He was told he'd never graduate. Now this doctor is the CMA's 1st Indigenous president

As a child, Dr. Alika Lafontaine had a stutter and was labelled as having a learning disability. He says teachers told him he would never graduate high school.

"I definitely had learning challenges," Lafontaine told White Coat, Black Art's Dr. Brian Goldman. "People were quick, I think, as a kid, to label me as somebody who just couldn't achieve because of this."

On Aug. 21, Lafontaine takes over as president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), becoming its first Indigenous leader.

It comes at a time when the health-care system is reeling from challenges exacerbated by the pandemic: doctors suffering burnout, nurses quitting in droves and patients facing lengthy ER wait times. 

As CMA president, he'll oversee more than 68,000 member physicians and trainees. The organization is the largest advocacy group for medical doctors in Canada.

"Leadership is a continuum where you think at the beginning the most important part is having the loudest voice, and at the end, you've realized the most important part is amplifying other people's voices," said Lafontaine.

"I hope that physicians across the country feel like they're heard in ways that they haven't been heard before."

Born and raised in Treaty 4 territory in southern Saskatchewan, Lafontaine works as an anesthesiologist at Grande Prairie Regional Hospital in Alberta.

He says the personal challenges he faced growing up, and his experiences as an Indigenous doctor ⁠— he has Métis, Ojibway, Cree and Pacific Islander ancestry ⁠— help in understanding those who have felt that they have no voice. 

With his parents' support and belief that education was "the pathway to a better life" — and that their son could become something more than teachers expected of him as a child — Lafontaine's mother pulled him out of grade school and home-schooled him. 

By age 14, Lafontaine says he graduated high school. He went on to medical school and finished his residency by the time he was 28. 

"That kid that was labelled with a learning disability ⁠— you know, at one time, I had no voice. At one time, people looked at me as broken," said Lafontaine, who also grappled with hearing issues caused by ear infections when he was younger. 

Lafontaine described those childhood experiences as a "huge motivator" for him. 

He spoke with Goldman about his hopes and priorities as CMA president. Here is part of their conversation. Not a day goes by without hearing on social media about an emergency department that's closing for a few hours or a few days. What's your take on what's going on? Because there are people who are saying the system's close to collapse, which I think is probably an exaggeration.  I think it depends on kind of the place that you're at. Health human resource crises hit people differently depending on the availability and options for services.