Dr. Alika Lafontaine has been voted the president-elect nominee of the Canadian Medical Association (Photo supplied by the Canadian Medical Association)

By Shane Clausing

Dr. Alika Lafontaine

Grande Prairie physician becomes first Indigenous president-elect nominee of Canadian Medical Association

Feb 26, 2021 | 12:34 PM

Grande Prairie physician Dr. Alika Lafontaine has been voted to be the 2021 president-elect nominee of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA).

Dr. Lafontaine, who was born and raised on Treaty 4 Territory (Southern Saskatchewan) and has Anishinaabe, Cree, Metis and Pacific Islander ancestry, becomes the first-ever Indigenous nominee for CMA president in its history. He also becomes the first nominee for CMA president of Pacific Islander descent.

Dr. Lafontaine beat out four other candidates – Dr. Vishal Bhella, Dr. Michael Giuffre, Dr. Noel Grisdale and Dr. James Makokis. The election took place via electronic voting from February 11 to 25.

This was the first election in CMA history where two of the candidates were of Indigenous descent.

Pending confirmation of his nomination by CMA General Council this August, Dr. Lafontaine will serve as president-elect until August 2022, when he will become CMA president – the first Indigenous president in the association’s history.

According to a release from the CMA, over his time as a physician, Dr. Lafontaine has used his voice to promote the issues of healthy working conditions, the physician social contract and the creation of a culturally safe health system. Among the actions he emphasized was achieving national licensure, an important step in preparing Canadian physicians for future health care crises.

In the statement, he also added he wants to promote equality for all who work in the healthcare system.

“It’s also time to eliminate racism, sexism, ableism, classism and all other ‘-isms’ that permeate health system culture.”

From 2013 to 2017, Dr. Lafontaine co-led the Indigenous Health Alliance, a health transformation project involving 150 First Nations and several national health organizations. In 2018, the federal government allocated $68 million to Indigenous communities involved in the project.

He is also very involved in the healthcare community. Dr. Lafontaine holds various leadership positions in Alberta Health Services, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada.

In 2021, he was also listed on the Medical Post’s “Doctors with Sway,” a list of the top 30 most influential physicians in Canada based on peer feedback.

EverythingGP has reached out to Dr. Lafontaine for comment on becoming the President-Elect of the CMA.