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The College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba has delivered a formal apology to Indigenous people for playing a part in systemic discrimination in health care.
The college “is profoundly sorry for its role in perpetuating and its failure to act in response to harms experienced by First Nations, Inuit and Métis, both as a result of our work as a regulatory body and the conduct of those nurses we regulate,” CEO Deb Elias said at a live-streamed Wednesday morning event.
“This apology is long overdue.”
Elias acknowledged colonization and ongoing prejudice continue to negatively affect the health of Indigenous people.
She said the regulatory body has not advocated and changed systems effectively or quickly enough to lessen the harm.
While Manitoba became the first province to recognize nursing as a profession in 1913, “this recognition came about in a way that further privileged colonial Western perspectives with devastating impacts,” Elias said.
The college is increasing its outreach with Indigenous nurses, communities and organizations, she said, pointing to the formation of an Indigenous advisory group last fall to help with its reconciliation plan, which will be implemented at the end of this year.
The college’s apology follows other Canadian health care and nursing organizations that have issued their own in recent years.
In May 2021, the leaders of regulatory colleges overseeing health-care workers in B.C., including the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives, apologized to Indigenous communities who experienced racism in that province’s system.
The Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing delivered an apology in 2023, and the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions followed suit in 2025.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba also apologized in 2023 for its failure, past and present, to respond to Indigenous-specific racism in the medical profession.