HEAL Committee Report

The Standing Committee on Health is concerned about the dental health of First Nations and Inuit people in Canada. While the dental health of average Canadians has improved greatly in the last 30 years, this is unfortunately not the case for the Aboriginal population of this country.  Indeed, socio-economic conditions and the remote locations of First Nations and Inuit communities often make it difficult to ensure that these populations  receive timely dental care and effective preventive measures.  In addition, clients were clearly apprehensive about the potential uses of a comprehensive client consent form proposed by Health Canada for implementation in September 2003. 

The Committee wants to ensure that these Canadians receive the same quality of care as that available to the general population.  To accomplish this, the emphasis must be on increased and appropriate funding for preventive measures to curtail the negative effects of poor dental health in these communities.  The Committee also concurs with witnesses who suggested that the pre-approved amount available for dental benefits without pre-approval needed needs to be increased.  In addition, it calls for better coordination on the part of Health Canada and dental care practitioners and as well as wider education by and of community memberswill  to improve the general dental health of First Nations and Inuit.  Furthermore, the Committee feels that the traditional single- procedure client consent forms for dental care must remain an option until the Department of Health has gained the confidence of the clients for the use of the comprehensive consent form.

On behalf of the members of the Committee, I would like to thank the witnesses for their time and expertise.  The Committee members are grateful for the professional guidance provided by the researchers from the Library of Parliament, Nancy Miller Chenier and Sonya Norris, and the clerk of the Committee, José Cadorette.  In addition, we thank the editors, interpreters, console operators and others for their hard work and team effort to make this report possible.

I would also like to thank the individual members of the Committee who participated in this study for their time and concern for this issue.