MANITOULIN—Urgent action is being called on by the Chiefs of Ontario and Cancer Care Ontario to address key factors contributing to high aboriginal cancer rates, after a new report provides a look at how much higher disease rates are among aboriginal people living on and off-reserve than the non-aboriginal population.
“The review was conducted through a partnership of Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) and the Chiefs of Ontario,” said Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee, who is chair of the Ontario Chiefs Committee on Health. “We‘ve been saying for quite awhile now that the prevalence of cancer is increasing in our communities and we did not know all the reasons why. Some of the assumptions such as the smoking rate among our people is very high has been borne out in this report. Unfortunately especially in the case of young people the rate of those who smoke is significantly higher.”
“The report talks about the fact that smoking rates are sometimes four times higher among natives, along with obesity, improper diet and the type of food our community members eat,” said Chief Madahbee. He pointed out in the latter this can be attributed in part to the large costs of purchasing food in the Far North. Milk for instance is significantly higher in remote First Nation communities in the North.
The report delivered last week, was developed by Cancer Care Ontario and the Chiefs of Ontario. Among the findings in the report called ‘Cancer in First Nations in Ontario: Risk Factors and Screening’ shows First Nation people living on reserve are two or three times more likely to smoke than non-aboriginal people. Nearly one-third of First Nation teenagers living on reserve and 14 percent living off-reserve smoke, compared to four percent of non-aboriginal teens.
As well, obesity rates are almost three times higher among those people living on First Nation reserves, and the percentage of people eating enough fruits and vegetables is one-third that of non-aboriginal Ontarians.
First Nation women living on reserve, aged 50-74, have lower mammography rates than non-aboriginal women, 55 percent versus 79 percent.
In working with CCO, Chief Madahbee said it was found that the high prevalence of cancer was in large part due to diet, smoking, alcohol consumption and lack of physical activity.
Chief Madahbee said that work needs to be done on the social issues underlying poor life-style choices some of which can be controlled by individuals and some that can’t.
Ontario chiefs and the Assembly of First Nations, have been lobbying the governments to address issues such as housing, boil water advisories, poverty, the high cost of nutritious foods, lack of employment and lack of physical activity.
Chief Madahbee confirmed that front-line health care workers on First Nations have been reported similar statistics that were confirmed in the report.
“I’ve seen firsthand the difference in costs in the rest of the province for example with First Nation communities in the Far North having to pay $35 for a box of laundry soap, and where spark plugs for a boat costs $10 each.
“The report provides very important information to our communities to look at and to also give to front line health workers working with clients on issues,” said Chief Madahbee. “For example there is definitely a need for more screening and testing to be done for breast cancer, mammograms and colonoscopy. We need to educate and promote people getting checked regularly for this and other health diseases. When cancer is found early, the chances of surviving are astronomically higher.”
Mr. Madahbee said the governments also have a part to play. “We have to have equality in health care services in terms of big cities and small communities. We are hoping to see changes put in place with the Liberal government,” he said. “Under the Stephen Harper government they had one person making health issue decisions based on financial implications and over-ruling doctors and dentists advice for instance. What has happened is that doctors and dentists in some cases have been turning down First Nations patients because of there being so much paperwork and bureaucracy and even approvals taking so long for physicians to get paid for providing these services.”
The report notes that the consumption of fruits and vegetables was low on First Nations communities compared to others. Many First Nations are remote and the cost of obtaining fresh food is out of reach.
The report also addressed the need to increase screening rates, particularly for breast cancer, for women living on reserve. Doctors, nurse practitioners and other health-care providers can test for some cancer on First Nations, but breast screening requires sophisticated equipment and training personnel.
CCO, after consulting with First nations, Inuit and Metis people, have developed a report called “Path to Prevention” that will be released in a couple of months, said Mr. Madahbee. It contains a number of policy recommendations to address risk factors identified in the report.
