The Current - Indigenous mom dies after being denied medical travel

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

Miranda Mamakwa of Fort Severn First Nation in northern Ontario died after undergoing open-heart surgery in the spring, then missing several follow-up appointments. The mother of three applied for federal funding to pay to travel for the doctor's visits, but she was denied. Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation says Miranda's death was not an isolated incident.

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Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. A month ago, Miranda Mamaqua was alive. The mother of three lived in Fort Seven First Nation on the shore of Hudson's Bay in northern Ontario, but she was frustrated and not well. Miranda was recovering from the open heart surgery she'd flown south to Ottawa for in the spring. But she couldn't go to any of the follow-up appointments her doctors ordered for her, because her request to the federal agency that funds this kind of travel were denied. Then last week she got so sick she was flown to Thunder Bay, Ontario for emergency care.

She died last Tuesday. Her family and indigenous leaders are demanding answers from Ottawa and change. Alvin Fiddler is Grand Chief of the Nishnabi-Assi Nation. He's been helping Miranda's family, and he is in Thunder Bay. Good morning, Grand Chief Fiddler. Good morning. How is Miranda's death? being felt by you and your community?

It's pretty devastating. And we had a service for Miranda here in Thunder Bay yesterday with family and some of the community members that had traveled to Thunder Bay and was transported back home to 4-7 last night, and she will be buried later on this afternoon in 4-7. Can you tell me what happened to Miranda? She was just 31 years old and had this very serious. serious operation in April. That happened in Ottawa. Tell me about that surgery. What was it for? Yeah, just getting some information from her mother, Eva, that Miranda had been hell. And they discovered

that she needed to have some serious heart surgery done to her, which happened on April 23rd. in Ottawa. And after her surgery, she was in Ottawa at the hospital there for two weeks and was transported back to Thunder Bay. And she was here for another two weeks at the Thunder Bay Regional Hospital. And after that, I was able to go home, second week, first or second week in May, but required follow-up care. And there were a number of appointments that were booked for her by her medical team,

starting in, I think the first one was on May the 28th, that didn't of May. And then another one on June 11th, July 12th, and August 6th. But she never got to any of those appointments because her travel was not approved or not arranged. And she sought that funding for travel and accommodation from the federal non-insurance health benefits program. That's an agency of Indigenous Services Canada. Do you know why her travel, her accommodation was denied? Why did that happen? We don't know.

And that's why the family is demanding for a full investigation into their daughter's death and to find out who made those decisions and why. She wrote a post on Facebook on August 19th about being turned down for her travel and missing those appointments. And she wrote in part, if I die, please go after him. How frustrated do you believe Miranda was? And I know you did meet with her at some point before she passed away. And we'll talk about that.

But what was she feeling in those moments? I'm sure that when she made that post back in August that, I'm sure she knew that with every misappointment, with every denial that the risk of her dying was becoming greater and greater. And, you know, I believe that's why she wrote that message. On Labor Day weekend, you actually got a call from Miranda's mom. What did she want you to do? What did she say? Well, she just called to tell me about what that happened to her daughter,

that she went into medical distress the day before at their home in Fort Severn, and it was transported to Thunder Bay, but none of the family members were able to travel with her. and she was alone here at the ICU, and she wanted me to go and see her daughter. And you did do that, and so tell me what that was like. That was pretty heartbreaking to see her in that condition, just to see her alone in the room at the ICU at the Thuner Bay Regional Hospital and knowing that she had made attempts to her.

seek medical help, you know, starting in May in June, and she never got it. And she ended up going for emergency care in Thunder Bay, and so was she able to speak to you at that time? No, she was unconscious the whole time. Did her family ever make it down before she passed away? Yeah, they did. They were able to travel to Thunder Bay that Monday evening, and they met with Miranda's medical team. Tuesday morning to get a briefing on Miranda's condition, and then they had to make the heartbreaking decision to disconnect her from life support later that afternoon, and she was

pronounced deceased around 4 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon. Had she gone to those appointments, do you think doctors would have caught whatever was the reason she passed away? For sure. Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt about. about that, that if she had been properly assessed, if they had found any problems with Miranda, I'm sure they would have been able to treat her. Is this something that you've heard happening before, that someone is denied transportation,

medical, transit, and as a result, they suffer or perhaps pass away? Yeah, I mean, it's all too common. And just a quick story about another case that happened that was brought to my attention after Miranda passed away, a young mother in Sandy Lake, who was also a heart patient, had an appointment in Toronto on the Monday, but on that Friday, her travel was still not approved and not arranged. So I called some senior officials at I. And they jumped on right away. They were able to arrange her travel within the hour. And I'm glad for that family, but there's many other individuals out there that are on the line every day, trying to get a hold of someone from non-insured, and they're not getting anybody to answer their call.

And that's becoming all too common. What kinds of conversations have you had with the officials who managed that program after all of this? Well, I did read the statement that was issued by the ISE minister, Mandy GOMASTI, a couple of days after Miranda's death. And she had said in her statement that she was willing to meet with Nishna Bask Nation and with the Swilok-First Nation Silt Authority at the, I believe her words were at the earliest convenience. but the meeting hasn't happened yet. I don't know where she is in terms of the timing for this meeting, but now we're over a week after Miranda's tragic death and we haven't had any official contact with anyone from ISC.

You know, we did receive a statement from Indigenous Services Canada saying they hold meetings with First Nations organizations regularly to get feedback and that, as you've mentioned, a joint national review is underway, led by the Assembly of First Nations, in collaboration with the federal government. Are you aware of this joint national review being underway? Yeah, I mean, we've heard about this national review for the last 20 years. And so far there's been no changes that we're seeing on the ground. And I believe that's why the chiefs of National National National National National National Nation are now demanding for an immediate meeting with the IAC minister in to seek some concrete, sustainable, long-term solutions to not insured so that we don't lose any more of our people.

What do you think's gone wrong with this system? Because it's been in effect for many years, of course. And so why is it failing in the way that you're describing? Yeah, it's everything. Like, you know, we've always known that there is a two-tiered health system in the country. You know, there's one for the general public, and then there's one for, the first-station people of this country, and that's what we're seeing playing on the ground with Don Insured. That there is no, not enough money dedicated to this program to ensure that our people get the treatment that they need when they need it. What do you want to hear from the minister? I know you said it, she mentioned, and it was at the earliest convenience, but if you were to get that meeting today, what would you ask for?

What would you want to hear? I think just the willingness to sit down and meet would be a good start. And is there a way in your mind that the problem can be solved, that it doesn't come to this that we've seen in Miranda's case? Well, I think that's part of the work that we've been doing the last few years is to look at how do we transform health and health care in our region. You know, how do we allow our communities to begin to take over some of these programs and services that they're currently being subject to? and we know that they are severely underfunded and how do we begin to take ownership of our own health? Miranda leaves behind three children, young children.

What do you know of how her family is coping right now? I saw them yesterday before they left her home to Fort Severn, and I just hope and pray that they're going to be okay, that someone's going to look after them. And I know the grandmother, the grandfather, other will do their absolute best to look after them, but yeah, they'll need a lot of help. Okay. Alvin Fiddler, I appreciate you making time for us this morning. Thank you for this. Bigots.

Alvin Fiddler is Grand Chief of the Nishnabi-Assi Nation. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.