COVID-19 Daily News Digest – August 25, 2020
COVID-19 case in Gillam prompts Fox Lake Cree Nation Bird reserve lockdown, calls for new travel ban
The positive test in Gillam is the fourth in the NRHA since the pandemic began and the first since early April.
In response to the case, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), which represents 26 Northern Manitoba First Nations, and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC), which represents more than 60 Manitoba First Nations, called for the ban on non-essential travel into Northern Manitoba, originally introduced in mid-April and discontinued near the end of June, to be reinstated.
Ontario First Nations group says feds refusing to provide aid for safe school reopening plan
The Nishnawbe Aski Nation says Ottawa has “ignored urgent requests” for supplies and funding to insulate NAN schools against COVID-19. Deputy Grand Chief Derek Fox says NAN communities are in particular need of personal protective equipment and sanitization supplies. He says the group has requested $33 million in government aid to cover those costs, but has been told its plans are too “far-reaching.”
Security guard program teaches de-escalation, tactical techniques to First Nations in Sask.
One example of people who could benefit from the course is those working at COVID-19 checkpoints in First Nations communities, he said.
“A lot of these officers that are now being certified, are now trained to understand not only the legitimacy of law but also to understand there’s certain things you can and cannot do. But [it] also provides them the tactics and techniques in order to deal with people.”
Without new federal funding, some Ontario First Nations may close schools until 2021
Without additional funding and with no other resources to institute pandemic protocols, some of the 49 First Nations in NAN may cancel the entire first semester at schools in their communities, Fox said.
“It’s negligence. It’s discrimination,” he said, of the lack of response Nishnawbe Aski Nation says it received to a $33 million funding request to address COVID-19 concerns in schools.
Fort Erie experience provides template for Indigenous relations
“We can break down the barriers – the systematic racism – encountered by Indigenous people,” she said. “We’re all about relationships. It’s one of our strategic principles.”
She said it has also meant that Indigenous people living in an urban setting have a voice, she said. “They see us and they recognize our voice,” she added.
All the world’s a stage for Indigenous stories
The COVID-19 pandemic may have forced theatres to go dark for the rest of 2020, but for Sarasvàti Productions, the show must go on — even if that means performing in a park.
The theatre company is bringing a new play, Songide’ewin (which means “courage” in Anishinaabemowin), to the outdoor environment of Whittier Park in St. Boniface from tonight to Thursday.
Latin American women are disappearing and dying under lockdown
Almost 1,200 women disappeared in Peru between March 11 and June 30, the Ministry of Women reported. In Brazil, 143 women in 12 states were murdered in March and April – a 22% increase over the same period in 2019.
Reports of rape, murder and domestic violence are also way up in Mexico. In Guatemala, they’re down significantly – a likely sign that women are too afraid to call the police on the partners they’re locked down with.