Dr. Alika Lafontaine, an anesthesiologist in Grande Prairie, Alta., will be the first president of the Canadian Medical Association.
Ottawa, Ont.-In late November, The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) elected its first Indigenous president.
Members selected Dr. Alika Lafontaine, an anesthesiologist in Grande Prairie, Alberta, as CMA president for 2022-23. He will serve as president-elect until August 2022, when he will become the official CMA president, says a news release from the CMA.
Lafontaine is from Treaty 4 Territory in southern Saskatchewan, and is of Cree, Anishinaabe, Metis and Pacific Islander ancestry. He has been working as an anesthesiologist in Grande Prairie, Alta.
Lafontaine has been a tireless advocate for Indigenous health, using innovative solutions to address longstanding health inequities. Among his numerous achievements, he co-founded SafeSpace Networks Opens, a project that builds trust within communities, helps marginalized patients navigate health systems and proactively reduces patient harm.
"We need to have Indigenous patients at the table when it comes to designing care," Fontaine told CBC News. "Having patient voices at the table is really important to make sure that the care that we provide is the care that they actually need."
Currently, less than one percent of specialists and general practitioners in Canada are Indigenous, even though Indigenous people make up more than 4.5 per cent of the population.
