A Long-Overdue Commitment: Why Indigenous-Specific Healthcare Spaces Like the One at St. Michael’s Matter

As a society, we’ve long known that the healthcare system hasn’t served Indigenous peoples equitably. For too many First Nations, Métis and Inuit patients, walking into a hospital doesn’t feel like a place of healing—it feels like stepping into a reminder of historical trauma, systemic racism, and broken trust. That’s why the creation of the new Indigenous Wellness Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital in downtown Toronto is not just welcome news—it’s transformative.

Jessica Demeria, both a patient and part of the team at Unity Health Toronto, put it best: “A trauma-informed approach is absolutely one-on-one necessary.” That sentiment isn’t just about better bedside manners. It’s about creating a healthcare environment where Indigenous patients don’t feel marginalized before even seeing a doctor.

Thanks to a generous $11-million donation from The Krawczyk Family Foundation, St. Michael’s is now home to a reimagined space—designed specifically with Indigenous culture, practices, and healing in mind. It’s a meaningful step toward reconciliation, and more importantly, a step toward health equity. This is more than just a renovation; it’s a recognition that culture and healing are deeply intertwined.

The new centre includes Indigenous art, a specialized HVAC system for ceremonial smudging, and larger, more welcoming family areas. These might sound like aesthetic or peripheral upgrades to some, but for those who’ve spent years feeling unwelcome or even unsafe in hospitals, they are deeply significant.

As Roberta Pike, Director of Indigenous Wellness, Reconciliation and Partnerships at Unity Health Toronto, explained, “A lot of people have intergenerational trauma associated with places or environments, and hospitals seem to be one of those leading examples.” She’s right. The trauma runs deep, and if we’re going to provide effective care, we need to create spaces that acknowledge that pain rather than ignore it.

This donation is the largest of its kind in Canada dedicated to Indigenous wellness. That fact alone should give us pause. Why has it taken until now for this kind of investment to happen? Why isn’t every major hospital in Canada already equipped with spaces like this?

But rather than dwell solely on what’s been missing, we should celebrate what’s being built. The centre is only phase one. Plans for another Indigenous Wellness Centre at Providence Healthcare, complete with a medicine garden, sweat lodge, and sacred fire, are already in motion. There’s also support for additional staffing, elder care access, and educational outreach.

Dr. Alika Lafontaine, the first Indigenous president of the Canadian Medical Association, says it plainly: “The health system hasn’t always been the best place for people who are First Nation, Inuit or Métis to receive care.” These centres, he says, aren’t just about comfort—they improve outcomes. They invite trust. They offer hope.

Statistics Canada data shows that nearly half of First Nations adults living off reserve reported at least one chronic condition between 2019 and 2022. The numbers reflect a deeper truth: health issues in Indigenous communities are compounded by lack of access to care that is culturally safe and supportive.

This new Wellness Centre isn’t a solution to centuries of colonial harm. But it’s a tangible, deeply human step toward healing. It says to Indigenous patients, We see you. We hear you. And we’re finally listening.

And perhaps most powerfully, it reflects what Pike calls the guiding principle of their care: “We see the people that we interact with in the hospital as an extension of our own families.” That’s not just a mission statement. It’s a radical act of compassion.

Let this centre be the blueprint—not the exception—for Indigenous healthcare across Canada.