Jamaica Cass

Contributor

Dr. Jamaica Cass is a member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, a primary care physician in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, the inaugural Associate Dean of Indigenous Health at York University, and a national leader shaping clinical quality, medical training and health policy.

1 Contribution

Nov 10, 2026

by Jamaica Cass

Canada’s new standards on anti-Indigenous racism in health care must be enforced

On Dec. 9, 2021, Heather Winterstein, a 24-year-old Cayuga woman, went to the emergency department in St. Catharines, Ont., with severe back pain, was sent home with Tylenol and returned by ambulance the following day. After waiting more than two hours, she collapsed and died of septic shock. At the coroner’s inquest, clinicians testified they had not known she was Indigenous. The inquest issued 68 recommendations addressing cultural safety, clinical assessment and emergency department procedures.