Health care is political.

At Nabat Health, we believe politics should have no place in health care.

But here we are. In Turtle Island, colonization and white supremacy have long dictated our access to health care based on our identities and socio-economic status. To this day, Indigenous, Black and other racialized bodies continue to be harmed by prejudice, stereotypes and at times pseudoscience within the medical system.

We still witness Indigenous people being killed in hospitals from perfectly treatable conditions due to racism, ignorance and bigotry: Women’s pain is seldom addressed and managed adequately within the healthcare system; trans and nonbinary people are still not treated with the respect every patient deserves; refugee health care is being clawed back; children and elderly have started to die of misinformation (and not lack of access or availability to interventions).

In addition, our diverse experiences as People of Global Majority, are not separate from Western imperialism, xenophobia, imposed wars and sanctions on our homelands. Zionist and anti-Palestinian racism that legitimized a genocide in Gaza, also impact our health, well-being and will to live here on these lands.

We wish equity and equality existed in healthcare. That every person could have access to affirming, supportive, appropriate and relevant medical and mental health care support they need, but that is not the reality. So, we recognize how politics, policies and administrative barriers impact our experiences here and we try to carve out a space where we counter that. How?

The steps that we take to rectify these harmful influences, include:

• All staff are racialized providers with lived experience

• All services are inclusive to all genders, sexual orientations and sex characteristics

• All occupations, including sex work, are respected and honored

• We acknowledge and make space for our individual experiences tied to systems on local, national and global levels.

We acknowledge the benefits of both traditional and Western medicine and we are guided by principles of do no harm. Our practices are informed by research, community knowledge and cultural expertise.

Offering appropriate, excellent, and accessible care to historically marginalized patients is a political act, and we’re here for it.