Aboriginal Health Access Centres (AHACs) are innovative, Aboriginal specific, Indigenous informed health care agencies. They provide a combination of health and social services to First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, including:
Traditional Healing
Primary Health Care
Health promotion services
Cultural programs
Community development initiatives
Social support service
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In Ontario, AHACs were first announced in 1995 in response to epidemic, systemic health disparities and inequities within the Aboriginal population across Ontario. They operate from a wholistic Aboriginal health framework which is often referred to by Aboriginal people as “the good life” or as restoring the “good mind”. The framework focuses on the restoration and rebalancing of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of Aboriginal people, families, communities and Nations, and understands “culture as treatment”.
