Dr. Alika Lafontaine becomes the Canadian Medical Association’s first Indigenous president

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has a new president. 40-year-old Dr. Alika Lafontaine is not only one of the youngest doctors to fill the role but also the group’s first Indigenous president.

Dr. Lafontaine says Canada is at a breaking point and things need to change. He is calling on the government for more pay and less administration work for doctors and nurses so they can concentrate on patient care.

“It’s normal to have one nurse covering 12 patients. It’s getting to the point of actually being ridiculous now when you go to work and realize you are literally the only person providing care for all of these very, very sick patients,” Dr. Lafontaine said.

Dr. Lafontaine was born and raised in Regina Saskatchewan and started his career in Saskatoon, “I bring in a different lens and a different type of experience.”

Dr. Lafontaine says one of the biggest things he would like to see return is the personal relationship between patients and doctors, something that he says was lost during the pandemic.