Aboriginal Partnerships

The AHWS serves as a framework for IH’s 23,000 staff and 1,900 physicians to provide high quality, safe and effective health services to all Aboriginal peoples and families. The strategy is informed by and supports commitments to Aboriginal partners through signed agreements, including the Letters of Understanding (LOUs), Partnership Accord, and Cultural Safety Declaration, as well as the IH Strategic Priorities and Ministry of Health (MOH) mandate.

Read the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Strategy

We are committed to working together with First Nation and Métis partners to change our health system and eliminate racism and discrimination at Interior Health.

Learn more

Interior Health and Aboriginal partners have signed agreements that help guide our relationships and collaboration to improve health and wellness outcomes for Aboriginal people of the Interior Region.

Interior Health is involved in four joint committees focusing on Aboriginal Health and Wellness:

• Partnership Accord Technical Table
• Partnership Accord Leadership Table 
• Métis Interior Leadership Table
• Tripartite Committee on First Nations Health

The Interior region is home to the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Tŝilhqot’in, Secwépemc, Dãkelh Dené, St’át’imc, Syilx, Nlaka’pamux, and Ktunaxa Nations, comprised of 54 First Nations Communities.

Learn more about Interior nations and communities

The term “Indigenous” is increasingly replacing the term “Aboriginal.” The term "Indigenous" is recognized internationally through the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and in Canada we celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21.

However, the best guideline comes directly from Aboriginal people. Within the Interior region, we sought guidance from First Nation and Métis Leadership Tables, and at this time their preference is the term “Aboriginal,” as it's consistent with the Canadian Constitution (Section 35 (2)).

The Canadian Constitution recognizes three groups of Aboriginal peoples: First Nations, Métis and Inuit. These are three distinct people with unique histories, languages, cultural practice and spiritual beliefs.