| Health care governance in the context of Crown-Aboriginal relationships in Canada is often dysfunctional and individuals continue to suffer unconscionable harms as a result. I argue that emerging tripartite agreements between Aboriginal nations and the federal and provincial governments have the potential to ameliorate this situation if they are conducive to the integrated pursuit of reconciliation between the Crown and Aboriginal peoples and protection of individual rights in publicly financed health care. Judicial supervision can ensure that individual rights/health are not compromised during the reform process, while potentially accelerating the negotiation and implementation of tripartite arrangements that are effective and sustainable, which I argue requires: (1) integration of health policy planning responsibility; (2) consistency with Aboriginal rights to self-government; and (3) a recognition of the on-going relevance of legal accountability mechanisms as between (a) the Crown and Aboriginal peoples and (b) institutions responsible for health care policy and Aboriginal citizens. |
