September 15, 2004
Ottawa, Ontario

First Ministers and Aboriginal Leaders agreed on the need for an action plan to improve health services for all Aboriginal peoples and adopted specific measures to close the gap between the health status of Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian public.

Although improvements have been achieved, the health status of Aboriginal peoples in Canada continues to lag behind that of other Canadians. At their meeting in 2003, First Ministers recognized that addressing the serious challenges to the health of Aboriginal peoples will require dedicated and continuous efforts. Broad engagement is required at all levels, both on the broad determinants and within the health sector. Recognizing existing constitutional and fiduciary responsibilities, First Ministers and Aboriginal Leaders agree that all governments have an important role to play in improving the health of and the delivery of health services to Aboriginal people.

Today, First Ministers and the Leaders of the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and the Native Women’s Association of Canada reached an agreement to work together to develop a blueprint to improve the health status of Aboriginal peoples and health services in Canada through concrete initiatives for:

• improved delivery of and access to health services to meet the needs of all Aboriginal peoples through better integration and adaptation of all health systems;
  
  
• measures that will ensure that Aboriginal peoples benefit fully from improvements to Canadian health systems; and
  
  
• a forward looking agenda of prevention, health promotion and other upstream investments for Aboriginal peoples.
  

1. An Aboriginal Health Transition Fund to enable Federal-Provincial-Territorial governments, First Nations governments who deliver health care services, and Aboriginal communities to devise new ways to integrate and adapt existing health services to better meet the needs of all Aboriginal peoples, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
   
2. An Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative to increase the number of Aboriginal people choosing health care professions; adapt current health professional curricula to provide a more culturally sensitive focus; and to improve the retention of health workers serving all Aboriginal peoples, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
   
3. Programs of health promotion and disease prevention, focussing on suicide prevention, diabetes, maternal and child health, and early childhood development.