How can we make a difference in critical areas such as poverty, Indigenous health, global health and community outreach? We will be exploring social accountability as a Faculty over the next few months, including a one day retreat with identified individuals on January 27, 2012.

Recently, the Faculty invited Ovide Mercredi to speak at the inaugural Dean’s Lecture in Indigenous Health which kicked off the new 2012 Lecture Series in First Nations, Métis and Inuit Health.

Mercredi, former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, is a politician, author, lecturer, negotiator and lawyer. He attended the University of Manitoba and graduated with a law degree in 1977.

He kept a packed Gaspard Theatre riveted with his story of growing up in Grand Rapids, the lack of any professional Indigenous role models, and the obstacles he faced to achieving his goals.

He has spent his life breaking down barriers. In the 1960s, Mercredi refused to sit in the “Indian Section” in a theatre in The Pas. In the 1970s, he launched Canada’s first Native Students’ Association at the University of Manitoba with 11 students, and advocated for the university’s first Pow Wow.

“What I learned from Gandhi is if you convert your enemy to your friend, your enemy becomes your change agent,” he recounted. “We don’t need an atomic weapon (to end racism), we need kindness, compassion.”

Mercredi is rightfully proud of his accomplishments as a leader for his people and community. This year, a new community-run health facility will open in Grand Rapids with expanded health services including dialysis, tele-health, and traditional health.

He believes the new facility will transform his community by giving members a sense of ownership and “empowering the people to take control of their health decisions.”

Sounds like an admirable goal…as physicians and educators we need to work toward health equity for all of our populations that includes making their own health decisions, adequate health-care delivery, preventive and other services.