A family has filed a complaint to the F-S-I-N Health Ombudsperson Office on behalf of Thomas Favel over concerns of racism and discrimination while he was receiving treatment recently at the Regina General Hospital. The complaint has the support of the leadership of Kawacatoose First Nation and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.

The FSIN says the Favel family reached out to the quality care coordinator with the Saskatchewan Health Authority with no results and that past investigations by the Saskatchewan Health Authority have failed to challenge racial discrimination experienced by First Nations in Saskatchewan’s health care system.

Chief Lee-Anne Kehler of Kawacatoose First Nation says they have confidence in this new reporting mechanism with the FSIN which she suggests will give her First Nation members a much-needed safe space to voice concerns.

The FSIN says the planning for the office of the Health Ombudsperson began in February via an agreement signed between the Federal Government and the FSIN. And although the office isn’t fully operational as they lay groundwork to become established, they have taken on a few urgent cases of which Thomas Favel is one.