A phone line during the pandemic that morphed into a clinic providing culturally safe care in downtown Toronto

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many Canadians were desperate for information about the virus. Fear was running high. Answers were in short supply.

There was also heightened concern, shared by Canada’s then-chief public health officer, that Indigenous people were at greater risk for worse illness, including death, because of factors including health inequities and higher rates of underlying conditions, as well as challenges accessing medical care.