COVID-19 Daily News Digest – December 1, 2020
Investigation finds widespread racism and discrimination against Indigenous peoples in B.C. health-care system
Nearly 9,000 people participated in the investigation.
Eighty-four per cent of Indigenous people who participated reported experiencing some form of discrimination in health care. More than half of the Indigenous health-care workers who participated said they had personally experienced racism at work.
“Almost every community I go to has that same sort of story,” she said. “It just breaks my heart.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/bc-health-care-racism-report-1.5820306
What Indigenous knowledge can teach us about resilience in a time of climate crisis
But our ancestral teachings guide us. I was really anxious when COVID-19 first arrived. But when I called home, I got a beautiful answer: “Things are good; the men have all gone out harvesting for the community.”
Everyone understood that crisis requires ensuring community needs are met, and special attention is paid to caring for the elderly. A much different response than individuals competing for toilet paper.
‘This is serious and real’: Sask. bishop spends 12 days in hospital with COVID-19
“I worry a bit, to be honest, about the balance between health and economy or life and economy. People are dying. I have a couple people I know that died in the past week from COVID. Nothing can balance that out,” he said.
Hawkins is not the only member of his diocese to test positive. He said Diocesan Indigenous Bishop Adam Halkett also contracted the virus from a different source of transmission, illustrating just how widespread it has become.
A blueprint for First Nations health service delivery
Rapid Response Teams is a concept designed and led by the Manitoba First Nations Pandemic Response Coordination Team (a partnership between the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakinak, First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba, and Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin). It is coordinated by the University of Manitoba’s Ongomiizwin Health Services.
Each team works in support of the local health workforce and with community leadership. In addition to supporting contact tracing, assistance with isolation planning, and communications, they also bring rapid point of care testing, set up testing sites, and schedule community members for testing which has helped contain clusters quickly.
Indigenous Leaders Want Immediate Action on Health Care Racism
“The current COVID-19 pandemic necessitates constant engagement by First Nations with the health-care system, and we categorically demand a safe health-care system for our people at this time and going forward.”
He urged the province to immediately engage with First Nations leadership “to shape a way forward” and to support, inform and direct those in leadership to create cultural safety and a strong Indigenous human rights foundation within the system.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/11/30/Indigenous-Leaders-Want-Immediate-Action-On-Health-Care-Racism/
2 indigenous SD lawmakers ask Gov. Noem for state mask mandate, as COVID-19 cases top 80,000
“There really isn’t a need to battle over statistics and politics right now. This isn’t a political game of playing roulette with our communities or our families,” the two District 27 lawmakers wrote. “It is an issue of public health that surpasses political parties and hits the core of our humanity.”
Radio hosts were among the first who could explain Covid to indigenous Mexican farmworkers in US
When the Covid-19 pandemic first hit the United States, the hosts of Radio Indígena were among the first people who could explain Covid-19 to indigenous Mexican farmworkers in Ventura County, thanks to their ability to switch between Spanish, Mixteco and other indigenous languages. As the months passed, they took to debunking coronavirus misinformation.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/30/us/coronavirus-indigenous-farmworkers-radio-station/index.html
A Chief’s Angry Charge: Paternalism Is Putting His People’s Lives at Risk
The pandemic is exposing damage of another kind. Despite promises from Ottawa to empower First Nations to take more control of key decisions affecting their people, paternalistic practices by the federal government persist. Burns is one Indigenous voice among many saying people are suffering and dying as a result.
The action Burns wants, he says, has been stymied by ISC — the very federal department tasked with helping First Nations meet the COVID-19 threat. Instead, says Burns, ISC has stood in the way of his people’s attempts to formulate their own response and carry it through.
Since May 15, James Smith Cree Nation has forwarded nine pandemic-related proposals to ISC, with little success.
“They looked at it, nothing came of it. Every week at meetings they say it’s still in the works,” Burns said.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/12/01/Paternalism-Putting-Indigenous-People-At-Risk/
Shamattawa First Nation seeking military aid for COVID-19 outbreak
There are 60 known active COVID-19 cases in Shamattawa First Nation right now, including 30 to 35 isolating off-reserve, according to chief Eric Redhead.
“Those numbers are really, really scary for us,” said Redhead. “We’re kind of lost. We’ve deployed all the resources that we have to our disposal, and we’re really getting nowhere.”
168 More Covid-19 Cases Reported on Navajo Nation on Monday
“As the number of cases continue to rise throughout the country including the Four Corner states, the safest place to be is at home here on the Navajo Nation. As more people continue to test positive, it is placing a lot of pressure and work on our health care workers and hospitals. We cannot become careless and complacent. When you wake up in the morning, please say a prayer for yourself and your family members to help protect against COVID-19. We still have many communities experiencing uncontrolled spread of this virus, so please be safe, stay home, wear a mask, avoid gatherings and crowds, practice social distancing, and wash your hands often,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said.
https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/168-more-covid-19-cases-reported-on-navajo-nation-on-monday
Canada unveils ambitious $100-billion COVID-19 economic recovery plan
Acknowledging that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted women, young people, and Black, Indigenous, and people of colour, Freeland announced several targeted measures to help.
Freeland also earmarked $1.5 billion for infrastructure in Indigenous communities, with the goal of eliminating boil-water advisories.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-100billion-covid-recovery-plan
Ehattesaht First Nation members struggling in wake of COVID-19 outbreak and repeated power outages
The Ehattesaht First Nation, home to about 100 people, is located on the northwest coast of the island near Zeballos, B.C. On Nov. 14, one positive case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the community following a four day power outage. Within a week, there were 16 cases and now half the residents are in isolation.
“We are learning some hard lessons and the best advice we can give to communities like ours is just to stay home — it’s the only way we can keep people safe,” said Chief Simon John in an interview on CBC’s On The Island.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ehattesaht-first-nation-lockdown-1.5822201
Wet’suwet’en Women Urge Dr. Bonnie Henry to Shut Down Industrial Camps Amid Covid Outbreaks
43 confirmed cases of Covid 19 have been tied to an LNG Canada facility in Kitimat, while Wet’suwet’en have been informed of 2 confirmed cases of Covid 19, with six individuals in self isolation, at Coastal Gaslink’s Camp 9A on Unist’ot’en yintah (territory). Man camps do not have capacity to isolate all Covid positive workers and send them home to self isolate, where many must cohabitate with elders and other community members.