Protection for us not “from us”: Perspectives from Cree-Anishnaabe, Dene/Métis, and Hul’q’umi’num’ physician leaders on moving beyond assumed benevolence

The role that a government can or should play in a public health crisis or in the health of the public can only be understood by considering how it has defined its role in the past and the impacts that has caused. While many might assume that government-led public health has been net beneficial and universal in its intents and approaches across the population of Canada, the history of Indian healthcare tells a different story. We are a trio of Cree-Anishnaabe, Dene/Métis, and Hul'q'umi'num' physician leaders who believe that the role of governments in the health of the public, including during crisis, should be to protect and advance the health of all. In our experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed settler governments uphold historical public health paradigms that undermined the inherent rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples. We also witnessed pockets of transformation where rights-based frameworks and anti-racist approaches were implemented that resulted in better outcomes for First Nations and Métis Peoples. We believe that for settler governments to protect and advance health for all, assumptions of exhaustive and benevolent jurisdiction over Indigenous Peoples and lands must be dismantled to create new, unfamiliar, co-governance models.