In some towns near reserves, Indigenous citizens are being turned away from businesses because of COVID-19 fears.
Vaccinations are being delivered to the remote areas of Canada's Indigenous communities.
Vaccinations are being delivered to the remote areas of Canada's Indigenous communities.
WINNIPEG, Man.-As the number of active COVID-19 cases in First Nations continues to rise, Indigenous Services Canada is investing $1.2 billion in additional support to address ongoing public health responses in Indigenous communities.
As of mid January, 5,442 active cases were reported in First Nations.
"First Nations, Inuit, and Métis have worked diligently to prevent, respond and control the spread of the virus in their communities. We acknowledge their strength and resilience, and the hard work they continue to put into leading their communities to safety," said Indigenous Services Minister Marc.
An additional $380 million for the Indigenous Community Support Fund was also announced, and $186.8 million over two years will support needs and gaps in long-term care facilities.
Indigenous Services Canada said 10 out of 60 long-term care and personal care homes on-reserve in Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec have been affected by COVID-19.
Since the pandemic began, there have been a total of 13,636 cases on-reserve, with a death toll of 117 in mid January, and with 8,077 recovering from the virus. Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan account for most of the cases.
As cases continue to rise, vaccinations take the forefront of tribal minds, however distributing vaccinations could prove to be a huge challenge.
In Ontario, plans are being made to vaccinate even the most remote First Nations communities, however Indigenous leaders say that geography, lack of roads, and weather may not be the biggest challenges to getting this done; earning the trust of the people might be among the biggest roadblocks.
Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, who represents 49 of Ontario's 123 First Nations, pointed out that communities must be aware of the vaccine and understand it so they will consent to getting it.
All 31 remote First Nations that are participating in Operation Remote Immunity are part of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, so Fiddler and his staff have been working with Ontario's vaccine task force as a liaison between the individual communities and the government.
"We're creating material for distribution with our health authorities, creating pamphlets and social media, making sure everything is translated into Ojibway, Ojicree and Cree," said Fiddler. "So our elders can really understand the information that's being sent to them.
"Once they do understand it they can give it serious consideration before giving their consent."
Part of the reason behind the hesitation, Fiddler says, stems from First Natons people who are living with the trauma of Canada's colonial history.
"It's not just the vaccine itself, it's the whole history of the sad, sometimes tragic past of health care and how it's been delivered in our communities," Fiddler told CBC News.
Part of the problem is that the First Nations people, especially the elders, clearly remember being subject to a two-tiered system in which Indigenous people received inferior health care, or were even subjects of medical experiments-including untried vaccinations-performed on Indigenous people from the 1930s to the 1970s. Residential school trauma is also considered a factor in hesitancy to trust government programs. In British Columbia, 84% of 2700 First Nations respondents surveyed said they had experienced health-care discrimination.
However, the vaccinations have begun on various reserves, including preparation for the 31 fly-in First Nation communities. When vaccinations arrive, not only is there a nurse or other medical supervisor, but there's an interpreter and a coordinator to make sure the process goes smoothly and that all the residents in a territory consent to the vaccination. Medical leaders stress that with elders and remote communities, taking a patient-centered approach is vital. And in Vancouver, the council is specifically employing local nurses to be among those administering vaccinations so people see a familiar face they know and trust.
After all, when it comes to COVID-19, whether it's the disease itself, vaccinations or spread, the misunderstandings run rampant. In one British Columbia town near a reserve, some businesses are even asking Indigenous citizens if they live on a reserve-and are not allowed to enter the building if their answers are "yes."
One woman tells of calling to make an appointment with her dentist. Instead of being asked the standard COVID-19 screening questions, she was simply asked if she lived on the reserve. When she said she did, she was denied an appointment.
"That's infringing on our human rights, it's assuming every single First Nation person [in the community] has COVID," Tia'amn Nation Councillor Brandon Peters told CBC.
In another town near a reserve, one of the reserve residents, Jamie Hunt, posted on Facebook, "I just feel like we're back in residential school days, you know, where they just think we're dirty Indians."
At the time, the community had one positive COVID-19 case, but a business owner said he had heard there was an outbreak on the reserve.
The incidents bring concerns that provincial data identifying the exact location of COVID-19 cases in Indigenous communities is made public, while geographical data for municipalities and other regions of B.C. is not.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Harvey disagrees with this assessment. "This is sadly an issue of racism and I do not believe it has anything to do with provincial data releases," she said. "COVID-19 has illuminated longstanding inequities and in particular those faced by First Nations in B.C. I want to add my voice to the chorus who have condemned such behavior."
