Why Animal Health Is a Public-Health Issue in Indigenous Communities

This week, Healthy Debate published a national longform article that explores a truth many people in Canada have never been asked to consider: animal health is a public-health issue, and the communities with the least access to veterinary services often face the greatest risks.

For more than 150 years, animal-control and veterinary systems in Canada were built around the needs of growing settler towns and cities. These systems were funded by municipal taxes and developed alongside other public-health tools. First Nations communities, governed under the Indian Act and denied municipal powers, were never given the same opportunity to build equivalent services.

The result today is a predictable pattern that rural and remote communities know all too well. Dog bites and the challenges that come with overpopulations of dogs and cats are not “animal problems.” They are public-health and safety issues that disproportionately affect children, families, and entire communities. Community animal management is, in fact, a disproportionate social determinant of human health in Indigenous communities.

In many regions, the nearest veterinary clinic is hours away by plane or boat. Without access to basic resources — some deemed essential to public health during COVID — like spay and neuter teams, vaccinations, safe dog kenneling, and other animal-related infrastructure, communities are left to manage risk with limited options and few supports. For decades, the delivery of these public-health-relevant services has been left to hit-and-miss volunteers and philanthropy, even though no other public-health system relies on that model.

The Healthy Debate article traces this history and highlights a crucial point. None of these challenges are the result of a lack of care, commitment, or capacity within Indigenous communities. They are the outcome of a system that was never designed with Indigenous communities in mind.

What is equally important, and deeply hopeful, is what communities are doing about it today.

From coast to coast, Indigenous Nations are leading innovative, culturally grounded approaches to animal health and community safety. Mobile, non-profit veterinary teams are being flown or barged into remote regions. Nations are creating their own animal bylaws. Safe dog-housing spaces are being built. Trauma- and bite-prevention programs are being developed alongside Elders and knowledge-keepers. And early evidence shows that when communities have the tools they have long been denied, the results are transformative.

At Increased ACCESS, our role has been to support Nations in building these systems on their own terms. We work with communities to combine public-health principles, veterinary access, dog and cat population management, and Indigenous-led education in ways that reduce risk and strengthen safety for both people and animals. These approaches honour local teachings, recognize community history, and build capacity for long-term, self-determined solutions.

Importantly, the Healthy Debate article also points toward something new that is taking shape. Multiple professional sectors — public health, economics, veterinary medicine, Indigenous governance, and community design — are beginning to work together with Nations to research and test new solutions. Central to that collaboration is the development of a Community Animal Management Outcomes Fund, a mechanism that would allow Indigenous communities to define their own outcomes, rigorously measure progress, and eventually transition these essential services from philanthropy to stable public funding.

The Healthy Debate article provides a broad national context for why this work matters and why it has taken so long for these issues to reach public attention. It also offers a glimpse of what is possible when communities, governments, and partners commit to building the systems that were never afforded to Indigenous Nations in the first place.

You can read the full article here: ‘The war against dogs continues’: How 150 years of policy denied animal control to Indigenous communities - Healthy Debate

We are grateful to the Nations we work alongside, to our community partners, and to everyone who is helping bring long-overdue attention to this public-health gap. This is a moment to rethink old assumptions, listen to the voices of communities, and invest in solutions that have been decades in the making.