Budget 2026 includes $34M for Indigenous health objectives

The Alberta government is promising more money to improve the health of Indigenous people.

The Alberta government is allocating $34 million to primary care for First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in the province in 2026-27.

It is expecting to spend $16 million compensating physicians already working in Indigenous communities; $16 million on Indigenous Health Division initiatives, like recruiting and training patient navigators; and $2.9 million on prevention and early detection programs.

“It’s a blueprint for health solutions and health pathways moving forward here, so I’m really excited about that,” said Dr. Tyler White, co-chair of the Indigenous Primary Health Care Panel which developed a plan to modernize the province’s primary health-care system, at a news conference Friday at the Wetaskiwin Community Health Centre.

Treaty territories 6, 7 and 8, as well as Métis and Inuit people, were represented on the panel. Health-care workers, including from remote settings, were involved, too.

One of the most frequent issues the panel heard about was racialized treatment, Primary and Preventative Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange told reporters on Friday. She said such reports to Alberta’s Indigenous Patient Safety Investigator and Advocate – a role created by the Indigenous Health Division – numbered over 300. But officials say initiatives like patient navigators, who help Indigenous patients navigate the health system and support their advocacy, have improved the problem.

“Bringing the issues forward from our remote communities has been so crucial to seeing the improvements that we are seeing today. Indigenous Health (Division)? Who would have dreamt of that 10 years ago?” asked Sherry Cunningham, vice-president of the Métis Settlements General Council.

“There is no silver bullet,” LaGrange said about improving Indigenous health outcomes, pointing also to the Indigenous Primary Health Care Innovation Fund, mobile clinics, and recruitment and retention efforts. “That’s why we are addressing it from so many areas.”

Budget 2026, if passed, will invest a total of $12.7 billion in primary care and preventative health care.