A study of the impacts on Innu health and a model for change based on Innu healing practices is being presented today at the 18th Annual International Congress on Circumpolar Health in Halifax.

The Innu Round Table Secretariat says Labrador Innu have historically faced a lack of medical services, and their experiences in the health care system are “often fraught with racism and systemic discrimination.”

The Innu Nation authorized a research study to improve Innu’s health and well-being, commissioned by the Innu Round Table Secretariat.

Researcher Dr. Leonor Ward and co-researcher Annie Picard of the IRTS made the presentation this morning in Halifax.

The report provides what’s being called “insight from an Innu viewpoint on power imbalances that lead to poor health” and the traditional way in which Western medicine is typically delivered.

The report suggests that health and social service providers and policymakers expand their views to consider Innu healing as a model that can benefit Innu patients.