Message from the President – October 2025

Sekon skennenko:wa (Hoping to find you at peace, again).

It is the time of the year when our fourth-year medical student learners are wrapping up their CaRMS (The Canadian Resident Matching Service) applications for residency.  IPAC has been holding town halls to help our students with this stressful process.  With more indigenous physicians working as family physicians, specialists, and surgeons, we are increasing our social capital to support our younger learners.  We are deeply thankful for the good intention and collective work that is being done by our indigenous medical practitioners and researchers, our allies, and academic institutions.  There is always more that can be done, but the momentum is growing.  

As we know, Indigenous peoples and communities are disproportionately being affected by the assaults on the health of our Mother, Iethinisthenha Ohontiake, the Earth.  The Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (IPAC) has endorsed the Roadmap for the Implementation of the Declaration on Planetary Health.  This Roadmap was prepared by Dr. Courtney Howard and Raissa Marks, and its work was spearheaded by the Associations of Faculties of Medicine (AFMC).  Monday October 6^th was a Planetary Health Day of Action.  Events held across Canada included one at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and another at the Globe and Mail office in Toronto.  Termed the Climate Health Summit, the meeting in Toronto unveiled the Roadmap, and I would invite you to read about it on the AFMC website under its Social Accountability link. 

In 2021, Canada agreed to align itself with the principles of the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).   In 2023, Canada passed Bill S5, a Bill enshrining our right to live in a healthy environment. In 2024, Canada passed Bill C226, a Bill to create a strategy to address environmental racism and injustice.  However, in 2025, in response to the economic stresses imparted by our southern neighbours, Canada has reprioritized its commitments to these legal frameworks. Now, Bill C5 and others are being passed that expedite economic ventures accessing the natural resources from our lands by decreasing environmental protections and not consulting our people.  Recently, a group of Indigenous consultants have been selected to provide this necessary consultation, but health practitioners such as physicians have not been included.  

As we know, environmental risk factors are not well researched, acknowledged, understood, and are generally not part of our clinical evaluations with families and individual patients.  As physicians and medical learners, we learn about the great homeostasis, the great balance that exists within and outside of our bodies, becoming ill when our buffer systems are less able to tolerate change.  Similarly, our planet’s buffer systems are becoming less able to tolerate the stresses related to humankind.  

As Indigenous peoples, we have been describing for a long time how unhealthy environments are adversely affecting our health.  This year, our people were disproportionately affected by the wildfires.  Wildfires affect everyone.  Recent scientific work has showed that the soot from wildfires contains graphite, which is previously sequestered carbon.  This graphite re-constitutes itself into various shapes, entrapping chemicals like the pollution left from industry, or metals naturally found in the biomass such as methylmercury.  The soot travels far, eventually making it to the air around us and deep into our lungs.  Many of these chemicals are neurotoxic, carcinogenic, and endocrine- disrupting.  Our exposures to harmful toxins are changing.  To advocate for policies that will limit our exposures to these chemicals, we need to learn about them.

Planetary Health is a global concern, and implications are found within the bodies of humans and our non-human relatives.  We must expand our understanding of health and illness through the lens of Planetary Health.  It is very with great anticipation that the medical institutions of Canada have recognized the importance that all practitioners learn about the effects of the environment on health.  

Finally, the concerns of our people, who have been watching the health of the lands, waters, air, and non-human relatives deteriorate over time, have been acknowledged.  Our traditional medicine people are being heard.  This year, we are anticipating a warmer winter.  Please take some time to welcome the snow, ice, and the slumber of our natural world, embedded in the experiences and memories of our people and ask for them to stay a while.  

Have a fulfilling fall season, great luck to those entering the CaRMS process, and enjoy the Harvest Festivals with your families.  

Dr. Ojistoh Horn, President

Message from the President – July 2025

Welcoming words from the IPAC Annual Mentorship Gathering
in Saskatoon, Treaty 6 territory

Good morning.  My name is Ojistoh Kahnwahere Horn.  I am Kanienkehaka or Mohawk.  We are of the Haudenosaunee confederacy, previously called the Iroquois.  My maternal line is Bear clan from Kahnawake, and my paternal line is Wolf clan from Akwesasne.  I have six children ranging from ages 18 to 29 – four of my own and two are stepchildren. For 17 years, I have been working in both communities as a family physician, helping my people through all ages of their life cycle.  

We are happy to see you all.  We are so encouraged to be together again. 

We are thankful for the warm welcome today to the traditional lands of the Treaty 6 territory. Right now, they see the wildfires tearing through your lands, and are aware of the incredible stress your people are going through.    There are irreplaceable memories of your past- moccasins also worn by your ancestors, art, beadwork, and the implements used for your ceremonies, which are at risk of being lost. There is trauma being experienced by your families, communities, and non-human relatives. How could we hold our conference amongst this pain?

My father says that in times of chaos, where there is so much uncertainty, these are the times that you throw into the huge vortex, all the collective good intentions, ideas, and plans. These are the times where we still need to meet, listen to each other, put our collective intentions together, and continue to plan. When things quiet down, what is left on the ground is then ready to be picked up and put into action.  

Afterall, that is what all our ancestors did to ensure that we would be alive today, still with our languages, our ceremonies, and our intense emotional connection to the lands. The space was made that despite everything, some of us found the support we needed to find our gifts.  Specifically, our gift was to meet the intense demands of education and our careers, so that we could participate in the health our collective culture. By coming together, we are medicine. By meeting we are honoring you, the people of these lands, your strength and resilience, and we commit to supporting your communities who are recovering and preparing for the uncertainty and the challenges ahead.  

We acknowledge and thank the University of Saskatchewan for hosting this conference at this beautiful campus.  Each of the rooms that we will be working in has shown attention to detail and respect for the people of these lands. 

We acknowledge our elders and knowledge keepers who will be here to support you for the whole weekend.  They are extensions of our families, standing in as the aunties and uncles that traditionally held our societies together.

We acknowledge the IPAC staff who organized this conference.   Please acknowledge our Executive Director Melanie Osmack, and our staff Kayla Knelson, Stacey Chicone, and Rochelle Mathieu.  We acknowledge the vendors and sponsors that are here to support this conference.  

We acknowledge all the physicians who have been on the Board of Directors of the many iterations of our organization- the Canadian Aboriginal Leaders in Medicine (CALM), Native Physicians Association of Canada (NPAC), and the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (IPAC).  Each of their tenures supported the many steps that were taken to bring us to this point, where we have a membership of over 500 physicians, residents, and medical students.  

We acknowledge all the indigenous physicians who have participated in the many Boards and Committees of the medical and academic institutions in Canada, nudging policies to reflect the spirit and intent of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions’ recommendations and working tirelessly to mitigate the inequitable distribution of health care and support.  

We acknowledge the indigenous physicians working in academic institutions who have imagined and enacted the curricula that are slowly percolating through the medical schools, who have found their voice and find themselves as deans in these schools.   We acknowledge and thank the medical schools for supporting our students and residents to come to this conference. 

We acknowledge the indigenous physicians who are working in our communities, urban and rural, who are trying their best to fill in the systemic gaps that make it difficult for our people to be well.  They are listening to the observations of our people as to why they think their health is poor.  In my community, it is the water, soil, and air that has been polluted by the nearby industries.  

We acknowledge the indigenous physicians who are supporting traditional medicine practitioners, doulas, midwives, and land protectors to do their work.  They carry priceless knowledge that was passed to them from those before, creatively hidden from the eyes of the church, the Indian agents, and the RCMP. We acknowledge those indigenous physicians who are working within the corrections facilities that incarcerate our people. 

We acknowledge the indigenous physicians who had the courage to rethink their careers and change their paths.  We acknowledge the indigenous physicians who have found their path in the military, and with the current world political climate, may be asked to commit to lives that we never thought would come about. We acknowledge the indigenous physicians who are working towards not only a healthier world, but a healthier planet. 

We acknowledge the people who supported us on our journey. Those who fanned the initial spark that we felt when we decided to be physicians and helped us when we thought that it was impossible to continue. They were from our families and communities, from three generations before, the current generation, and in some cases, from our children, nieces, and nephews. They are also the adopted indigenous and non-indigenous aunties and uncles of our lives.  They are the intricate web of allies that include those that are here today.  

I have been the president of IPAC for one year, stepping in with Alexa Lesperance when our previous president and vice-president, Mandy Buss and Mike Dumont, had to interrupt their tenures.  It has been a great year.  I would like to acknowledge our present Board of Directors- Alexa Lesperence (Anishnawbek), Brent Young (Anishnabek), Ryan Giroux (Metis), Jamaica Cass (Kanienkehaka), Tina Nash (Taltan), and Shelley Young (Migmah).  Working together we found that we each have our own unique strength, each important and contributive.  It was a pleasure to work with this group of colleagues.   

We all come to this world with a special gift. If we are lucky, we will find our gift. I am so happy to have found my way to this space and time, and incredibly fortunate to have the many friends and colleagues that I have made along this journey. 

Welcome to the 2025 IPAC mentorship conference.  The theme is two eyed seeing.  This concept was coined by Dr. Albert Marshal, a Migmah from Eskasoni.  We will start with a Migmah Honor song by Shelly Young, who is also Migmah from Eskasoni.  

I would like to finish by saying that we are in a time of chaos, we have been here before, and with the help of our ways which have stood the test of time, we will work towards our collective future.  

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend.  

Dr. Ojistoh Horn, President

Message from the President – April 2025

She:kon,

Last week the Thunders came rumbling to our area, waking up the Earth from her long sleep. We put tobacco down acknowledging this important change of the cycle of seasons. There was also the beginning of this year’s cycle of meetings and conferences, and many of us have had the chance to see each other.

The work of learning, teaching and taking care of the health of our people has always been challenging. Right now we are being layered with even more stress- the measles outbreak that threatens to spread north- where many in our communities are hesitant to be vaccinated, the bird-flu that threatens to jump species, new stresses in the ways we provide health care including the addition of artificial intelligence, and of course the political changes that are putting real economic strain to the environment and the health of our people.

In times of increased chaos- something that our people have been weathering for a long time, my father reminds me that this is where we throw all our good thoughts, intentions, plans, into the giant vortex. As with all things, the chaos will go through ebbs and flow, so when it dissipates even a bit, more goodness will be left lying around. This is the time that must work to make and maintain our relationships. All our relationships- ourselves, our families, our communities, physician and non-physician colleagues- including our traditional ceremonial and medicine leaders, midwives, and doulas, our past, our future, our non-human relations, must be
reinvigorated. Our relationships are foundational to being well.

Please take care of yourselves, have a wonderful spring, and we look forward to seeing you in Saskatoon in June.

Dr. Ojistoh Kahnawahere Horn, President

Message from the President – January 2025

In the time of the deep cold, Tsiothóhrha, called December, and the very deep cold, Tsiohthohrkó:wa, called January, my people sat in their longhouses with their families by the fires telling stories and teachings.  Our hunters would be out, catching game to bring home.  When the star constellation called the Seven Sisters, or Pleiades was at its highest, they would start their journey home, and their arrival would begin the important Midwinter festivals and ceremonies.  

And so, this is where we are now.  We are with our families back home in our principle or urban communities.  Many of us have had to work through this time in the homes, clinics, and hospitals that are hosting our patients.  In my community, we have many elders in palliative care – two who died today and one who died last week.  It was wholesome to hear the words said over the bed of the newly departed, where their body and spirit were informed that they had separated.  We do this to ensure that there is no confusion on the part of the spirit, so that they are aware that they are free to return to that place we call The Great Mystery.  

As physicians, we have the incredible privilege of being part of the lives of people as they pass through each rite of passage.  But we must always be vigilant, ensuring that we do not carry more than what we can handle.  Being with our families and out on our lands is one way to unburden ourselves from the energetic memories that we carry.  

Some of us had the incredible fortune of traveling to Australia to participate in the Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors Congress (PRIDOC).  It is incredible to be part of the optimistic and enthusiastic conversations about what we need to do when we get back home.  Fully aware of how busy we are, we will be reaching out to you to find a date, likely on a weekend, in the next two months, where we can meet virtually, to debrief and outline all our ideas.

Incredibly, we have a strong core of indigenous physicians.  With our collective minds and experience we can substantively inform the solutions needed to address the inequities in health care, the creation of multidisciplinary primary care teams in our home and urban communities, and bridging this care with specialist and subspecialist care.  

We look forward to meeting again!

Dr. Ojistoh Kahnawahere Horn, President

Message from the President – October 2024

As we settle into the Harvest season, I hope everyone has found some time to spend with friends and family. It has been a very busy few months since our meeting in July. A new school year has begun—some of us have children in school, our medical students and residents are well into the academic year, and many clinicians are busy revamping their lectures and teaching. We are all continuing our work towards improving the health of our peoples.

The staff at IPAC have been very busy planning two important projects. First, IPAC staff and members have been visiting medical schools across Canada, meeting Indigenous program staff, residents, and students. We are listening to the needs and concerns of each school, exploring ways to facilitate mentoring relationships and improve opportunities for our learners to work alongside Indigenous physicians. Second, IPAC members will be attending the Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors Congress (PRIDoC) in Adelaide, Australia, this December. This gathering, held every two years, provides an opportunity to meet colleagues from other continents, learn about their peoples, history, and cultures, and appreciate the diverse approaches to improving health care in Indigenous communities.

On September 18, 2024, many Indigenous physicians gathered in Victoria, BC, to bear witness to the Canadian Medical Association’s apology for harms to Indigenous people. Following the direction of the Kwakwaka’wakw people at the Mungo Martin House, participants from across the continent placed medicines and stories into a ceremonial bundle. This bundle, currently cared for by the CMA President, symbolizes our collective commitment to holding the CMA accountable to the spirit and intention of this apology.

In other news, Bill S-5, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act amendment recognizing our Right to live in a healthy environment, and Bill C-226, an act to develop a national strategy to address environmental racism and injustice, are two pieces of Canadian legislation that highlight many issues underlying the poor health of our people and the ecosystems we live in. As Indigenous physicians, I encourage you to use your strong advocacy to amplify the voices of our people, especially in the context of this and other legislation affecting our health.

The Autumn Equinox has passed. Hopefully, our Mother Earth will prepare herself for a good rest under a thick blanket of snow and ice. Please take time to do the things that make you well, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the year.

Niawen go:wa,

Dr. Ojistoh Horn, President