At a ceremony in August, Dr. Alika Lafontaine was formally introduced as the new president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) — the first Indigenous leader in the top job.
It was not a typical gathering of physicians in Canada, and not only because there were Indigenous elders there, giving prayers and songs of blessing.
The ceremony, held in a large conference room in a Toronto hotel, positioned the chairs of those in attendance in a large circle, facing one another. One by one, different people stood to speak, all except for the guest of honour, an anesthesiologist from Grande Prairie, Alta., who remained seated when it was his turn to talk.
“I asked if it was OK for me to sit,” Lafontaine began, with a playful tone in his voice. “Because there’s an old anesthesia saying: ‘Never stand when you can sit, and never sit down when you can lie down.’”
When the laughter from the crowd died down, Lafontaine continued.
The Lafontaine Family, known as pop singing group, The 5th Generation, in their early days of performing. Date unknown.
Dr. Alika Lafontaine / Provided to Global News
The bulb went out on the projector being used to show slides to the audience. And while Lafontaine’s father panicked, trying to figure out what to do, the five little kids went up on stage and started singing for the crowd, and they loved it.
“My dad got a call the next week and he thought he was having another booking for a keynote, but they actually just wanted us back just to sing,” Lafontaine said. “That really was the beginning of The Show. It was a two-decade experience where, you know, we started singing in small communities, got to larger conferences and eventually we performed on TV.”
Behind the scenes, the Lafontaine family was supportive of one another’s ambitions outside of music. Dr. Lafontaine said he remembers thinking he’d want to be a physician early on, but it’s different from his memory of when he believed he could make the dream a reality.
His mom is a first-generation immigrant from the South Pacific country of Tonga. His dad is from a small farming community in Saskatchewan, the first to pursue a master’s degree. Together, they raised their children in the Prairie province, trying to create opportunities as the kids got older.
“It was very intimidating for me, coming into medical school without having any medical background on either side of my family. We didn’t have a lot, but my parents really emphasized the importance of education,” Lafontaine said.
