At Niagara Health, we are privileged to provide care on lands that Indigenous Peoples have called home for thousands of years.
If you identify as Indigenous and are coming to Niagara Health for care, there are supports and team members available to help you.
Niagara Health has made it a priority to better support Indigenous patients and their families. This includes the addition of three new roles dedicated to planning and implementing practices and services that promote the culturally safe environment and delivery of high-quality healthcare our teams strive to achieve every day. The Indigenous Health Services and Reconciliation team will identify and act on priorities that ensure inclusive, equitable and compassionate healthcare journeys for Indigenous patients and their families. The focus of these roles is separate and apart from the Emergency Department Assessment currently underway, and continues Niagara Health’s commitment to reconciliation in healthcare.
The team currently includes:
Contact information:
Indigenous Health Services Line : 905.378.4647 x43211
Designed specifically to meet the needs of Indigenous Peoples, the Aboriginal Patient Navigator Program provides support to patients and their families and assists in accessing the healthcare system as well as traditional healing and wellness practices. The program also provides navigation services that are culturally appropriate within the health/social service systems for individuals, caregivers and their families to improve patient outcomes.
905-358-4320, or visit www.aboriginalhealthcentre.com
Learn how an Aboriginal Patient Navigator can help you with cancer care here.
You can also call 905-387-9711 x63312 or ask your family physician to refer you.
We encourage you to contact Patient Relations should you have any compliments, comments, concerns or suggestions regarding Niagara Health services.
You may contact us by phone at 905-378-4647 x44423 or by patientrelations@niagarahealth.on.ca.
There are resources that have been recommended by Indigenous community partners. To visit the website of any of the external organizations listed below, please click on the name of the organization. Download a printout of these resources.
Spiritual Care staff and Aboriginal Patient Navigators can advocate for and assist with arrangements for patient smudging.
Call the Niagara Health switchboard at 905-378-4647 and ask for Spiritual Care. Inpatients can also talk to their nurse about contacting Spiritual Care.
Smudging is possible at:
The new South Niagara Site will be built to include an Indigenous Healing Centre, co-designed with Indigenous community members. This space will provide a culture-informed space to use for traditional health practices, ceremonies and conversations with patients and families. The new site will also have an Indigenous Healing Garden that will offer a feeling of grounding and connection to Mother Earth.
An Indigenous Healing Centre and Healing Garden is being planned for the new South Niagara Site to provide a gathering, ceremonial and healing space.
Niagara Health has:
South Niagara Site Indigenous Committee
Niagara Health wishes to acknowledge the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People on Friday, May 5.
This annual day, also known as Red Dress Day, honours the memory of women, girls and two-spirit people who have suffered gender-based violence and to express support for their families and communities.
“Red Dress Day is an opportunity to increase awareness of the crisis that exists in Indigenous communities,” says Charity Beland, Niagara Health’s manager of Indigenous Health Services and Reconciliation. “Our mothers, daughters, sisters and two-spirit community members are experiencing rates of violence more than three times higher than that of non-Indigenous people. That violence too often leads to tragic outcomes. This important day provides an opportunity to honour those who have been stolen, and to bring awareness to the work that needs to be done to protect our future generations.”
To find out more about Red Dress Day, please visit onwa.ca/learning-resources-mmiwg
A community event will be held in St. Catharines on Friday night with a walk starting at 5:30 p.m. from city hall to the Brock University Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at 7 p.m. An Indigenous artisan market will be held in the lobby of the school from 6 to 8 p.m.
Niagara Health is listening and learning more about the healthcare experiences of Indigenous Peoples to improve patient care and experiences for Indigenous patients.
Learn more about the independent ED Assessment and share your experiences or suggestions on how we can improve your care.
Indigenous Relations Specialist Jolene Courchene is part of a team that will ensure inclusive, equitable and compassionate healthcare for Indigenous patients and their families.
As Niagara Health’s first Manager of Indigenous Health Services and Reconciliation, Charity Beland is intent on changing the narrative around Indigenous patient experiences.
