An expert witness at the inquest into the deaths of five people in Constance Lake First Nation during an outbreak of a fungal disease says no one person is responsible, but the health system overall continues to fail Indigenous people.

"Did being First Nations play a role in the way they died, yes, but that's not one person's fault, it's the system" said Dr. Suzanne Shoush.

She was a family doctor in northern Ontario and associate professor with Laurentian University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine between 2016 and 2019.

She is now director of Inner City Health Associates which offers Indigenous and community-centred approaches to ending homelessness in Toronto where Indigenous people make up a disproportionate number of their clients.

Coroner's counsel Shruti Ramesh told j

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