May 31, 2013 - Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry

B.D. MCKENZIE - DR.EX. (OLSON) MAY 31, 2013
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BY MR. OLSON:
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Q
During phase three of the inquiry we've heard the
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phrase "social determinants of health" referred to multiple
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times.
You co-authored a chapter from the book The Social
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Determinants of Health in Manitoba, which was published in
2010, and the chapter was entitled Aboriginal Child Welfare
and Health Outcomes in Manitoba, and we can find that at
Exhibit 130, I believe, now, which counsel know as document
82B.
Maybe we can just put that up on the monitor.
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That's 82B.
Scroll down just a little bit, please.
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That's, that's good. That's good.
First, can you just explain for the Commission
what is meant by the social determinants of health? What's
meant by that phrase?
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A
The social determinants of health have been used
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for some time in the literature to recognize that there are
broader range of factors that affect the health and
wellbeing of both adults and children than, than, than
direct health-related issues like immunity to illness and
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so on.
So they draw attention to factors such as poverty,
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income levels, housing, the -- and, and some authors talk
about the social determinants of health particularly in
relation to disadvantaged groups in society as including
things like racism and colonization, in the case of
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