COVID-19 Daily News Digest – April 25, 2020
Cree-speaking raven puppet helps spread COVID-19 awareness
She believes being able to do these videos at such an important time is another opportunity to show how important language is to Indigenous people.
“It’s sort of like a code that we use to communicate with others about our traditions, our culture, everything about the Cree people,” she said.
Trudeau announces $75M in pandemic aid for Indigenous students
“In many cases post-secondary students’ school year ends or term ends now around the end of April and normally the beginning of May they’d be looking for summer jobs. This is something that is obviously not going to happen the same way or as easily this year. That’s why we’re moving forward with the Canada emergency student benefit.
Schmale talks Conservative leadership race, COVID-19, indigenous blockades, and CBC
“The status quo is not working. We need to give indigenous people more decision-making authority. We need a grassroots up approach rather than Ottawa imposing solutions.”
COVID-19 action plan: protecting vulnerable Ontarians
The province is implementing a COVID-19 Action Plan for Vulnerable People to better protect those living in high risk settings including homes serving those with developmental disabilities, shelters for survivors of gender-based violence and human trafficking and children’s residential settings. This includes Indigenous residential settings on and off reserve.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/covid-19-action-plan-protecting-vulnerable-ontarians
‘Disrespectful’: Urban Indigenous population feels short-changed by federal COVID-19 response
“This led to a lot of running around for friendship centres and nobody fully taking responsibility,” Formsma said.
“We just want to ensure that urban Indigenous voices are considered, that our communities are considered in whatever approaches are taken to respond to this pandemic.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stefanovich-health-committee-urban-indigenous-covid19-1.5539883
Epidemic of domestic abuse during COVID-19 pandemic
A Manitoba Crown attorney told me this week that the amount of domestic violence cases he has seen during the pandemic is “unprecedented.” Many are first-time charges against individuals with no record of domestic abuse.
Trauma, substance abuse, and stress brought on by the pandemic — aggravated by the order to stay home — have created a perfect situation for domestic violence to thrive.
Demand for COVID-19 relief shows extent of northern need
“They’re being very good corporate citizens here, both to their workforce and to the communities. I think they’ve taken some very socially responsible and corporately responsible steps to both maintain their workforce, to look after their people and make sure they’re safe,” Vidal said.
Gull Bay First Nation COVID-19 facility to be operational by Monday
“We have been told it will be operational on Monday at which time our current Health Canada nursing staff of two will be augmented by two more nurses, a Nurse Practitioner and a Public Health Contagion Officer,” said GBFN Chief Wilfred King, in a media release on Friday.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/gull-bay-first-nation-covid-19-facility-1.5544300
First Nations take extreme measures to prevent COVID-19 spread
For remote First Nations communities, keeping COVID-19 at bay is particularly crucial.
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1729482820000
COVID-19 kills Alert Bay woman after outbreak on small B.C. island
“We have to continue doing the things that are necessary to get rid of this. The testing is ongoing, and we’re going to continue to stay home as much as we can, physically isolate, and wash our hands,” said Svanvik. “We’re all in the same boat … we just have to do what we can do to put this behind us.”
Alberta asks First Nations to resume industry consultations after coronavirus pause
In late March, the government implemented the pause as part of its response to the novel coronavirus — suspending rules that set limits on the time each nation can spend before responding to various proposals from industry.
But it is now requiring most of those consultations to proceed, with time extensions of a few days to give a bit more time to some of the affected nations that request it.
‘It has been hectic’: First Nation in Alberta fighting COVID-19 case, annual floods
As for the flooding, the First Nation has been in touch with the province. Badger said they’re expecting a track hoe to clear out debris such as log jams and ice jams from the creeks, which are “overflowing.”