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VULNERABLE384 Canada’s Racial Discrimination against First Nations Peoples in Public Services and Programs The November 15, 1907, headline of the Evening  Citizen newspaper in Ottawa read “Schools Aid White Plague: Startling Death Rolls Revealed Among Indians—Absolute Inattention to Bare Necessities of Health.”6 The article described the findings of Indian Affairs Health Officer, Dr. Peter Bryce, linking inequalities in “Indian” health care funding and poor health practises in the schools with the overwhelm- ing death rates of residential school students. The federal govern- ment took note of the inequality but did not fix it.7 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada identified 3,200 deaths of stu- dents in residential schools and the Chief Commissioners estimates that up to 6,000 children may have lost their lives due to preventable disease and maltreatment.8 Overall, children in residential schools had the same odds of dying as a soldier in the Second World War.9 Many other credible voices have chronicled the inequalities in First Nations public services, and proposed solutions to remedy them, including the Office of the Auditor General of Canada,10 the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,11 and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada,12 as well as 6. “Schools Aid White Plague” The  Evening  Citizen, 1907, cited in Travis Hay, Cindy Blackstock & Michael Kirlew, “Dr. Peter Bryce (1853–1932): whistleblower on residential schools” (2020) 192:9 CMJA 223 at 224. 7. Ibid at 224. 8. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Canada’s  Residential  Schools:  Missing  Children  and  Unmarked  Burials, vol 4 (Winnipeg: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015) at 1; Chinta Puxley, “How many First Nations kids died in residential schools? Justice Murray Sinclair says Canada needs answers”, Toronto Star (31 May 2015), online: <www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/05/31/ how-many-first-nations-kids-died-in-residential-schools-justice-murray-sin- clair-says-canada-needs-answers.html>. 9. Daniel Schwartz, “Truth and Reconciliation Commission: By the numbers”, CBC News (2 June 2015), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/truth-and-r econciliation-commission-by-the-numbers-1.3096185>. 10. Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Access to Health Services for Remote First Nations Communities (Report to Parliament), (Ottawa: OAG, Spring 2015) [OAG 2015]; Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada, 2011  June  Status  Report,  Programs  for  First  Nations  on  Reserves (Report to Parliament), (Ottawa: OAG, June 2011) at chapter 4 [OAG 2011]. 11. See Canada, Reclaiming  Power  and  Place:  the  Final  Report  of  the  National  Inquiry  into  Missing  and  Murdered  Indigenous  Women  and  Girls, vol 1a (Ottawa: MMIWG, 2019) and vol 1b (Ottawa: MMIWG, 2019), [MMIWG]. 12. “Our Mandate” (last visited 12 May 2020), online: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada <www.trc.ca/about-us/our-mandate.html>.