First Nations Health Ombudsperson Office

06/19/2026

📢 OFFICE CLOSURE NOTICE 📢
The FNHOO office will be closed on Monday, June 22, 2026 in lieu of National Indigenous Peoples Day.
Walk-in services will not be available during this time, but we are still reachable!
📞 1-833-512-0651
✉️ [email protected]
Regular office hours resume Tuesday, June 23, 2026. 🗓️

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The First Nations Health Ombudsperson Office (FNHOO) is the first of its kind in Canada. Established to address grievances from First Nations peoples regarding their healthcare experiences, FNHOO seeks to tackle both local and systemic racism and discrimination within the healthcare system. FNHOO's mandate is to foster a healthcare environment that respects and upholds the Inherent and Treaty Right to Health for First Nations individuals, ensuring it is culturally inclusive and responsive. See less

06/19/2026

"Today is the day to honour Juneteenth, the day that marks the end of slavery in the United States and honours the strength, perseverance, and contributions of Black communities. We also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge Afro-Indigenous people whose experiences are an important part of both Black and Indigenous histories. Escaped slaves used a system called "The Underground Railroad" to enter Canada, which was a network of supporters who would shelter the escapees and help them to the North. Once in Canada, many escapees sought refuge within Indigenous communities, eventually settling down and starting their families within the community. Those descendants remain today, and their voices, cultures, and leadership continue to shape our communities in a meaningful way. We recognize that equitable access to health care and culturally safe services remains an important part of advancing justice for Black, Indigenous, and Afro-Indigenous peoples." Colton Greyeyes, Senior Admin Intake Coordinator, FNHOO

Photo: Artist Paige Pettibon, American Indian Magazine

06/18/2026

"The Canada Food Guide was first introduced to the public in July 1942 and was developed by the Nutrition Division, Federal Department of Pensions & National Health, along with Dr. Lionel Pett. As many Canadians are knowledgeable regarding the guide, many do not know the dark history of how it came to be. During the residential school era, over 1000 First Nation children were used as nutritional test subjects. These nutritional experiments were conducted on children without parental knowledge or consent. It was not by coincidence that Frist Nations children were chosen; they were targeted as they were already facing malnutrition while attending residential school. Throughout the course of these experiments, children were starved, denied essential vitamins, and medical care to see how the human body would react to long-term malnutrition. Due to these experiments, history books today must document the government's dark history of exploiting vulnerable, suffering children by intentionally subjecting them to hunger for scientific purposes. Over 1000 children were test subjects in the 1940s across the country. The Canada Food Guide was created "to prevent widespread nutritional deficiency and improve citizens' health" but was a tool to assimilate and dehumanize the First Nation people. In the present day, there is a notable issue surrounding First Nations history, one that keeps recurring in an unacceptable manner. Within the context of Truth and Reconciliation, First Nation health must become a priority." - Lauren Favel, Receptionist, FNHOO

06/17/2026

"I am a First Nations woman, raised by a residential school survivor. I have lived in mainly non-Indigenous communities where I have experienced ongoing microaggressions. They show up as patronizing tones, disapproving looks, and “small” comments that try to define who I am. I have been told I am “a good one,” told to “get over it,” heard jokes about my people, and listened to harmful statements about my community. These moments may seem small to others, but they are hurtful. They remind me that some people see me through stereotypes rather than as a human being with feelings.

It wears on a person. I have had to decide whether to speak up, ignore it, or absorb the hurt to keep the peace. It is exhausting. When I have spoken up, I have been called “too sensitive” or told I am wrong for feeling that way. This adds another layer of harm because it dismisses my experience and shifts responsibility away from the person who caused it. Over time, that emotional labour has affected my self-esteem, created stress and self-doubt, and left me feeling like an outsider in spaces where I should feel safe and respected. Sharing my story is not about focusing on negativity; it is about naming the reality many of us carry and reminding ourselves and others that we deserve better." - Brenda Robertson, FN Health Analyst, FNHOO

06/16/2026

📢 OFFICE CLOSURE NOTICE 📢
The FNHOO office will be closed on Monday, June 22, 2026 in lieu of National Indigenous Peoples Day

Walk-in services will not be available during this time, but we are still reachable!
📞 1-833-512-0651
✉️ [email protected]
Regular office hours resume Tuesday, June 23, 2026. 🗓️

---
The First Nations Health Ombudsperson Office (FNHOO) is the first of its kind in Canada. Established to address grievances from First Nations peoples regarding their healthcare experiences, FNHOO seeks to tackle both local and systemic racism and discrimination within the healthcare system. FNHOO's mandate is to foster a healthcare environment that respects and upholds the Inherent and Treaty Right to Health for First Nations individuals, ensuring it is culturally inclusive and responsive.

06/16/2026

"Indigenous people still deal with the harms of the colonial past while new harms are inflicted on us now. Not just as individuals, but as a people. Every day, we are asked to justify our existence and our worth as more than test subjects, objects, others.
"Get over it." "It's in the past." "Well, that happened then, nothing like that happens today." Phrases we hear over and over. Sometimes daily. Yet experiments like "The Brain School" were still being conducted on our people less than fifteen years ago. Our communities knew. The rest of Canada did not until 2024, when it finally reached public attention. And this is not an isolated incident. Experiments have been carried out on Indigenous people throughout colonization. The stories live in our communities, passed down and told, but they go unheard, or disbelieved, by the rest of Canada. Until words are put on paper. Until they appear in an article.
And still, our stories are questioned. Trust remains hard to build, as it should. Would you trust anyone if every single generation of yours was told it would be different, yet the same picture was painted in blood, over and over, only in a slightly different shade each time? Read the stories below. Get a glimpse of what has been documented. Then ask yourself: What else remains undocumented?" - Tarrin Duerr, First Nations Health Analyst, FNHOO.

**Links are found in the comments.

06/15/2026

Here is the Treaty Map of Saskatchewan. For more information, please visit the Office of the Treaty Commissioner (www.otc.ca). OTC also offers a Treaty Timeline and other resources for essential treaty learning, and OTC is available to deliver presentations across the province.

"The Office of the Treaty Commissioner is dedicated to making Saskatchewan residents more knowledgeable about Treaty history, the Treaty relationship, and your Treaty responsibilities as a Treaty person, with the goal of improving relations between all Saskatchewan communities. The Speaker's Bureau is comprised of more than 30 appointed knowledge keepers."

06/14/2026

June is National Indigenous History Month, and what occurred at Indian Residential Schools is still being fought over, including outright denialism. Part of honouring this history means being honest about how we talk about it. One of the core issues is the use of the terms "genocide" vs "cultural genocide."

"Genocide" and "cultural genocide" aren't different severities. They're different legal lenses on the same set of facts.

The TRC (2015) was barred from using the term "genocide" under its mandate. Since then, language has shifted: the Canadian Museum for Human Rights revised its description from "cultural genocide" to "genocide" after criticism, and in 2022, Canada's House of Commons passed a motion recognizing the residential school system as genocide.

So what's the actual difference?

The 1948 UN Genocide Convention defines genocide as acts meant to destroy a group "in whole or in part" including forcibly removing children from that group and placing them elsewhere.

"Cultural genocide" isn't in the Convention at all. It was cut from the original draft, partly because colonial powers, including Canada, didn't want their assimilation policies to count as an international crime.

Words shape how a country remembers, how it acts and using the right terminology is a reminder that genocide is the correct term to use.

06/13/2026

In First Nation country, many of us grew up with a nickname, a name given with love, laughter, and usually there is a funny story behind it. Nicknames tend to find us, whether early or later in life; sometimes we have different versions of a nickname depending on who we are talking to.

This month, we are inviting you to share:
✨ What nickname (or nicknames!) were you given?
✨ Who gave it to you, and is there a story behind it?

Drop your nickname(s) in the comments!

06/12/2026

"During National Indigenous History Month, we take time to honor the strength, resilience, and knowledge of our First Nations communities. One of our teachings is that health is more than physical well-being, it is also a balance of body, mind, spirit, and our connection to askîy (the Earth). As we reflect, we are reminded of the resilience of our people and the importance of reconnecting with Mother Earth. Our traditional medicines are essential to healing and wellness, and some of the medicines we see today are rooted in First Nations traditional knowledge. Willow bark for pain relief (now aspirin), mint for digestion, and cedar and sage for healing are just a few examples of teachings that have supported generations and continue to do so. With fewer areas of Crown land available to live our way of life, we want to uplift the Treaty Land Sharing Network, who help connect people who gather medicines with safe spaces to do so." Osemis Isbister-Bear, First Nations Health Analyst, FNHOO

https://treatylandsharingnetwork.ca/

The Treaty Land Sharing Network connects farmers and other landholders with Indigenous land users needing safe access to land to practice their way of life.