[2] To put health transfer in context, it is useful to understand from a historical perspective how First Nations, Inuit, Métis and the Canadian federal government through Indian and Northern Affairs have worked together to respond to Indigenous peoples expressed desire to manage and control their own health programs.
[4] The White and Red Papers served as an impetus for the collaborative effort of the federal government and Indigenous peoples to begin serious planning for the future.
In this regard, the policy emphasized the historic responsibilities of both federal and provincial governments to provide health services to Indigenous peoples in Canada.
The policy reasoned that improvements to the health status of Indigenous peoples should be built on three pillars: (1) community development, both socio-economic and cultural/spiritual, to remove the conditions which limit the attainment of well-being; (2) the traditional trust relationship between Indian people and the federal government; and (3) the interrelated Canadian health system, with its federal, provincial, municipal, Indigenous and private sectors.
It recommended methods of consultation that would ensure substantive participation by First Nations and Inuit in the design, management and control of health care services in their communities.
In April 1987, the British Columbia Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a bill to give the Sechelt community municipal status.
Consequently, the Sechelt Indian Band signed the first self-government agreement in which a First Nations community assumed control of their health services.
[11] The process is designed to occur within the present funding base of federal health programs for First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
At first, transfer was the only option communities had for increasing their control over health programs and services beyond contribution agreements.
[15] 1995 saw the distribution and implementation of Pathways to First Nations Control Report of Project 07 Strategic Planning Exercise.
This policy recognizes First Nations and Inuit have the constitutional right to shape their own forms of government to suit their particular historical, cultural, political and economic circumstances.