The medical profession is one of the professions that societies and countries need due to its utmost importance in treating patients and caring for children and families,

There are calls within Canada to make the medical profession more widespread among the Canadian population, as two researchers from the University of Alberta in Edmonton have urged to increase the presence of medical professionals among Indigenous peoples, especially those residing in remote communities.

Professor Nicole Cardinal from the medical school and researcher Nicolas Brisebois, a third-year medical student, examined various data, including that from Statistics Canada, to understand the reasons for the low enrollment rates of Indigenous students in rural and northern communities in the medical field.

“It was important to try to make this issue more public so that medical school deans, physicians, and all members of the medical community are aware of this trend,” said Brisebois.

In their article published in the “Canadian Medical Association Journal,” the researchers state that this lack of diversity in medical schools contributes to “the ongoing inequality in health and may explain the low number of Indigenous physicians currently practicing in these communities.”

In 2019, there was only one Indigenous doctor in the Northwest Territories, despite Indigenous peoples representing 50% of the population.

The authors identify several barriers preventing this segment of Canadians from accessing medical studies, the most important being the low graduation rate among Indigenous peoples in local communities in rural and northern areas.

“Only 6.2% of Inuit and 6.1% of First Nations individuals living on reserves obtain a bachelor's degree, compared to 15.8% of Métis and 13.3% of First Nations individuals living off reserves,” the researchers state.

These low figures are partly attributed to “low socioeconomic status, geographic isolation from post-secondary education,” and a lack of resources in secondary schools in these regions.

The researchers remind us that some medical schools have implemented strategies to encourage First Nations individuals to enroll. This has resulted in an increase in the number of applications from Indigenous students and in acceptance rates, but these students mostly come from urban areas.

They add that several researchers have argued that community support, outreach, and mentorship programs have a greater impact on the enrollment of Indigenous individuals from remote areas in medical schools than the measures taken at the application stage.