“it’s as old as canada,” he says.
he says he wants to celebrate becoming the group’s first indigenous president, but also wonders why it took so long.
“any time you see ‘first,’ what that triggers in general for people is that something could be different: ‘maybe this person will hear my problems differently,’ and that’s a beautiful thing,” he says.
lafontaine says a lot of voices have been excluded from the table when it comes to the health-care system.
“there’s gender inequity, and not just indigenous-specific racism, but also racism against black people and other persons of colour,” he says.
“once you create the space around the table to have those people sit, it’s really important to kind of carry that on.”
born and raised in regina, the doctor had a middle-class upbringing with four siblings, a dad who was an educator and a stay-at-home mom.
his family also toured together in a popular r&b and rock band called 5th generation.
his parents, who always encouraged education, were crushed when he was having language difficulty as a child and a teacher labelled him developmentally delayed.
lafontaine says he’s been reflecting a lot about that label.
“i looked around and i saw colleagues that reminded me of how i felt when teachers told me: ‘there’s just no hope for you,”’ he says.