Nunavut gets representation at Canadian Medical Association council

Nunavut finally had some representation at the Canadian Medical Association, the national body representing Canadian physicians, when its members met last week in Calgary.

That was thanks to the Ontario Medical Association, which sponsored a delegate from Nunavut to attend its 146th annual meeting Aug. 19 to Aug. 21.

Unlike Ontario, Nunavut lacks its own medical association to represent the territory’s small number of physicians.

“Ontario doctors have always participated in the treatment of Nunavut patients, so it’s fitting that physicians from both jurisdictions are now formally linked. The relationship will benefit patients in this underserved area,” Dr. Scott Wooder, president of the Ontario Medical Association, said in a CMA news release.

“A group of long-term dedicated physicians are living and working with the most marginalized people in Canada,” said Dr. Katherine Canil, who as worked as a surgeon in Nunavut for the past 18 years, in the news release. “We ourselves have also been marginalized because of our remoteness, and our small numbers.”



Inuit in Nunavut face many health and social challenges, she said.



Through their participation in the CMA, Nunavut doctors hope to bring focus many Inuit health issues, she said.