Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman said he was bothered by some of the results of a recent Sask. Health Authority employee survey.
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix reported that a vocal minority were harbouring racist attitudes towards Indigenous Peoples.
“There is no place for racism within the SHA, within the Ministry of Health within the government of Saskatchewan. This is just not acceptable. I saw the results from some of the surveys and it certainly bothered me that these were actually being articulated and people were thinking this,” Merriman told the Legislative Assembly Monday.
A survey was distributed in January 2019 and garnered over 1750 responses, accounting for approximately four percent of the SHA workforce.
The report which was not published publicly, found that some respondents do not support reconciliation efforts underway within the health care system.
“The responses included comments such as, quote, coloring the workforce, and quote and suggestions that catering to Indigenous People is actually causing racism in our province. This is deeply troubling,” Saskatoon Centre MLA Betty Nippi-Albright said.
Some of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report’s Calls to Action call on governments to address systemic racism within the health system.
Merriman committed to advancing reconciliation within health.
“We’re acquiring all new employees to undertake cultural responsiveness, training. Setting goals to achieve a representative workforce, developing a formal unity and belonging strategy and furthering our commitment to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action,” he explained. “If anybody is saying racist comments, they have no place in our workforce. What we are doing within the SHA is to make sure that everybody, everybody, no matter what the race, religion, creed, their sexual orientation is, to make them feel welcome within our workplace. If anybody in the SHA has any concerns about that I ask them to call my office within the ministry and I’ll make sure that it is dealt with appropriately.”