ethel Tungohan, associate professor of politics at York University

Hundreds of thousands of people are living in Canada without health coverage, according to one estimate. So what happens when those people get sick, or hurt, or pregnant? We touch down at Doctors of the World’s Montreal clinic, to get an idea of what it’s like for migrants living in Canada without health insurance. Voices in this episode:Penelope Boudreault, director of national operations and strategic development, Médecins du Monde CanadaThatiana HernandezDr. Baijayanta Mukhopadhyay, family doctor  

In the mid-twentieth century, Inuit diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) were taken from their communities and sent to sanitoriums in southern Canada. Many never returned, and their families never learned what happened to them. We explore this crisis and how this history has continued to affect those communities, and why even today, TB rates remain 300 times higher there than in the rest of Canada. Voices in this episode: Louassee Kuniliusee, tuberculosis survivor Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Beatrice Ikkidlua, daughter of tuberculosis survivor

Voices in this episode:Dalia Ahmed and Akanksha Shelat, two of the co-founders of the Mind-Easy appDr. Nelson Shen, project scientist with the Digital Innovations Unit within the Centre for Complex Interventions at CAMH.This episode Please note, this episode deals with issues regarding mental health and suicide. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, you can talk to someone at: https://talksuicide.ca/ or call 1.833.456.4566

A decades-old decision created a system where Black Canadians need to be sicker than the rest of the population to qualify for a living kidney donor transplant. How did this happen? And why does it persist today if science doesn’t support it? Voices in this episode: Charles Cook, donor recipient Lydia-Joi Marshall, project lead at the Health Commons Solutions Lab and President of the Black Health Alliance Dr. Bourne Auguste, nephrologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

The Healthcare Divide is a new podcast that exposes uncomfortable truths, troubling realities and innovative efforts to overcome racism in Canada’s healthcare system. Our first episode comes out on November 15th.