The Canadian government will provide $8.2 billion (9.24 billion AUD) in funding over 10 years for the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia and give Indigenous communities "unprecedented control" over how to use the funds, it was announced on Friday.
First Nations Health Council deputy chair Wayne Christian told The Canadian Press agency the funding is a game-changer because it creates an opportunity for individual communities to choose to use funds for addressing "social determinants of health," which may include affordable housing.
"The communities will need to sit down and decide what do they really want to do in relation to social determinants," he said.
Mr Christian, a veteran advocate, was campaigning for First Nations rights when the father of current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Pierre Trudeau, held the highest office in the land.
He was one of the First Nations leaders who spent two years negotiating the new funding agreement with the Canadian federal government.
"One of the issues that keeps coming up as an example is housing — that's one of the areas that people may want to take that and say, 'Look, we need adequate housing, we need emergency housing'," he said.
The CAD8.2 billion towards the design, management and delivery of care to First Nations communities comes in addition to another component of the agreement which includes $5 million annually for investments in social determinants of health.
Mr Christian noted that social determinants are "not just medical health".
"It's looking at housing, as an example, or looking at things communities need in terms of their well-being," he told The Canadian Press.
The new funding was announced by Prime Minister Trudeau during his visit to the Squamish Nation in West Vancouver.
Mr Trudeau said the authority has transformed the way health is delivered to First Nations in B.C. by giving Indigenous communities a way to map their own health-care decisions and practices.
The Prime Minister said the new funding is about ensuring First Nations have the best possible health outcomes, and noted that this type of collaboration is needed across the country.
"This renewal is about improving delivery and meeting the unique health needs of First Nations communities with things like more community-based approaches to health care, recognition of the intergenerational trauma that impacts well-being in your communities," Mr Trudeau told the crowd at the public gathering at which the deal was announced.
Ten years ago the First Nations Health Authority, the first of its kind in Canada, took over planning, management and delivery of health programs for B.C. First Nations. Previously the federal government held that responsibility.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu, who also attended the announcement, said work is underway on creating similar models of First Nations health care in Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Quebec.
Ms Hajdu said the B.C. model is a possible road map for other Indigenous communities to follow.
"I think one big difference is a willing partner in the province of B.C.," Ms Hajdu said.
"From the very beginning, British Columbia has leaned into this idea that they could work collaboratively with the First Nations Health Authority in this province, and they would be able to support both financially (and) from a practical sense the integration of health services."
The Canadian government said in a statement that addressing the gaps in First Nations health care can only be achieved by addressing the cultural, social, economic and historical disadvantages that have led to inter-generational trauma.
Mr Christian noted that colonialism had a profound and ongoing impact on Indigenous people in Canada, with the consequences of genocide and systemic racism felt to this day, and that change would take time.
"It doesn't happen in one term. It doesn't happen in one decade, but it has to start somewhere," he said.
