Ontario Connecting Indigenous Peoples to Culturally Appropriate Care

Expanded training program helping health care providers better meet the needs of Indigenous communities

December 07, 2023

TORONTO — The Ontario government is investing up to $2 million over the next two years to expand the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council’s (IPHCC) Indigenous cultural safety training program. This expansion will allow the program to deliver more cultural training sessions to health care organizations so they can connect First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous people across the province to the culturally appropriate care they need.

“Our government is taking action to connect Ontarians to the care and support they need, close to home, no matter where they live,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Expanding the Indigenous cultural safety training program will ensure our health care partners have the tools they need to deliver high-quality, responsive care to the Indigenous communities they serve.”

The expansion of IPHCC’s Indigenous cultural safety training program will provide health care providers with the knowledge and tools to better meet the health care needs of patients and their families, including training and resources in both English and French, which will improve access to culturally-safe care services for Indigenous people across Ontario.

Training offered through the program can be customized to fit the unique needs of individual health care workplaces. It’s expected that nearly 2,000 health care providers including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, counsellors, community health/patient navigators and personal support workers will participate in the expanded program in 2023-24.

Through Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, the Ontario government continues to make improvements to health care delivery across the province to ensure patients and their families can connect to fast, convenient care tailored to their needs.

Quick Facts

IPHCC is an Indigenous-governed, culture-based, and Indigenous-informed organization with the key mandate to support the advancement and evolution of Indigenous primary health care services provision and planning throughout Ontario.
In 2020, the IPHCC began the development of a new ‘made in Ontario’ training program, to teach individuals working in the health care sector the importance of adopting more appropriate practices when serving Indigenous clients and patients.
Since 2021, over 170 health organizations in Ontario have participated in training offered by IPHCC.

Additional Resources

Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care

Ontario Connecting Indigenous Peoples to Culturally Appropriate Care

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