Alika Lafontaine

Dr. Alika Lafontaine is a Canadian physician, healthcare leader, media personality, and fellowship-trained anesthesiologist. He is the current President of the Canadian Medical Association, the first of Indigenous descent in its 155+ year history.
==Early life==
Dr. Alika Lafontaine was born and raised in Southern Saskatchewan, spending his childhood and young adulthood in Regina and Saskatoon. His mother, Manusiu Lafontaine, is a first-generation immigrant from the South Pacific Island Nation of Tonga. Lafontaine’s father, Christopher (Chris) J. Lafontaine, was born in a small farming community in rural Saskatchewan, and has Metis, Cree, and Anishinaabe ancestry. Chris is a change consultant, previously working as an educator, administrator, and government bureaucrat.
Lafontaine has four siblings. Chris Lafontaine Jr (brother) who works in healthcare, Ali’i Lafontaine (brother) who is a lawyer, Kamea Lafontaine (brother) who is a dentist and software designer, and Kalea Lafontaine (sister) who is a business owner.
Lafontaine and his four siblings performed as a musical group from 1988 to 2008, touring across Canada and parts of the United States. Their musical style "could be likened to the Osmond's or the Jackson 5" and released three albums.
==Career==
===Early career===
Lafontaine attended the University of Regina through the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC), now First Nations University of Canada, and graduated with a major in a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. As an undergrad, Lafontaine was a recipient of the Youth National Aboriginal Achievement Award (now Indspire awards). Lafontaine completed his MD at the University of Saskatchewan followed by a five-year fellowship in anesthesiology. In the midst of his fellowship, Lafontaine became CBC’s "Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister," winning the competition with a platform focused on reconciling the Treaty relationship between Canada’s Indigenous Peoples and Canadians.
===Indigenous Health Alliance===
From 2013 to 2017, Lafontaine co-led the Indigenous Health Alliance (IHA). Led politically by Indigenous leadership representing the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, Manitoba Keewatin Okimakinak, and Nishnawbe Aski Nation -- cumulatively representing more than 150 First Nations across three provinces -- the alliance successfully advocated for $68 million of federal funding for Indigenous health transformation in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. 
===Safespace Networks===
Following personal experiences in reporting racism and a near-miss experience by his brother Kamea, the Lafontaines launched Safespace Networks in 2020, with a pilot project championed by the British Columbia Association of Friendship Centres. Following the successful pilot, Safespace Networks projects were opened in Saskatchewan and Ontario. Safespace Networks is an anonymous web3 learning platform that collects, analyzes, and identifies patterns of care, enabling patients to better navigate health systems, providers to more effectively influence system change, and decision-makers to be more effective escalating issues and deploying resources. 
==Personal life==
Lafontaine continues to practice anesthesia in Grande Prairie, where he has lived with his family for the last 12 years.
Category:People from Saskatchewan
Category:Canadian people
Category:Physicians
Category:Health officials
Category:Media personalities