Makayla Sault’s death is not an indigenous rights issue

Makayla Sault, the 11-year-old Ontario First Nation girl who refused chemotherapy to pursue traditional indigenous medicine has died.

I have heard and seen several commentators who insist on making this an issue of indigenous rights, or at least describe it as such. It’s not. It’s a parental rights issue. In this case, the parents happen to be from the New Credit First Nation but this fact is not relevant to a determination of their right to choose between chemotherapy and other treatment options.

Ontario Minister of Children and Youth Services Tracy MacCharles said, “There are times when parents' or guardians' wishes for treatment conflict with those of doctors. In these cases, we rely on the expertise of the local children's aid societies to investigate concerns and determine if intervention is needed.”

To paraphrase, Ontario was prepared to deliver whatever treatment was required provided that either the parents or the children’s aid society choose this path. 

And, executive director of Brant Family and Children's Services Andrew Koster said, “Makayla was a wonderful, loving child who eloquently exercised her indigenous rights as a First Nations person and those legal rights provided to her under Ontario's Health Care Consent Act. The parents are a caring couple who loved their daughter deeply.”

Koster clouds the issue by referring to indigenous rights but he gets it right with his final thought. Makayla had loving parents who, after consulting with her, did what they believed was the best thing for their delicate daughter. And this is the right of any parent. It’s not limited to First Nations. 

Constantly bringing First Nations into this dialogue is confusing the issue. Not that there isn’t a dialogue to be had around First Nations’ people and their relationship to the health care system. But the choice to stop chemotherapy, in absentia of other facts, has nothing to do with being First Nations or not.

Perhaps, if First Nations people were treated differently by the health care system, Makayla’s parents might have made a different choice. The context in which they decided to stop chemotherapy in favour of traditional indigenous treatment matters. Their unique First Nations context may explain why they perceived chemotherapy as hurtful. Their context informed their decision. But, their decision what not a matter of indigenous rights.

I have the deepest sympathy for Makayla’s parents. Their beloved daughter is dead, despite their best efforts to provide her with health and security. I would not have made the choices that they made but that does not diminish my sympathy for their plight.

I am reminded of Tyrell Dueck in Saskatchewan. Tyrell died in 1999 after refusing conventional cancer treatments including chemotherapy and amputation to treat a tumour on his leg, instead, traveling to Mexico, where he was treated at a clinic in Tijuana. 

The villains in these sagas are the charlatans who operate the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida and the American Biologics Clinic in Tijuana. Institutes that preys upon people’s simple, natural desire for health and happiness. That take money in exchange for snake oil. Brian Clement, the director of Hippocrates, is part of the context in which decisions around Makayla’s future were made. He not only provided a false alternative to chemotherapy he actively promoted it and took money for it. He enriched himself, preying upon a family in their darkest hours. Disgusting.